Item of the Week: Sacred Light: Stained Glass Windows of Southeastern Virginia

One of the great benefits of each new exhibition at the Chrysler Museum is an influx of new resources for the Library. As you may have noticed from recent posts to this blog, Art of Glass II has certainly been no exception with fresh books, DVDs and other informative sources about glass coming in almost daily. The Library’s collection has grown considerably in the areas of contemporary glass, the science and processes behind glassmaking, and monographs about individual glass artists. This week’s item highlights a new and much needed look at one aspect of glass in our area. Sacred Light: Stained Glass Windows of Southeastern Virginia by art historian Nenette Arroyo and photographer Bill Tiernan focuses on stained glass windows in houses of worship throughout the region. Published by the Virginia Arts Festival, this informative volume guides readers on a tour of the stunning stained glass in churches and synagogues around Hampton Roads. Well researched and beautifully photographed, Sacred Light is sure to encourage and enable readers now and for year to come to visit these inspiring works of art and to appreciate them as true treasures that are shared by our community.

Item of the Week Karen LaMonte: Absence Adorned

Amongst all of the Art of Glass 2 excitement is artist Karen LaMonte's various life-sized glass gown pieces that have been placed on display alongside the Museum's sculpture collection. Her artwork includes three glass dresses and two busts displaying detailed work in the folds and seams of the glass clothing. It appears as though a ghost is resting within the clothing since a physical body is absent from the glass art but the dress itself is left with the memory of the body as the impression comes through the drapery with the curvature of the female bodies. The Jean Outland Library and the gift shop currently have available a book titled Karen LaMonte: Absence Adorned that details this aspect of her work with glass dresses as well as plates, artist bibliography, and an exhibition list. Browing through the galleries to see LaMonte's works may pique your interest in the other classical and neoclassical sculpture pieces on display nearby, if so visit the Library - we can provide you with books related to those sculptures as well!

-Kristen Banks volunteer

Item of the Week: Glass Notes

Things are really heating up at the Chrysler Museum – at least they soon will be with installation of a mobile glass blowing studio in Mary’s Garden. Throughout the month of May, museum visitors will have the chance to watch live glassblowing demonstrations. Wondering exactly what goes into working with molten glass? After watching the artists work, come cool off in the Library and take a look at Glass Notes: a Reference for the Glass Artist by Henry Halem. A glass artist since 1968, Halem’s mastery of his art has been lent to the creation of an in-depth guide to working with glass - everything from colorants to the construction of glass furnaces. Detailed illustrations make even the most complex concepts seem approachable. Halem’s work in glass will also be included in Art of Glass: Generations at the Visual Arts Center, Tidewater Community College May 10th - June 25th, 2009. Stop by and take a look!

Item of the Week: Stephen Rolfe Powell Glassmaker

Spring is in the air and Hampton Roads is blooming. The vibrant flowers springing up everywhere have us thinking about a colorful new edition to the Library’s collection - Stephen Rolfe Powell: Glassmaker. This 2007 publication features the work of Kentucky glass artist Powell. Pulsing with every color imaginable these amazing glass pieces teem with pattern and texture. Gorgeously photographed, the catalogue contains both detailed images of Powell's works and the process by which they were created. Also included are short articles by writers and other glass artists. Dante Marioni, Lino Tagliapietra and Marvin Lipofsky (to name a few) reminisce about encountering Powell's work. This catalogue will have you excited about seeing Powell's Bubbling Pools of Color at the d’ART Center at Selden Arcade during Art of Glass 2 (April 24 - June 28, 2009) . This book is just one of many highlighting the glass artists whose work will be appearing around our area in the weeks to come - so stop by the Library reading room today and take a look!

Items of the Week: Experimental Glass Blowing for Boys and The Drama of Glass

Art of Glass 2 is set to begin April 8! In honor of this amazing event we thought we'd feature two small books from our collection that offer two interesting approaches to glass from the turn of the last century:

Fun with Glass

Hey, kids! Glass can be educational and fun! Experimental Glass Blowing for Boys is a guide to glass science and “magic.” Published in 1909 by the A.C. Gilbert Company, the book outlines simple but useful scientific experiments such as bending glass into shapes and closing the end of glass tubing. The smaller projects build upon one another to create experiments in “magic” and practical jokes with glass. Frighten your friends by creating a glass spider web, or splash them with a home-made squirt bottle! Are you interested in engineering? Learn how to make an engineers level by using your newly honed glass-making skills. The steps are easy to follow, and the results seem just as magical today as they must have in 1909. For the modern reader Experimental Glass Blowing for Boys may lead to questions about the wisdom of letting children experiment with molten glass, or perhaps whether an Experimental Glass Blowing for Girls was ever published. Regardless of some dated attitudes, the steps are easy to follow, and the results would probably seem just as magical today as they must have in 1909 – just keep your home-made squirt bottles out of the library!

- by Sara Mason Library Assistant

The Drama of Glass

The Drama of Glass by Kate Field was published in 1890 and attempts to tell a sweeping story about the past, present and future of glass while at the same time advertising it's publisher the Libbey Glass Company The prologue begins with the speculations of the origins of glass by the Phoenicians and Venetians. It also depicts the beginnings of glass in America with a description telling “In 1608, within a mile of the English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, a glass house was built in the woods. Curiously enough it was the first factory built upon this continent.” The next section of the book talks of the evolution of glass from 1850-1893 focusing not surprisingly- on Libbey Glass. The third section of the book dramatically departs from the history laid out so far to relate the fairytale of Cinderella’s glass slippers metaphorically to actress Georgia Cayvan’s journey to create a dress spun out of glass, which was also later duplicated by a Spanish princess. The fourth section returns to the Libbey Glass Company and their involvement in the World Fair of 1893. This section details the temperature of the furnace and the types of tools used to create their pieces. Asking the reader“Do you recall the Crystal Art Room?” section encourages the reader to reflect back on what they saw and learned about glass at the World Fair.

- by Kristen Banks, Volunteer

Item of the Week: Bausch and Lomb AT WAR

If you are one of the 125 million people in the world who wear contact lenses, you may recognize the brand name “Bausch and Lomb” from your bottle of contact solution. However, in the 1940s you were more likely to see the company’s logo plastered on pamphlets highlighting their vast contributions to the war effort. The Jean Outland Chrysler Library is delighted to possess one of these pamphlets entitled: “Bausch and Lomb AT WAR.”
Long before contacts were invented, Bausch and Lomb specialized in such military wonders as searchlight mirrors, telescopes, and aviator goggles. They even built a new Glass Plant to provide desperately needed optical glass to American troops. In order to advertise these and many other achievements, they created pamphlets that not only captured the spirit of a nation at war, but emphasized the value of the American worker. Through vivid colors, photography and highly evocative language,
the pamphlet portrays Bausch and Lomb
as a corporate hero, ready to do whatever is necessary to protect the American way. The cover of the pamphlet features a hand-drawn Bausch and Lomb logo, jabbed into a star-spangled sky by a silver dagger. Underneath the logo is a shadowy clock tower. The symbols of the clock and the dagger emphasize the timeliness of the war and the company’s involvement. They also allude to Bausch and Lomb’s elaborate history of military service; a crucial part of the company’s hero narrative. Despite such obvious sentimentality and tendency toward propaganda, the Bausch and Lomb pamphlet presents a truly unique view of American history. It is sobering to think about where we would be without the clarity of site. Perhaps it is fitting then to look back at our nation’s “Greatest War” through the lens of an eye-wear corporation. In an era of contact lenses and multipurpose saline solution, maybe it is better to dust off our binoculars and take a deep look into our past. Maybe then we can get a better glimpse of the future.

- Library volunteer Jessica Ritchie

All Fired Up: Glass Science and Processes

As Art of Glass 2 approaches, Hampton Roads prepares for a massive influx of glass and glass artists. The Chrysler Museum of Art is poised to dazzle patrons with works by Katherine Gray, Stephen Knapp, Karen LeMonte, Beth Lipman, Lino Tagliapietra and many others. These masters of glass have honed their skills to create precise and breath-taking works of art. As part of the exhibition the Education department will be offering programs highlighting the intersection of science and art in glass blowing. Interested in learning more? The Jean Outland Chrysler Library is showcasing a section of books dedicated to glass making, the science of glass, glass processes and history. These selections include such works as Beginning Glassblowing and Advanced Glassworking Techniques by Edward T. Schmid, The Structure of Glass by Roy Newton and Sandra Davison, Glass: A World History by Alan MacFarlane and Gerry Martin, Volume 15 of L’Encyclopedie by Diderot and D’Alembert and Glassblowing: A Search for Form by Harvey K. Littleton.

- S. M.