16:9 — Reframing Glass

media release: How can we reframe glass? Can we view it through a different lens?

Emceed by visiting artist and critic May Maylisa Cat, 16:9—Reframing Glass is a film festival screening a diverse collection of works from UW Glass alumna, exploring themes such as: identity, culture, language, surveillance, and superstition. Centering glass and video as primary mediums, this curation also dives into performance art and materiality, showcasing the interplay between tradition and innovation. This event aims to foster an understanding of glass and see how artists are interpreting this fascinating medium anew.

16:9—Reframing Glass coincides with the Chazen Museum’s Look What Harvey Did exhibition, which is a collection of classic American Studio Glass. The Chazen exhibition foregrounds the indelible 1962 seminal narrative of American Studio Glass movement at UW-Madison, which introduced hot glass as a contemporary art medium. This event takes inspiration not only from Harvey Littleton but also from his predecessor and two-time Guggenheim awardee, Edris Eckhardt. Drawing from Eckhardt’s work, 16:9—Reframing Glass invites viewers to peer through “the looking glass”—a new lens of glass practice via video and performance—from the perspectives of femme protagonists.

When: Thursday, February 29, 2024 | 5:00-8:00p

5:00-6:00p | Hot Glass & Sweet Treats Reception

Live Flameworking Demonstrations on the Wisconsin FireWagon by Chemistry Department Scientific Glassblowers Tracy Drier and Lauren Aria

Sugarblowing Demonstration by Food Science PhD Candidate and Sugarblower Damielle Hieber

Treats from the UW Candy School (Confectionary Technology)

Ask-a-Materials Scientist with Dr. Richard Hartel, professor of food science

6:00-8:00p | 16:9—Reframing Glass with May Maylisa Cat Glass Film Festival

5:00-8:00p | Exhibition Viewing

Look What Harvey Did: Harvey K. Littleton’s Legacy in the Simona and Jerome Chazen Collection of Studio Glass exhibition open for viewing 

Where: Chazen Museum of Art | 800 University Ave, Madison, WI 53706

Program Fee: Free

Learn more about this special event by visiting: go.wisc.edu/reframingglass

This Glass Madison Public Program is supported by the Chazen Museum of Art, PLACE, the Evjue Foundation, the UW-Madison Glass Lab in the Department of Art, the Department of Chemistry, and the Department of Food Science Candy School. The partnership with PLACE was made possible by the generosity of the School of Education Dean’s Office.

more on the exhibit:

The exhibition Look What Harvey Did: Harvey K. Littleton’s Legacy in the Simona and Jerome Chazen Studio Glass Collection uses select works from this acclaimed studio glass collection to celebrate the creative ingenuity that artist and educator Harvey K. Littleton inspired as a founder of the studio glass movement. Even though the Simona and Jerry Chazen’s glass art collection spans primarily the last decades of the twentieth century, the show promises an illuminating perspective on how Littleton’s advocacy of glass as a vehicle for contemporary expression evolved into a recognized movement that continues to impact twenty-first-century art.

On exhibit Nov. 6-Aug. 16. 23–24 winter closure: Dec. 23, 2023–Jan. 12, 2024.

Beginning his affiliation with the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1951 as head of ceramics, Littleton organized the seminal 1962 Toledo Museum of Art workshops that enabled artist-craftsmen in ceramics to explore glass. Shortly thereafter, on UW–Madison’s campus he established America’s first university-level, hot glass program.

Until Littleton’s intervention, except for a few forerunners, glass was used primarily in factories for functional wares. Littleton’s approach eliminated the rift between designer and fabricator that invariably plagued production in these shop settings over the centuries while empowering artists to work with glass within the confines of their studios. During the early years of studio glass, in their respective ways, artists in the Chazen’s personal collection—such as American artist Dale Chihuly, Czech artists Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová, and Italian artist Lino Tagliepietra—demonstrated the necessity for collaboration and teamwork. Other artists, such as Howard Ben Tré and Bertil Vallien, incorporated specific resources from particular glass factories into their own studio practices. Littleton’s call for glass artists to de-emphasize technique in favor of content was heard internationally. American Michael Aschenbrenner and Australian Scott Chaseling address topical issues from the last decade of the twentieth century in their works. Concept and narrative are now central to glass art.  In addition, the demographics of glassmaking have changed over the years. Pioneers such as Mary Shaffer, Toots Zynsky, and Therman Statom have paved the way for women and people of color in the contemporary glass field.   In these and many other ways, Littleton’s Legacy:  The Simona and Jerome Chazen Collection of Studio Glass is a persuasive testament to the far-reaching vision of Harvey K. Littleton.

Look What Harvey Did is guest-curated by Davira S. Taragin for the Chazen Museum of Art.