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Glass sculpture exhibit at IU Kokomo Gallery
September 11, 2003 | ||||||
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Six Midwestern artists, more than a century of local history, and artwork formed in red-hot heat are the intriguing components behind IU Kokomo Art Gallery’s upcoming Glass Invitational. The exhibition of non-functional, sculpturally based glass runs through November 9. Admission is free and open to the public. During the run of the Invitational, the Gallery will coordinate tours of the 115-year-old Kokomo Opalescent Glass factory and the KOG Hot Glass Studio. At the Gallery’s request, Hot Glass Studio artists Jon Wolfe and Michael Amis invited some of their favorite regional glass artists to join them in submitting pieces for the show. They include Arlon Bayliss of Anderson; Fred Difrenzi of Louisville, Kentucky; Lori Stolt of Noblesville; and Mike Zelenka of Bath, Ohio. A 27-year veteran of working in glass as an art medium, Wolfe joined Kokomo Opalescent Glass in 1998, when the company added the KOG Hot Glass Studio. The studio produces blown and cast functional items of colored glass, such as vases or cocktail glasses. Major sculptural pieces, such as those in the Glass Invitational, “don’t fit into the compressed time frame that production [of the studio’s wares] requires,” Wolfe said. “Many of the works have been months or even years in the making.” One of Wolfe’s own pieces in the show, “Unreal Estate,” took about eight months to complete. “It consists of many different cast, cut, polished and laminated components. It was made as part of a series that integrated symbols of the human form as structural components in an architectural theme,” he said.
Spotlight on sponsor Marian Blacklidge Kokomo artist Marian Blacklidge has underwritten the Glass Invitational, to honor its connections with her husband’s family history. William E. Blacklidge, the grandfather of Marian’s husband, was one of the first owners of the Kokomo Opalescent Glass Co. (KOG). The factory opened in 1888, powered by free natural gas offered by the City of Kokomo to any business that would locate there and bring jobs. The high quality rolled sheet glass produced by KOG was prized for use in Tiffany lamps and decorative windows. The supply of natural gas ran out after 10 years, but KOG continued operations, and, today, is the oldest manufacturer of opalescent and cathedral stained glass in the world. The company has the ability to manufacture sheet glass in more than 22,000 different color/density/texture combinations. Like KOG, Marian Blacklidge also has a life-long history of diverse creativity, said Gallery Director Minda Douglas. “Marion Blacklidge is an artist who experiments and excels in almost every art medium. She has worked in stone, glass, wood, painting, drawing, collage,” Douglas said. “Her sensuous abstract forms in stone are all carved by hand—That means NO power tools! Her house is a virtual museum of beautiful works.” Sculptures and a painting by Marian Blacklidge will appear during October in the Gallery’s Artist Spotlight window, located at the Gallery entrance. Functional glass pieces from KOG Hot Glass Studio will be displayed in another window and can be purchased at the Gallery. The IU Kokomo Art Gallery is located in the Kelley Student Center. All Gallery exhibitions and activities are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wednesdays, until 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon–4 p.m. For more information, call (765) 455-9523 or visit www.iuk.edu/artgallery. Information on Kokomo Opalescent Glass excerpted from the KOG Web site, http://www.kog.com
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