Hampton Roads could be next center for glass arts

Glass is chemistry. It's the mixing of sand and soda ash and lime.

Likewise, glass art relies on chemistry. Those eye-popping explosions of color frozen in glass sculptures are made possible by a personal chemistry, based on trust and camaraderie, among teams of glassworkers.

To make glass art thrive in a region, another kind of chemistry is required - a synergy among artists and art schools and dealers and collectors and critics and just plain fans. All of those people, excited together.

That's what it took to turn Seattle into the world's center for contemporary glass art. And all that chemistry, on all those levels, is precisely what it would take to transform Hampton Roads into the Seattle of the East Coast.

With that aspiration, "Art of Glass 2" kicks off this week, bringing some of the world's finest glass art to the region with shows at nearly two dozen venues. The event builds on a similar festival, also spread among numerous galleries and museums, held in 1999.

The headlining show, opening Wednesday at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, features work by Italian glass master Lino Tagliapietra, widely revered as the world's greatest glassblower.

"World" comes up a lot in conversations about glass art, because what is happening in American glass gets noticed in international art circles. Many of the world's best glass artists live in the United States, and most of them are in Seattle.

Still, during "Art of Glass 2," which continues into July, Hampton Roads will be the top place in the world to see glass art, said Maurine Littleton, owner of a Washington, D.C., glass gallery that bears her name.

"And that is an exceptional achievement," she said.

Patrons and art experts, more than artists, are behind the push to turn the region into a haven for glass art.

This area hasn't garnered much national attention for visual arts. Glass could change that.

Glass resonates here, all the way back to Jamestown, and more recently in the internationally known glass collection at the Chrysler Museum of Art.

It's still relatively affordable to collect, and the magic of the medium - how'd they do that?! - draws art novices and scholars alike. If it really took off, a glass scene also might lure more tourists.

"We aren't there yet, but we sure are moving fast in the right direction," said Bill Hennessey, director of the Chrysler Museum.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm already in place, and a comprehension of what could be," said Andrew Fine of Virginia Beach, co-chairman of "Art of Glass 2" with Suzanne Mastracco of Norfolk. Both spearheaded the area's first "Art of Glass" festival in 1999, and each has served on the boards of local visual arts institutions.

But what is Seattle like in terms of the glass scene, and how do we compare?

When glass fans mention Seattle, they often mean the entire Pacific Northwest, where thousands of glass artists have set up studios in the past three decades or so. The phenomenon dates to 1971, when Dale Chihuly founded Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash., north of Seattle. He was among the first students of Harvey Littleton, Maurine Littleton's father, who started the American studio glass movement in 1962 by staging workshops in Toledo, Ohio, on small-scale glassblowing. Littleton showed artists how they could set up a furnace in their studios and make glass on their own, emphasizing sculptural expression.

Observers of the Seattle movement can all recount how it grew: After visiting Pilchuck, artists settled in the area and continued to study glassblowing. Galleries started up, patrons got enthused, more artists came to the area, more studios arose.

The artists are vital to building a scene, said William Traver, who owns the top glass gallery in Seattle.

"The artists themselves must be present," he said, as well as studios to work in and suppliers of glass and equipment.

"One thing feeds on another," Maurine Littleton said.

As a result, Seattle boasts the largest concentration of glass artists anywhere.

To top it off, the Museum of Glass, which opened in nearby Tacoma in 2002, presents shows and programs that add even more weight and substance to the scene. Tagliapietra's touring exhibition was organized by that museum.

Hampton Roads' glass connection began in 1608, when a few glassblowers came over with some colonists and settled at Jamestown. Because of the profusion of lumber in the new world, glass was chosen as the first attempt at industry here, though the effort only lasted about a year.

In 1957, for the 350th Jamestown anniversary, a glassblowing studio was set up near the original site, and it still operates as a Historic Jamestowne attraction.

"One of my students works at Jamestowne," said Ed Francis, who runs the 6-year-old glass program at Tidewater Community College's Visual Arts Center at Olde Towne in Portsmouth.

All of the visionaries point to TCC's glass curriculum as the top result of the original "Art of Glass." Francis said his former student, Nate Windley, is the only one so far to find a way to make a living blowing glass. Two other students went on to study glass at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. TCC's is a two-year program and has 71 students.

When the Chrysler Museum opened in 1971, it boasted one of the top glass collections in the nation, and still does. Since 1999, the museum has built up its contemporary collection and now owns 150 objects, said Kelly Conway, curator of glass. That's still a small percentage of the overall, 10,000-piece collection, but large by any general museum's standards. Also, its 135-member Glass Associates club is shifting its emphasis to include contemporary.

Ten years ago, the area had six to eight serious glass collectors, Fine said. "Now there are 50 to 60."

In 1999, 10 affiliate groups provided glass shows and programs. This time, 21 affiliates came up with offerings.

Several dozen regional artists have embraced glass, and most of those are or have been members of the 22-year-old Peninsula Glass Guild. Only a few of its 35 or so members use a furnace, however. Most do casting and other nonfurnace methods, said Ali Rogan, who has exhibited glass through that group and on her own since 1989. She's been studying glassblowing at TCC and plans to set up a small furnace soon.

Rogan and fellow artist Heather Hartle operated one of the few Hampton Roads galleries to feature glass. Cristallo Art and Glass Studio opened in 1999 in Williamsburg. Sales were up and down, but eventually did not warrant all the effort. They closed in 2005.

"We decided to cut our losses and shift our energy into creating bodies of work."

Other galleries that carried contemporary glass and have since closed include Kane Marie Galleries in Virginia Beach and the Electric Glass Co. in Hampton.

If Hampton Roads wants to become a glass art center, it must be able to support a high-quality gallery that champions major as well as local glass artists, said Linda Boone, owner of Habatat Galleries in Michigan, who has carried Seattle glass since 1971.

Attitudes must change for that to happen, Rogan said.

"The potential is here, but all the big collectors are buying the big names." Once patrons begin acquiring work by local artists, "you'll see things flourish."

Matthew Fine of Virginia Beach, son of Andrew Fine, has made progress toward a national reputation for his work, which is a blend of cast glass and stone. He has shown in a top gallery, and has sold locally, too.

While there are more area collectors, there's still not the mass of gifted artists. Francis' program could remedy that, but he needs more opportunities for his students, he said.

Andrew Fine has a solution in mind. So does Hennessey.

"What I'm hoping is we'll be able to generate funding for a studio where world-renowned people can come and work," Fine said. He believes the studio could foster a movement, the way Pilchuck did.

"We could be turning out students and artists who would then find an audience, and the market would follow," Fine said.

Hennessey said he would love it if a state-of-the-art glassblowing facility could operate right next to the Chrysler Museum.

"It's a dream we've had forever. All we need is the resources," Hennessey said.

"I have to believe it's going to happen."

Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com