E-Newsletter : Issue #049 June 2012

June 2012

Holsten Galleries
newsletter

Note from Kenn Holsten

Summer Greetings! I hope you are all well and enjoying summer. This month I have some exciting new works to share with you and a new artist to introduce. I hope you enjoy this message and I look forward to hearing from you.!

Featured Work

Riverstone by Lino Tagliapietra
This is one Lino Tagliapietra piece that some of you might not instantly recognize as his. In fact, the Riverstone series is one of the Maestro’s more unusual bodies of work. To begin with, the form is much more straight forward than that of many other series. Secondly, this piece is opaque and therefore does not allow us to see both front and back simultaneously. What, then, makes this piece so compelling? To me it is the painterly nature of the center band of color. The black background provides a dramatic canvas for the bold abstract painterly section in the middle of the piece.

Introducing Harry Pollitt

Mythic Fire by Harry Pollitt
Last week I had lunch with a local collector and a “new” glass artist that he was eager to introduce me too. Naturally I went on line and had a good look at this artist’s work prior to the luncheon. These days I very rarely add new artists to my virtual gallery but in this case I was delighted to be introduced to some of the most beautiful cast glass sculpture I’ve seen. Harry Pollitt is not actually a “new” artist as he had been sculpting in wood for more than four decades before turning to the medium of glass a few years ago. As a wood artist, Harry has shown in top galleries in both the U.S. and abroad. As a glass artist, his work is fairly new on the scene and is bound to attract a lot of attention amongst glass aficionados. When I visited Harry’s studio, I was impressed by the fluid, graceful forms, the use of negative space, the wonderful colors and the hand sanded (after all he’s a wood artist!) surfaces which are soft and velvety. Please take a look at holstengalleries.com/artists/show/pollitt-53 to see and learn more!

Additional Featured Works

Aqua Joe by Jon Kuhn
This new “multigon” (Jon’s term—it has 26 sides) by Jon Kuhn is luminously beautiful. Its many facets give it a gem like appearance and the interior colors of the core material draw us inevitably into the inner magic of the piece. Looking at the image of this glass sculpture one begins to imagine how it must be all the more intriguing in person, particularly when it is turned slowly on its metal base.

2011 Studio Editions by Dale Chihuly
I’m revisiting these images of Chihuly’s 2011 Studio Editions to remind you that all four pieces from last year are still available. Each of the four editions is from a signature Chihuly series and each shows different aspects of Dale’s extraordinary creativity.

Seattle In July

For those of you who plan to be in the Seattle area this summer, July offers at least 2 more excellent reasons to travel there. Lino Tagliapietra has a large exhibition opening at the Tacoma Museum of Glass on July 14. My wife Christine and I plan to be there to celebrate yet one more milestone in Lino Tagliapietra’s long and illustrious career. Also, as mentioned last month, Dale Chihuly’s new “Chihuly Garden and Glass” installation is now open at Seattle Center (where the space needle is) and well worth a visit.

Thank you, enjoy your summer and stay in touch!

Kenn Holsten

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