Urban Glass: John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards return to Los Angeles
4/23/24
Read the original article by Kinshasa Peterson on Urban Glass.
John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards return to Los Angeles for an exhibition and discussion at the Craft in America Center
The Craft in America Center in Los Angeles, which is exhibiting a dual-artist exhibit entitled “Between the LInes” through May 25, will host a conversation with the artists John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards on Saturday, April 27 from 3 PM to 4 PM PST. Both in-person and streamed on Zoom and Facebook Live, the talk will bring together two prolific creators who shaped a legacy of glassmaking in Southern California, and who are regarded nationwide as influential educators and artists. Moderated by Craft in America curator Emily Zaiden, the discussion will provide perspective on the major retrospective of their work now on view at the museum.
Luebtow and Edwards both create artwork at differing scales, from intimate forms to powerful works in the public sphere. In addition to their artistic careers, Luebtow and Edwards are both well-known educators who have a shared passion for glass with generations of students in California and New York State, where they established programs for learning in the medium, respectively. Their first meeting, in fact, came when Luebtow was Edwards’ high-school teacher, and the two formed a bond that has spanned decades.
Excerpts from Luebtow’s recently published monograph, Glass: A Lifetime of Creating, were featured in the Spring 2024 issue of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, on sale at newsstands and online. The article can be purchased along with our digital edition.
The accompanying exhibition, Between the Lines: John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards, is on view at the Craft in America Center through May 25.
ArtCentron: Stunning Glass Artistry of Two Outstanding Master Glass Sculptors
4/16/24
Read the full article by Kazeem Adeleke on ArtCentron
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA- Transforming glass into exquisite and alluring art requires skill, creativity, innovation, and glass artistry. Currently, the Craft in America Center hosts an extraordinary exhibition that showcases these important elements. Titled Between the Lines, the exhibition highlights the remarkable work of master glass sculptors John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards. It offers a profound exploration of the captivating world of glass artistry from their unique perspectives and techniques.
In addition to showcasing their existing works, Between the Lines features new pieces created specifically for this exhibition. These new sculptures demonstrate the ongoing creativity and innovation of both artists as they push the boundaries of their craft.
John Luebtow is revered amongst his contemporaries for his precision and creativity. His ability to shape molten glass into intricate works of art reveals an exemplary and rare skill. His sculptures often feature intricate patterns and shapes, showcasing his mastery of the glassblowing process.
One of Luebtow’s notable works is “Venus Vitae,” located in Century City, California. This captivating public art integrates glass elements into water features, creating a unique visual relationship between internal and external geometries. At night, when illuminated, the sculpture assumes a spiritual essence, dispelling dark shadows.
Glass Sculpting and the Transmutation of Matter
“Linear Form Series,” is an another important example of Luebtow’s creativity. A Maquette Study for Nestlé/Carnation Commission created in the late 1980s, Luebtow combines wavy glass strands with solid shapes and stainless steel to capture the relationship between light, people, and the environment. This piece reveals not just his deep understanding of form and shape, but also how they exist and interact with their surroundings.
Stephen Edwards approaches glass sculpting with a focus on the transmutation of matter and his medium. He draws inspiration from nature to create massive sculptures that balance structure and fragility. His meticulous process involves using molds carved from styrofoam to cast molten glass, creating surfaces that mimic textures found in nature, such as water ripples and cliff faces.
Vulnerability to Hubris
Edwards’ ability to create exceptional sculptures rich with symbolism is evident in many of the works on display in this exhibition. One of them is “Icarus 2024.” Crafted from cast glass and steel, the sculpture vividly portrays the repercussions of hubris using a saturated red hue. Drawing inspiration from the myth of Icarus, Edwards depicts a figure bursting forth. Adorned with wings on his back, the artist creates the illusion of Icarus poised for flight, heedless of the warnings that his wings, fashioned from wax, will melt if he ventures too close to the sun. The sculpture’s reflection of viewers serves as a poignant reminder of our shared vulnerability to hubris.
Edwards’ impact on the world of glass artistry extends far beyond his own creations. As a teacher and mentor, he has influenced countless aspiring artists, helping to shape the future of the medium. His work can be found in public collections and prestigious institutions around the world, including prestigious institutions. They are in National Art Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution and the Corning Museum of Glass.
Celebrating Glass Artistry of Two Master Glass Sculptors
Between the Lines is a rare opportunity to appreciate the beauty and complexity of glass sculpture through the lens of these two masterful artists. It celebrates their enduring contributions to the world of glass sculpture, inviting viewers to experience the transformative power of art.
The juxtaposition of Luebtow’s precise, geometric forms with Edwards’ organic, nature-inspired sculptures creates a dynamic visual experience. It allows viewers to appreciate the beauty and complexity of glass artistry. Above all, it serves as a poignant reminder of the marvels within the natural world and the transformative power of art.
ArtDaily.com: ‘Between the Lines’ opening reception opens today at Craft in America Center
Original article on ArtDaily.com here.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Craft in America Center is opening Between the Lines, a two-person exhibition featuring master glass sculptors John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards. These two maverick sculptors have shaped the field of glass through potent artwork and technical prowess. Constantly innovating, they use glass in ways that defy expectations— bending, casting and cutting it into astounding forms that push the material to its limits. Over the decades, both their intimate and monumental works address relationships with nature, spirituality, and family.
Line is the guiding force shaping the form of each work. Line and form relay philosophical signifiers stemming from the artists’ personal experiences and outlooks. Responding to concepts through abstraction, glass becomes a material for echoing dynamics of the natural world.
This exhibition pairs these two luminaries who are also tied by a teacher/student relationship: Edwards was once a student in Luebtow’s high school art classes. Insatiably curious about process, both artists consistently push the boundaries of technical development and have created significant facilities, both of their own and at institutions. In addition to illustrious art careers, the two masters have been instrumental in creating education programs and facilities in glass, and have taught scores of art students; Luebtow at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, and Edwards at Alfred University in New York.
With more than a century of knowledge between them, these objects are a glimpse at how these artists create abstract forms with powerful, transcendent ideas about beauty, conflict, tension, nature and existence.
John Luebtow has become one of the most respected names in contemporary glass sculpture over the past forty years. He developed innovative techniques in glass-making, introducing and incorporating gestural and expressive qualities into impeccably finished sculptural components. He holds a BA from California Lutheran College, and two MFAs from UCLA (one in ceramics and one in glass).
Stephen Edwards built one of the largest hot glass programs in the nation at Alfred University, where he taught for 22 years. Prior to that, an early stepping stone was working as an artist-in-residence at the Penland School of Crafts. Near Penland, he established his first private glass studio in Micaville, North Carolina in 1982. Edwards graduated from Illinois State University with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1980.
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 9, 3:00–5:00pm PST Artist talk: Saturday, April 27, 3:00pm PST
Beverly Press: Craft in America Hosts Two Innovative Glass Artists
3/7/24
Original post in the Beverly Press here.
The Craft in America Center will host “Between the Lines,” a two-person exhibition featuring master glass sculptors John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards from March 9 through May 25.
The two sculptors have shaped the field of glass through their own work and their technological prowess. With a constant desire to create and innovate, they both use glass in ways that defy expectations – bending and cutting to give it shape. They walk the fine line of pushing the material to its limits. Over the decades, they have created work that pertains to their relationships with nature, spirituality and family.
Art begins with the line for both artists. It is the guiding force for shaping the form of each work. Responding to ideas through abstraction, glass is a material for echoing the natural world.
The exhibition pairs the two luminaries, who are also tied by a teacher-student relationship. Edwards was once a student in Luebtow’s high school art classes. Insatiably curious about processes, the artists consistently push the boundaries of technical development and have created significant facilities, both of their own and at institutions. In addition to illustrious art careers, the artists have been instrumental in creating education programs and have taught numerous art students – Luebtow at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles and Edwards at Alfred University in New York.
LAX UNVEILS NEW ART EXHIBITIONS AFTER COVID-19 DELAY
By Bridgette M. Redman
February 24, 2021
Travelers passing through Terminal 1 of LAX are treated to four new art exhibitions, ranging from site-specific craft and murals to photography, sculptures and paintings. They include “LA Made,” “Korçare,” “In Search of Rainbows and Stardust” and “Window Seat.”
Installed at the end of 2020, they were the first new art installations of the year, many that had been planned for the beginning of the year but had to be postponed because of the pandemic.
“LAX is dedicated to spotlighting the vibrant art community of Los Angeles, and we are excited to welcome our first new major installations since the spring,” said Justin Erbacci, chief executive officer, LAWA. “Even during the most challenging times, art can inspire our minds and open our hearts. These four new exhibits at Terminal 1 showcase the great talent of our fellow Angelenos, dazzle our senses and help our imaginations take flight.”
Capturing craft with ‘LA Made’
Two curators from Craft in America, Emily Zaiden and Alex Miller, put together a group project that features craft in contemporary art. It includes artists whose work is renowned in the world of contemporary craft such as Tanya Aguiñiga, Carrie Burckle, Ferne Jacobs, John Luebtow, Gerardo Monterrubio, Po Shun Leong, Karyl Sisson and Joan Takayama-Ogawa.
The first installment, which includes ceramic, glass, fiber, metal and wood, will be on display at Terminal 1, Gate 9 in the Departures Level until October 2021. The second installment is in the new terminal 1.5, which was scheduled for installment in mid-January.
“We are excited to be given the chance to expand on what we did with the first show,” Zaiden said. “It was really thrilling to hear the response from the Department of Cultural Affairs and the LAX team. They were very pleased to see three-dimensional objects that had such technical complexity and nuances that also had conceptual groundings in terms of each piece. It is only eight objects, but it encapsulates a lot. It shows the breadth and strength of the kind of work coming from artists in the LA region.”
For both shows, there is an emphasis on materials and the way that artists manipulate them, whether traditional or otherwise.
“All of the objects in both shows are heavily about artists who think a lot about their materials and are really gifted in manipulating their material,” Zaiden said. “Artists from a variety of backgrounds in terms of experience, identity, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomics.”Sara Cifarelli, LAX art program director, said they were excited to work with Craft in America, a local nonprofit that promotes craft. She felt what they did, and especially the use of materials, gives passengers a snapshot into what is happening in contemporary craft today in LA. She talked about how unexpected some of the materials are.
“One is made with clothespins,” Cifarelli said. “It has texture and interesting form to it so that you don’t initially realize that she’s using these clothespins. She’s taken an everyday household object and elevated it to sculptural form. It will catch your eye and when looking a second longer, you might notice something surprising, a moment of discovery.”
In the second case, materials include ceramics, paper and fiber. Most of them depict a sense or a landscape from LA. The art objects tend to be abstract and conceptual.
Zaiden is pleased that the exhibit has received such a prominent positioning in the terminal as she said it really showcases craft as a vital part of the LA arts scene. She hopes it will broaden people’s ideas of what art in LA is.
“There is a shift happening in the art world more recently,” Zaiden said. “People for a long time have dismissed technical skills and that hasn’t been at the forefront of what has been emphasized in the art world, it is much more pure concept-based. These (exhibits) are the opposite. They embrace the physical tactile nature of the materials. There is a fundamentally optimistic message that beauty still persists, that we still want to see beautiful objects and are still astounded by the abilities humans have to make beautiful objects, to take these simple objects, whether a lump of clay or a pile of thread, and make it into this beautiful stunning, abstract object that gives you an emotion and feeling and connection. It really is a powerful thing. It goes beyond words. We need it more than ever right now. I think that is fundamentally the beauty of craft.”
Inspired by Albanian woven rugs
Also in Terminal 1 is a large site-specific, multimedia installation of a mural created by Alexis Zoto. It is a combination of hand-painted and vinyl shapes and symbols in a vibrant color palette. It will be on display until October
The mural is the result of research that Zoto did into kilms, which are handwoven rugs made in Albania. She traveled to the country where she interviewed weavers and was the first foreigner to be allowed into the National Archive to look at the collection of kilns.
“A lot of that experience, talking to these amazing women, inspired the design of this piece,” Zoto said. “I also really wanted to bring the idea of craft into a really contemporary context by changing the materials, scale and color palette to really make people interested and think about it in a different way.”
As people take in her work, Zoto has found that they interpret it based on their own background. People from LA assume it is from the Americas, perhaps Mexico, the Navajos or the Guatemalans. When she exhibited in Europe, they thought the designs were Turkish.
“No one was right, but people would recognize it,” Zoto said. “That is an opportunity to have this conversation about work made by women for millennia. There are these symbols that are recognized across all these different cultures. Some of that meaning is getting lost in society. This is an opportunity to have a conversation about it.
When she began to design the mural, it was with the airport in mind. She chose colors that would make an impact but not annoy people, and motifs that were reminiscent of what people had seen in other cultures. Some of the things she chose specifically were meant to invoke air travel.
“I wanted it to be cool, something people would want to take a selfie in front of,” Zoto said. “I wanted it to have lots of different colors and be really playful. LA is very colorful and has so many amazing cultures within the city, so I was really trying to think of all that.”
Zoto, who did the research in Albania because that is where her grandmother is from, said she loves the diversity of LA and its dynamic and rich culture. It is why she likes to do art for LAX.
She also talked about how her grandparents were refugees who immigrated to LA. She was the first in her family to graduate from college and the only one in her generation to have a master’s degree. Her family didn’t go to museums and they didn’t know about art. It is for people like that whom she wants to do art for.
“I want to do work for people who may never spend time in a gallery or go to a museum,” Zoto said. “What a gift it is to be able to communicate and talk about culture, travel and diversity. That is a joyful thing. (The mural) speaks to so many people who have no interest in art, but this might make them see it differently.”
Cifarelli was fascinated by the way she translated the study of textiles and the flat rugs of Albania into a mural that uses very different materials than one would normally use for a rug or a mural.“I think it is so interesting,” Cifarelli said. “She made that specifically for LAX, specifically for that wall. You can only see that handiwork at LAX. That is a special gift we can share with our passengers.”
Search into LA’s architectural past
Anna Carey is the artist who created the “In Search of Rainbows and Stardust” exhibition. They feature her photographs and a video depicting imaginary interior and exterior architectural spaces that present a generic global architectural style that feels both familiar and dream-like.
Carey grew up on the Australian Gold Coast, which was a popular holiday destination. When she later resettled in LA, she saw many of the original buildings whose style had influenced the architecture of her home region.
She combines all those things in her airport exhibit, using model-making, photography and film. The “Stardust” series is based on the exteriors of Stardust motels from all over the world. The photographs magnify her handmade models.
In the series, there are photographs and videos of interior spaces with rooms based on a dominant color of the rainbow spectrum. These rainbow-hued images explore the connection between place, memory and color.
Cifarelli, in talking about all the exhibits at LAX, said they were pleasantly surprised at how bright, colorful and welcoming they all felt in this time of COVID-19.
“The art is still here to welcome you and is a reflection of LA, the creativity and the amazing communities we have here,” Cifarelli said. “It felt really wonderful to be able to share this with the traveling public. These were the right exhibitions for this time in terms of how beautifully welcoming they are.”
Exhibit captures the view of urban landscapes from flight
Artist Susan Logoreci has done a number of public art commissions in the past. Her exhibit in Terminal 1 is “Window Seat.”
The art consists of drawings of contemporary urban landscapes, views imagined as being seen from the window seat of a plane. It creates a site-specific mural that gives two different views — one from up close, the other from a distance.
Up close, viewers can see a unique series of paintings of recognizable views from throughout LA such as the Hollywood sign or the intersections of highways. From a distance, there is a grid designed to be a contrasting view that is planned and stable, while also being fragile and disordered.
“I want to give viewers a new perspective on the city as a large, ongoing project that is built by many and shared by all,” Logoreci said.
Exhibits offer art to travelers
Cifarelli said she wants people to know that there is art for them at the airport to enjoy, especially at this time when most museums and art galleries are closed because of the pandemic.
“We have a really vibrant contemporary art program,” Cifarelli said. “We show it to communicate our values as a city. We are a city that really values creativity and expression.”
She encouraged people to come early to the airport when they have a flight. Once they are through TSA, they can enjoy the artwork. Also, for those coming to pick up a passenger, there are exhibitions in some of the baggage claim areas.
“I think it has been a bright spot for a lot of people,” Cifarelli said. “I would say for passengers as well as for the LAX employees. Art is one of those things that connect us as people. It reminds us we are all in this together and we can still have moments of beauty and creativity and humor. Art provides a bright spot, something else to consider, to think about and to enjoy when there are some days that it might feel really bleak.”
Teachers Exhibition and Therman Statom Visit
When our TEACHERS episode aired on PBS in September, the Craft in America Center had been busy putting up the accompanying exhibition. On November 12th, featured artist Therman Statom gave a talk preceding the opening reception, which brought in a most enthusiastic crowd to the Center. We were honored by the presence of other featured artist Mark Mitsuda and his family as well as artist/educator John Luebtow, who will be giving a lecture on December 10th at the Center. The Teachers exhibition, which presents selected work from the artists featured in the episode, allows for visitors to view crafts that correspond with what real working artists are teaching in educational institutions to students of all ages and backgrounds. The exhibit displays a variety of skills, from Navajo weaving, to glass blowing and ceramics.
As well as presenting us with a talk, Therman Statom collaborated with the Craft in America Center in order to bring his message of empowerment through art to fifth grade and middle school students at our LAUSD partner schools. Statom personally visited Rosewood Elementary and Clinton Middle School in order to provide them with a special workshop relating to his own work in painting, drawing, and glass. Following the in-school projects with Therman Statom, each class visited the Center in order to view the Teachers exhibition and participate in yet another craft-centered activity, on site.
