facebookpixel
Select Page

Bursts of Light: Contemporary Glass at the IARC

Among the many cultural artworks cared for by the Indian Arts Research Center is a growing collection of glass art. We are proud to introduce this collection and celebrate the artists who express their diverse cultural heritages in hot glass, carved glass, and glass beadwork. While glass beads have been used in North American Indigenous art and culture since the sixteenth century, the inclusion of contemporary glass techniques took hold in 1970 at the Rhode Island School of Design, where Larry Ahvakana (Inupiaq) studied glass with Dale Chihuly, a founder of the modern Studio Glass Movement. Chihuly began his career in the 1960s, when an American innovation reduced the scale of the furnaces needed to heat glass, making it possible for individual artists to work on their own projects outside an industrial setting.

Within a decade, nearly one hundred glass programs were established in art schools and universities across the country. After his graduation in 1972, Ahvakana became part of that expansion when he founded the glass art program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, working and teaching with the equipment donated to the school by his mentor, Chihuly. His first student, Tony Jojola (Isleta Pueblo), was honored by the Wheelwright Museum with a solo exhibition entitled Born of Fire in 2000. Today, the number of Native American glass artists continues to grow in art programs across the country and at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, where Preston Singletary (Tlingit) is a trustee. The IARC has supported this innovative medium through its artist fellowship program over the last three decades by including artists who specialize in and experiment with glass and glass beads.

HOT GLASS

I have always loved and admired Hopi pottery and glassblowing allows me to express this love and admiration in a way that does not violate or overstep cultural boundaries.Ramson Lomatewama

Hot glass, melted in a furnace, is gathered on the end of a blow pipe and expands with the breath of the artist. While still molten, the glass is shaped by the artist’s hand with wood and metal tools that round, elongate, or compress the molten material. It is a fluid medium that by its nature can fuse disparate ideas, colors, and forms. But it is also a demanding medium that requires patience, dexterity, and strength. The finished form embodies the aesthetic of risk inherent in the challenge to maintain the fluid state of the glass that demands constant rotation and repeated returns to the furnace on the end of a heavy metal pipe. A video of Ramson Lomatewama at work offers a glimpse of the meticulous process of creating a blown glass vessel.

Glass artist Ramson Lomatewama demonstrates the hot glass technique while talking about his artwork.
Steve Northup 1968
Hopi glass artist Ramson Lomatewama was an SAR Rollin and Mary Ella King Native artist fellow in 2005.
Ramson Lomatewama. Jar, 2006. Glass. SAR.2006-1-3. Photo by Addison Doty.
Ramson Lomatewama. Jar, 2006. Glass. SAR.2006-1-1. Photo by Addison Doty.
Steve Northup 1968
Ramson Lomatewama. Jar, 2006. Glass. SAR.2006-1-2. Photo by Addison Doty.

SLUMPED AND FUSED GLASS

When I’m weaving or I’m making kapa, I’m understanding that material. That understanding then allows you to take those same processes and conceptual ideas and move them to a contemporary material. You’re doing the same thing, and that’s what makes it Hawaiian.—Maile Andrade

The processes of slumping and fusing glass take place in a kiln heated to about 1110°F. In the kiln, a flat piece of glass is placed over a mold and heated until it becomes soft and gradually flows under its own weight to take shape by slumping around or into the mold. Similarly, separate pieces of glass can be fused in the kiln by placing them adjacent to each other. When heated, the boundaries of the glass soften and fuse to the adjoining glass. Maile Andrade uses both methods to create the disparate forms of her work.

Maile Andrade speaking about the glasswork she completed while in residence at SAR.
Face To Face with Maile Andrade
Maile Andrade (Native Hawaiian) was the 2012 Eric and Barbara Dobkin Native artist fellow.
Glass plate, “Observation Without Judgement,” Maile Andrade (Native Hawaiian), 2012, glass, pigments, 10-1/16 x 10-1/16 x 1-7/8 in. Photo by Addison Doty. Cat. no. SAR.2012-3-2.
Maile Andrade. Observation Without Judgement, 2012. Glass. SAR.2012-3-2. Photo by Addison Doty.
Maile Andrade. Glass plate, 2012. Glass. SAR.2012-3-1. Photo by Addison Doty.
Steve Northup 1968
The Preciousness Is the Making.
Blog post by Sarah Soliz.

CARVED GLASS

Sculpting glass in its cold, solid state is similar in technique to the subtractive process of carving stone. Glass can be carved with acid, hand tools, or power equipment that polishes, cuts, grinds, or blasts sand in a fine stream. The glass body that is carved may be blown, cast, or reclaimed from other processes. Lena Boone gathers glass from many sources including fragments of Italian Murano glass and slag glass—a by-product of metal smelting. In speaking about how she learned the process, she notes, “My grandfather was Teddy Weahkee and I remember seeing him and my mom working on fetishes, which were religious items at the time. I grew up with the art. Eventually, I started carving my own pieces [in 1972]. I enjoyed it!”

 

The common name for this type of Zuni carving is “fetish.” Jim Enote, former director of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center at Zuni, New Mexico, and Octavius Seowtewa, Zuni cultural advisor, explain why this is incorrect and discuss the difference between a fetish and a carving. Video recorded and edited by Gloria Bell.
Face To Face with Maile Andrade
Several of Lena Boone’s carvings are cared for at SAR, including ones made from selenite and serpentine.
Steve Northup 1968
Lena Boone. Carved bird figure, before 2005. Murano glass and turquoise. SAR.2005-20-135.
Glass plate, “Observation Without Judgement,” Maile Andrade (Native Hawaiian), 2012, glass, pigments, 10-1/16 x 10-1/16 x 1-7/8 in. Photo by Addison Doty. Cat. no. SAR.2012-3-2.
Unknown artist. Glass turtle carving, before 2007. Glass and coral. SAR.2007-1-44.
Unknown artist. Carved glass turtle, before 2007. Glass and turquoise. SAR.2007-1-154.

GLASS BEADS

Any sort of tedious, repetitive work like this is meditation. You experience a calmness when you’re doing this work.—Marcus Amerman

Indigenous people of this continent first created beads from stone, bone, and shell. European glass beads were introduced through trade in the sixteenth century. The first glass beads were precious and used individually to decorate personal items, similar to the techniques of Linda Aguilar, Carol Emarthle-Douglas, and Glenda McKay, who attach single beads to their artwork for embellishment. Smaller translucent beads introduced in trade during the nineteenth century revolutionized the possibilities of style and technique. Woodland communities created brilliant fields of color in more intricate and organic designs by embroidering countless small beads onto clothing and accessories. In the Great Plains, beads were used to decorate clothing and horse regalia with extravagant designs identifiable from great distances. During the devastating reservation period of the late nineteenth century, women created the most elaborate beadwork by covering entire garments with beaded pictorial scenes and geometric designs. Today, contemporary artists like Marcus Amerman and Teri Greeves extend this artistic legacy into the twenty-first century.

1. Teri Greeves and her sister Keri Ataumbi speak about their work with fellow beadworker, Kenneth Williams. 2. Glenda McKay talks about her work process. 3. Carol Emarthle-Douglas speaks about her work process.
Face To Face with Maile Andrade
Teri Greeves (Kiowa) was the 2003 Eric and Barbara Dobkin Native artist fellow at SAR.
Glass plate, “Observation Without Judgement,” Maile Andrade (Native Hawaiian), 2012, glass, pigments, 10-1/16 x 10-1/16 x 1-7/8 in. Photo by Addison Doty. Cat. no. SAR.2012-3-2.
Teri Greeves. My Family’s Tennis Shoes, 2003. Mixed media. SAR.2003-16-1A-D. Photo by Addison Doty.
Marcus Amerman
Choctaw beadworker Marcus Amerman was at SAR in 2004 as the Ronald and Susan Dubin Native artist fellow.
Steve Northup 1968
Marcus Amerman. Photograph of beaded vest, 2006. AVA.2006-1-1. Photo gifted to SAR by artist.
Linda Aguilar
Chumash basketweaver Linda Aguilar was SAR’s 2011 Eric and Barbara Dobkin Native artist fellow.
Glass plate, “Observation Without Judgement,” Maile Andrade (Native Hawaiian), 2012, glass, pigments, 10-1/16 x 10-1/16 x 1-7/8 in. Photo by Addison Doty. Cat. no. SAR.2012-3-2.
Linda Aguilar. The Bingo One, 2011. Mixed media. Photo by Addison Doty.
Marcus Amerman
Linda Aguilar. Horsehair basket, before 2013. Horsehair, glass beads, thread, abalone shell. SAR.2016-1-3. Photo by Addison Doty.
Steve Northup 1968
Linda Aguilar. Horsehair basket, before 2016. Horsehair, fiber, glass beads, shell. SAR.2016-1-4. Photo by Addison Doty.
Glenda McKay
Glenda McKay (Ingalik-Athabascan) was the 2013 Ronald and Susan Dubin Native artist fellow at SAR.
Glass plate, “Observation Without Judgement,” Maile Andrade (Native Hawaiian), 2012, glass, pigments, 10-1/16 x 10-1/16 x 1-7/8 in. Photo by Addison Doty. Cat. no. SAR.2012-3-2.
Glenda McKay. Basket Maker, 2013. Mixed media. SAR.2014-1-1. Photo by Addison Doty.
Carol Emarthle-Douglas
Carol Emarthle-Douglas was the 2016 Ronald and Susan Dubin Native artist fellow and is Northern Arapaho and Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
Steve Northup 1968
Carol Emarthle-Douglas. Round Dance, 2016. Mixed media. SAR.2017-6-1AB. Photo by Addison Doty.