If you're looking for a quieter place than the Traverse City Film Festival to enjoy some world-class art this summer, the
Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College has some stunning exhibitions on display until fall.
Running until Sept. 16 are two glass art exhibits, "Evolution/Revolution: 50 Years of American Studio Glass," and "Howard Ben Tré: The Lightness of Being – New Sculpture."
The Evolution/Revolution exhibit traces the growth of glass art from the 1960s to now, with more than 50 selected works representing each decade. Among the artists whose works will be shown are Dominick Labino, one of the earliest glass artists; Dale Chihuly, one of the most famous studio glass artists; Mary Shaffer, who pioneered new glass techniques, and some works on loan from Royal Oak's Habatat Galleries, as well as from the Dennos collection and private collections.
Howard Ben Tre's works in cast glass and bronze will form a companion exhibit, showcasing Ben Tre's more recent works, which reference architectural forms like stupas, spire, minarets and obelisks. It is presented as part of a nationwide effort to exhibit glass art in the fiftieth anniversary year of the art in the U.S.
“I first encountered the work of Howard Ben Tré in the early 70s when visiting Habatat Galleries, then on Ford Road in Dearborn, Michigan,” says Gene Jenneman, director of the Dennos Museum Center. “There I saw works by major artists such as Dale Chihuly and Harvey Littleton who were emerging in this new medium of studio glass, exploring it with fluid forms and color. Amongst this group was an artist who was different. His work, instead of being blown and formed, was cast in a mold, was heavy in appearance and industrial in character. Yet it was filled with an internal glow from the captured light within it. Often surrounding that glow was the shell of patinated metal that encased portions of the forms. This work was sculpture made from a seemingly fragile medium that was solid, having the integrity of bronze or other cast metal."
The Dennos Museum Center also will exhibit the quilt art of Katie Pasquini Masopust, until Oct. 7. Masopust's background as a painter led her to dimensional quilt work of exceptional quality and contemporary art sensibility. She evokes landscape and abstract paintings with her use of fine fabrics and creative stitching techniques.
Masopust also is a teacher and author, and will present a lecture on art quilts Oct. 3, followed by a two-day surface design workshop Oct. 4 and 5 at the Dennos. On Oct. 6, she will lead a quilting workshop focusing on ghost layers and color washes at the Charlevoix Library. Register
online with the Dennos Museum Center.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Gene Jenneman, Dennos Museum Center
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