"Invisible Cities" at The Society of Arts and Crafts

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, but FWP has been busy preparing for Invisible Cities, our newest exhibition now showing at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston! Screenprinted glass works created during FWP's recent MassArt residency will be on display, along with a short video and a few other pieces. The works are primarily inspired by the group's trip to NYC, incorporating photography of the city into collaged images on glass.

If you're in the Boston area come out to the show! SAC is located at 175 Newbury St (nearest to Copley T station) and open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-6pm. The first floor hosts a lovely commercial gallery; Invisible Cities is on the second floor in the exhibition gallery. The opening event will be held September 22.

Here's a preview:

James McLeod. Crosstown Moment.

Ayse Balyemez. Looking for a Way Out (detail).

Leo Tecosky. No.12.

Gulfidan Ozmen. Open Door (detail).

Oben Abright. Old Man of Istanbul (detail).

Hande Buyukatli. One Way (detail).

Glassblowing Demonstration for SOAC

Last week a group of people involved in Floating World Projects and the Society of Arts and Crafts gathered for a behind-the-scenes peek at the work being made for the MassArt residency, along with an experimental glassblowing demonstration.

FWP artists took some finished screenprinted glass panels (with photos taken in New York this month) and bent them with heat into new shapes, stretching the printed imagery into more abstract forms. One panel shifted into a bowl, while two others were fused together into a boat shape. Pieces like these will be exhibited at SOAC in August.

Photos by FWP visiting artist Ayse Balyemez.

Glassblowing at MassArt

For the first few weeks of June, the Turkish artists involved in Floating World Projects have been staying in Boston for a residency at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design with James McLeod, Leo Tecosky, and Oben Abright. The group traveled to New York City and photographed graffiti and architecture around Brooklyn, and the resulting images are being used to screenprint collages over glass panels, similar to earlier pieces incorporating photos of Istanbul. The finished pieces will be exhibited at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston.

Last week I (a person who has no experience with glass) visited the studio where Leo and James were working with MassArt students to produce glass shapes to be used for screenprinting. Below is a photo-diary of sorts of the process, from an outsider's point of view (meaning the vocabulary will remain simple!).

First, the artist takes a roll of compacted pigment at the end of the rod, and begins surrounding it with hot glass, continually twisting it as it hardens.

Several layers of hot glass are built up over time, with one person shielding the artist's face from sparks as he or she cradles the glass with wet cloth to shape it, and another person periodically blowing through the rod to expand the glass ball.

As it gets larger it is passed on to James and Leo, who continue to build it up until finally rolling it along a flat surface to give it a somewhat oval shape.

Then James stands at a greater height to lower it into a hot, hollow concrete tube, which shapes it into a flat-bottomed cylinder.

It is then chipped off the rod and stored in an incubator of sorts.

Watching glassmaking is exciting and fascinating, and I was impressed with just how much of a group effort it really is- with a range of different jobs and activities handled by the MassArt students/graduates working together.

TRANSITLINES

This May saw a lot of activity for Floating World Projects, so much that we've neglected to update you on all of the happenings! The TRANSITLINES exhibition at the Public Glass Gallery in San Francisco ended on May 23, but you can check out some installation shots below:

James McLeod gave a glassblowing demonstration during the opening event, experimenting with a hot silkscreen technique.

Next time there'll be a little photoshoot of the glassmaking process during FWP's artist residency at MassArt.

TRANSITLINES Opens Today!

Floating World Projects' new exhibition "TRANSITLINES" opens today at the Public Glass gallery in San Francisco! It culls together a number of collaborative pieces made by Turkish and American artists, incorporating silkscreen techniques on glass panels. The work aims to comment on relations between our two cultures and blur the line between them. The exhibition is partly a fundraiser for FWP's documentary The Road to Hebron, currently in the post-production process.

If you're in the area, check it out! The exhibit runs from May 7-May 23, with a special glassblowing demonstration and opening event tonight at 6pm.

Public Glass Exhibition Sneak Peek

The next major exhibition for Floating World Projects starts May 7th at the Public Glass Gallery in San Francisco. Titled Transitlines, it features several collaborative pieces from Floating World Projects artists. We'll have full details soon!

And remember, you can keep tabs with us on Twitter, Facebook, or our mailing list (sign up in right-hand sidebar)!

"Concepts in Glass" Exhibition at the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet

Here's a reminder that the Concepts in Glass exhibition at the New Art Center in Newton has started! It features art by FWP member James McLeod, along with other Boston-based glass artists. Check out the article posted at the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet!

"Concepts in Glass" Exhibition

Starting Friday, April 11, the New Art Center in Newton, MA will open an exhibition titled "Concepts in Glass" that features four Boston-based glass artists who push the medium into different directions with a conceptual bent to their compositions. FWP co-founder James McLeod has pieces in the show focusing on memories and how they shift and change, often becoming unreliable or faded. As curator Hillary Faccio observes, "He also addresses tension between seemingly soft materials and materials more aggressive in nature. He creates objects that illustrate tension, release, and balance."

James McLeod, Memory Container 12

The exhibit also includes Chris Watts's complex, narrative-fueled pieces, Alan Klein's works contemplating aspects of time, and petroglyph-inspired pieces from the curator herself.

Check it out if you're in the area! It runs April 11-May 15 in the Main Gallery at the New Art Center, Newton, MA.

The Opening Reception will take place on Friday, April 15 from 6 to 8 pm.
There will be a Gallery Talk with the curator and artists on Saturday, April 30 at 2 pm.
All events are free and open to the public.

"Fête de Verre: FUTUR" for UrbanGlass

UrbanGlass- the New York-based glass center whose programs include GLASS Magazine, the Robert Lehman Gallery, and numerous workshops and classes- is holding its annual auction titled Fête de Verre: FUTUR through April 16. A collaborative piece from FWP artists is up for sale, and will first be exhibited along with a range of other lovely glass pieces (including sculpture, 2-D images, and jewelry) from March 22-April 9.

If you're in the New York area, check out the exhibition at Chashama! Or you can get a preview of the auction items here. The piece from Floating World Projects is titled "Beyoglu Series #3", composed of silkscreened enamel on glass (shown below).

Leo Tecosky at SVA's "Exit" Exhibition

From February 22-March 12, students in SVA's MFA Fine Arts program exhibited their thesis projects in the school gallery's Exit show. Leo Tecosky, founding member of Floating World Projects, showed several painted glass pieces, mixing bold, graphic colors with a geometric stencil style and mirrored backgrounds.

Glass Workshop at Bezalel Academy

Before making their way into Palestine, FWP artists James, Tan, Guido, and Oben stopped over at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem (with their host, professor Dafna Kaffeman). While there, they ran a glass-making workshop with the students of the glass department. For details, check out Ayelet Dekel's excellent article for MidnightEast, a site focusing on Israeli culture and events.

Artist Spotlight: Guido Gerlitz

This post is part of a series spotlighting the range of artists and musicians involved in Floating World Projects. See all.

In January several members of Floating World Projects are traveling to Hebron to film a documentary about the Al-Salam glass factory. Sculptor and Executive Director of Public Glass in San Francisco Guido Gerlitz will be joining them as a representative of his gallery. With a BFA in Glass and Ceramics from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA in Glass from California College of the Arts, Guido works to "bring a leading edge perspective and understanding of the glass genre to contemporary art". He tests the limits of the material, evoking energetic and thoughtful abstract shapes as well as recognizable wares with splashes of color.

Since 2009 he's been the director of Public Glass, a non-profit institution specializing in education and professional glass studios including blown, cast, kiln, torch and cold-work. Next year a show of collaborative works from Floating World Projects will be exhibited in their gallery, in part as a fundraiser for "The Road to Hebron" documentary.

"Contiguous Form - Red with Black Cane", 2010

"Gesture 1", 2004

"Teal Goblets", 2010

"Octonese", 2003

"Corkscrew"