Art exhibits bring light, texture to end of summer

Three shows are currently to be found at the Dennos Museum Center; two focus on works of art in the medium of glass. Howard Ben Tré: The Lightness of Being and Evolution/Revolution: 50 Years of American Studio Glass are companion exhibits that run through September 16. Also up right now is an exhibition titled Art Quilts by Katie Pasquini Masopust, which runs through October 7.
 
Color, texture, and beauty are words that would describe the current exhibitions at the Dennos Museum Center. Each piece of art, in its own right, steals the show. Between the 50th Anniversary Studio Glass and the sculpture of Howard Ben Tré; all topped off with the art quilts from Katie Pasquini Masopust, everyone will find something they love.
 
The Lightness of Being exhibition features recent Ben Tré works in cast glass and bronze, referencing inspirational architectural forms: stupas, spires, minarets and obelisks. Having pioneered the use of cast glass for monumental indoor and outdoor sculpture, Ben Tre’s newest body of work reflects on lightness and strength, architecture and the human form.
 
2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the studio glass movement in America, and that's also the inspiration behind the glass art retrospective Evolution/Revolution: 50 Years of American Studio Glass, which traces the growth of glass as an artistic medium from the 1960s to the present, featuring selected works by noted artists from each decade that demonstrate the evolving nature of the medium and the capacity of the artists who work in it.
 
For nearly 30 years Katie Pasquini Masopust has produced high quality, contemporary art quilts that have been coveted and collected by a broad range of admirers. From her early beginnings as a painter dabbling in traditional quilt making, her work has evolved from structured mandalas and mind-blowing dimensional pieces to painterly landscapes and abstracts executed with the finest fabrics and most creative stitching techniques.
 
After seeing these new and changing exhibitions, explore the museum’s more permanent Discovery and Inuit Galleries. Adults and children alike will enjoy playing a laser harp or the sound wall sculpture, seeing themselves become colorful moving video images, or peering into the lens of an interactive holographic microscope in the Discovery Gallery. The Museum’s Inuit Collection has more than 1,400 works of stone sculpture and prints by Inuit artists, one of the largest collections in the United States dating from the early 1950s to recent works. Visiting the collection is like making a trek north to the Canadian Arctic to learn about the life of the Inuit people and animals that live in this part of the world. Selected works on view in the Inuit Gallery reflect the traditional life of these people and their environment.  
 
Children can go on a museum scavenger hunt, leading them through all of the galleries to find details and answer questions about what they see and experience. Coloring sheets in the hands-on Discovery Gallery area are also great for the little ones on rainy or hot days.
 
The Dennos Museum Center is located at 1410 College Drive, Traverse City, and is open seven days a week. Visit today to learn, explore, and have fun. For more information, visit the museum online or call 231-995-1055.

Submitted by Dennos Museum Center