Blog / Category_Art & Artists

On May 7, 2020 Youghiogheny and Oceanside announced a partnership where Oceanside will continue with the Spectrum line and accessory glass and Youghiogheny will take on the manufacturing of the Uroboros line. It is exciting to have the Uroboros line again. With Youghiogheny manufacturing the Uroboros line, we not only will get the glass we will see more options in the accessory glass line. I am taking a leap here, but I believe that this collaboration will bring back the "96" term which Oceanside has not been using. Both companies are saying the System 96 brand will be back. That is exciting news. No question that Y-96, Oceanside and Uro fusible will be compatible.

Here is the official announcemnt.

Our industry is long overdue for an announcement of excitement and positivity, so we are pleased to be the bearer of good news. Youghiogheny Glass, together with Oceanside Glasstile, is announcing the acquisition and launch of Uro by Yough, a resurrection of the Uroboros line of both traditional art glass and 96 compatible fusible glass. The machines and all of the equipment have arrived at our Connellsville factory, and we are just about ready to start production. We would like to thank Oceanside Glasstile for approaching us with this opportunity. Their transparency and cooperation throughout the entire process has resulted in a second thrilling announcement; a collaborative resurrection of the System 96 brand of fusible glass and products including Oceanside Compatible, Uro by Yough, and Y96!! So what this means is that Youghiogheny Glass will produce URO by Yough and will collaborate with OGT to resurrect the System 96 brand. The new agreement will allow for the most comprehensive product selection of hand rolled art glass And a complete line of System 96 compatible fusing glasses and accessories. The last 5 years have been tumultuous. Our passion for glass and the industry drove us to fill product voids created from the upheaval and expand Youghiogheny's palette. We viewed this time as an opportunity for growth and expansion into the 96 fusible market with our Y96 product line, even though the future seemed uncertain. In less than a year from the release of Y96, we unveiled the True Dichro line of Art Glass. This had been a 10 year experiment and an outstanding breakthrough in art glass manufacturing science. This was quickly followed by a line of Textured Streaky Art Glass and then Art Glass Irids. Finally, we expanded color options in Y96, more than doubling the original offerings. At the end of 2019, we thought we had done it all. However, opportunity arose once again when we were approached by Oceanside GlassTile regarding Uroboros production and System 96. Youghiogheny has a long history of producing high quality, handmade sheet glass and is the ideal landing spot for the products previously produced by Uroboros. Our niche and strengths are the perfect complement to OGT’s continuous ribbon and accessory products in order to expand the System 96 palette. The name Uroboros Glass carries a heavy weight with us. The brand and legacy created by Eric Lovell is of the highest quality and held in the highest regard. We consider it an honor and great challenge to properly reintroduce Uro, by Yough. An undertaking of this magnitude for our company will be a challenge, one of excitement and optimism. This is an area where we ask for your help. Any insight that you can provide us with from your previous years of experience with the Uro line of glasses will be helpful. The expansive line of art glass, with the many combinations of colors and textures, has many products that are very similar or identical to items currently produced within our existing product lines. Uro by Yough is striving to recreate the most sought after products previously manufactured without creating duplicates of what is currently available. With your valuable input we will be able to determine a production starting point more quickly. We thank you for your continued support and loyalty and look forward to providing you with even more excellent products. Stay Well, Tristan and Leanne Triggs

This announcement is something to look forward to every year! It is plain fun. Pantone is a company that provides a universal language of color. Many manufacturers use it. Once you might not know is paint. Because it is all about color, we watch for it every year and match up glass and feature glass. Pantone describes it like this: "Instilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era. Little did they know when this was announced that the world was also about to announce the start of a pandemic that did any but ensure stability. Leatrice Eisemen, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute says "we are living in a time that requires trust and faith....Classic Blue is a solid and dependable blue hue we can always rely on...an anchoring foundation. A bondless blue evocative of the vast and infinite evening sky, Classic Blue encourages us to look beyond the obvious to expand our thinking; challenging us to think more deeply, increase our perspective and open the flow of communication. I look at this color and I think of favorite blue jeans. The ones you just want to slip on because they feel good. The Pantone website also gives colors to go with the color of the year. They call them Color Harmonies. There are several but my favorite is Desert Twilight. Suggestive of the early evening sky, the boundless PANTONE Classic Blue 19-4052 creates an elegant backdrop for a glittery grouping of sophisticated shades painted across the sky, adding illuminating sparkle to a Dessert Twilight. To see other Color Harmonies click here: https://www.pantone.com/color-intelligence/color-of-the-year/color-of-the-year-2020-palette-exploration

This is a glass blog, so before I launch into trompe l’oeil, I will say something about glass. In Readfield, Maine, there is a building called the Union Meeting House. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. We had the good fortune of being asked to repair some of the building’s stained glass windows several years ago. This week, I was at the Union Meeting House for a David Mallett concert and got to visit our repaired windows, which are holding up great. The building has some non-leaded, colored stenciled glass windows, shown above on the right side of each photo. They are very rare and are only used in one other church in Maine. As years went by, they were replaced with more traditional stained glass windows, which appear on the left in each photo. Normally, I am “all about the glass,” but this building has something even better! This building, in this very small town, has one of the finest examples of trompe l’oeil there is, the reason it was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Trompe l’oeil is French for “to fool the eye.” The walls and ceilings of this building are painted plaster, which appears to be three-dimensional. There are columns (like you see in the pictures above), medallions, wall plaques and arches that look like they protrude, but they are flat. They are so realistically painted that you just can’t believe they are actually flat and really want to touch them. However, this sign sits on a sill: This shows more examples of trompe l’oeil. All of this is flat!

I was recently asked if I had ever seen the Bottle Houses of Prince Edward Island. “Never did,” I responded. “I’ll Google it.” When I searched for “bottle houses,” I found more than those on Prince Edward Island. There are a lot of them – and they are amazing. Here are shots of the Bottle Houses of PEI. THE CHAPEL THE BAR THE SIX-GABLE HOUSE OTHER BOTTLE HOUSES In addition to the Bottle Houses of PEI, there are others. This one, located in Argentina, is made from plastic bottles. This one is in Uitgawe. This bottle house is in Nepal. Now, THAT’S what you call upcycling!

I have a habit of folding over pages in magazines that I want to go back and look at again. When I read the March/April 2019 Glass Art Magazine recently, it seemed I was folding over every other page. One article after another featured amazing artists. The first artist that “caught my eye and pulled it back” was Los Angeles artist Kazuki Takizawa.

Just Google his name and enjoy!

My next folded page corner was Wisconsin artist Stephanie Trenchard. The article is "Telling Women’s Stories in Glass." Fun, fun, fun. Next was Lois Manno, who is known for her Modeling Glass. We have been selling her product at our store and our customers are doing some very creative things with it.

Her most popular items seem to be her feathers. But she also has other amazing items. And not to be missed is the sculptural jewelry of Linda MacNeil. I love how modern, crisp and colorful these pieces are.

Marc Chagall, one of the great artists of our time, would have been 132 on July 7 this year. He was born in the Russian Empire and worked with paint and stained glass. But he was a bit of a late bloomer in the stained glass medium -- he did not start working with stained glass until he was in his 70s! One of Chagall’s most beloved works is America Windows at the Art Institute in Chicago. It is believed that Chagall put lots of emotion into his work. There are many famous Chagall quotes, which I think explain a lot about him:

If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.

—Marc Chagall

Art seems to me to be, above all, a state of soul.

—Marc Chagall

For me, a stained glass window is a transparent partition between my heart and the heart of the world.

—Marc Chagall

The largest glass and bead expo in America, Glass Craft & Bead Expo, is held every year at the fabulous South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is not on the strip, but you can take a shuttle to the strip, if you wish. If you just want to focus on the show, you do not have to leave the hotel — the facility has everything there you need. There are product exhibits, classes, demos — and my favorite —The Gallery of Excellence. I am showing my favorites below. If you want to see all of the winners for 2019, click here: https://glasscraftexpo.com/gallery-of-excellence.php If you want info on the 2020 Glass Craft & Bead Expo, click here: https://www.glasscraftexpo.com/

How beautiful is this VASE!? (I FEEL LIKE I COULD JUST POST THE PICTURE AND IT WOULD BE ENOUGH!)

This vase was made c. 1910. It is Aventurine Lava Blown Glass by Tiffany Studios. This is currently on display in the new exhibition at the Morse Museum called “Iridescence—A Celebration”. This vase was among Tiffany’s treasured A-Coll (Artist Collection) pieces exhibited at Laurelton Hall. It is a striking vase and was made by draping lava like aventurine glass over iridescent gold glass. The name aventurine references the quartz-like glass with sparkling particles developed in Murano, Italy around 1910 when this was made. You can use aventurine glass for your treasures also. Available from Bullseye and Oceanside in flat glass and frit. Usually available in black, blue or green. It has been a little tough to get lately but we have some. Click here to order.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was born in New York City to Charles Lewis Tiffany and Harriet Olivia Avery Young. (He died in 1933). He attended Flushing Boarding School in New York City. The Civil war starts in April of 1861 and in 1863, Tiffany attended the Pennsylvania Military Academy, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It later became the West Chester Military Academy and then the Villa Maria Academy, a Catholic school. Tiffany then went on to Eagleswood Military Academy in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. In July of 1864 Tiffany wins an award for proficiency in drawing while at Eagleswood. The war ends in 18 while Tiffany is at an encampment at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. In 1866 he is listed as a member of the American Society of Painters in Water Colors. Tiffany studies with a private teacher and was then admitted to the Antique School in the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1866. In 1868 Tiffany travels to Europe and studies with painting and visits the French painter Belly who specializes in orientalist landscapes and Islamic genre scenes. Two years later he has a still life exhibited at the Paris Salon and has an exhibit in the National Academy of Design, New York. After this the exhibits become frequent of his water colors. After extensive travel, Tiffany acquired the property known as Laurelton Hall. Much of this building can be seen at the Morse Museum. FINALLY—IN 1872 Tiffany becomes interested in glass. The first experiments led to the invention of Tiffany’s Favrille Glass. In 1876 Tiffany meets John La Farge who is has glass working studio in New York City. In 1878 Tiffany opens a glass house which burns down as does the second one he opens. Also, in 1878 he made his first church figure window. It is at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Islip, New York. It’s where abouts now is unknown. He continues to work in water color and some oils. He experiments with Wallpaper designs and photography. In 1879 he designs and installed an abstract window in one of his own residences. On November 10, 1879 John La Farge applies for his first patent on opalescent glass. In 1880: A figural window by Louis Comfort Tiffany is installed in the newly consecrated St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Islip, New York. "The windows are of stained glass, but the staining has not been accomplished with common paints. It is altogether a new and novel window, called the opalescent, the glass being stained by a chemical process and burned in. The windows were supplied by L.C. Tiffany, of New York, who also donated a trefoil window - three crosses in a circle resembling a three leafed clover - a perfect gem in itself. The cost of the windows was $2,500. Mr. Hunt <1827–95> takes great pride in the apsis . It is broad, deep and domed and circular in form with three pairs of triplet windows of opalescent glass. In the central window is an exquisite representation of St. Mark and his lion riding in the clouds. This is the only piece of painted glass in the building." (from the Morse Museum) After several jobs decorating interiors, Tiffany starts devoting all his time to artistic house furnishings. Then he submits patents for Glass tile, Mosaic and Colored Glass Windows. "The first important result of labors" in stained glass is claimed by an untitled article to be in a church in Newark, New Jersey. " is in three compartments, with inscriptions on the lower panels. The centre pieces of each compartment simulate Oriental rugs. Of these, one is darker in its hues, to typify the past; the other is light, to represent the future, and the central is pulled aside, to signify the present. Through the opening are seen water and lilies growing. Over the lilies is a dove flying upward to represent the soul of the deceased, and the clouds in the sky, which stretches across the upper part of all three, are arranged in fanciful ladderlike shapes, to carry out further the idea of ascension." (morse museum) In 1881 Tiffany buys two buildings for his glass decorating business in NY. At this point he is getting commissions for people’s homes and churches. He is winning awards at expositions. In 1885 he designs the Flower, Fish and Fruit window which is now in the Baltimore Museum of Art. In 1887 Clara Wolcott Driscoll starts work as a designer at Tiffany Glass Company. Clara ends up doing many lamp designs. The Arrowhead shade. In 1904 Mrs. Driscoll is one of the highest salaried women in New York and ranks with the $10,000 a year workers. In 1889 Harper’s magazine says that Tiffany has brought the art of making opalescent glass to the highest perfection it has yet attained. He is referring to the piece “Christ Leaving the Praetorium” which is in Wisconsin at St. Paul’s Church. At this point they open an entire ecclesiastical department. Tiffany’s first public exhibition of blown glass is in 1893. In 1892 is the first exhibit of glassware and lamps with blown glass shades. 1894 is the first mention of copper-foiling at Tiffany Glass. in 1896 this gentle is at Tiffany’s. I am including it because my last name is also Parkhurst! Henry L. Parkhurst (1867-1921) of the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company (1892-1900) teaches book cover designing at the New York School of Applied Design for Women. In 1919 Louis Comfort Tiffany retires. He creates a foundation. In February of 1924 the lamp production ceases at Tiffany Studios. January 17, 1933 at the age of 84, Louis Comfort Tiffany dies.

This summer, July/August 2018 Glass Art Magazine did an article on Miriam Di Fiore. Her art jumped right off the page to me. Amazing!

She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1959 and has lived in Italy since 1980. Her work is in galleries all over the world and teaches all over the world including Corning in New York. Sleeping Seed, 2010

Quince

I have a fondness for bare trees and that might be what has drawn me to her work.

How amazing is this image! This is Miriam preparing the glass rods/stringers that uses for branches and trunks in her landscapes.

She has a series called “Dreams in a Drawer”:

Poplars in March

Brallow Pass

Each year CBS (Coatings By Sandberg) sponsor a contest called “Dichroic by Design” Here are this year’s winners! First Place Karen Pester “Noah’s Arc” Second Place Nathalie Strickland “Butterfly Fish” and “Hatching Turtles” Third Place Laura Dawson “Fish Totem” There are also a few Honorable mentions, which are also wonderful. If you want to see more, you can by following this link: CBS Contest and Winners

I just read an article about an effort to compile the locations that have or did have Tiffany windows. It is a giant challenge but certainly a worthy one. http://www.cambridge2000.com/tiffany/index.html is the web site. It is very well done, and you can look up by city, date, designer, category, status etc. They also give a confidence rating which says how certain the piece is truly a Tiffany Studio piece. For example, Maine has 19 sites and 10 of those sites have something still there! How exciting. Two of those sites are in Augusta, Maine! The South Parish Congregational Church (which I have visited) has had 9 items, 8 of which are still there! (Can you tell how excited I am by the number of exclamation points I am using?) All these photos were taken by Wayne Boucher. These are all on the site that we share the link above. I encourage you to go to the site. My copied (with permission) pictures do not do them justice. If you go to the site you can click on them and they will enlarge. They are nothing short of breath taking! St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has one. This is not an active church and there is not a picture.