JayneDuryea - 25 Works 25 Years in Glass - March 5, 2013 - Art at Creative Connections Gallery in Corpus Christi, Texas

Foreword

The 25 Works, 25 Years in Glass, 1988 - 2013 exhibition is a beautiful illustration of Jayne Duryea’s commitment to glass, both as an advocate of the tradition and as a primary medium for contemporary sculptural works. Over the 15 years I’ve known her, I’ve mostly seen her work in the studio, or displayed in her home, or a handful of pieces here and there. Her 2012 solo show at the Beeville Art Museum was significant because it brought together a large number of objects that revealed various trajectories current in her recent work, from paintings, drawings, and assemblages of smaller objects to some of her writings and thoughts on her own creative, spiritual, and meditative practice.

Yet for many of us her enthusiasm, knowledge, and gift for working in glass predominates, and it’s gratifying to see a substantial body of these works, spanning 25 years of production, all together at once in an exhibition with a single material focus. The range of her technique and choices in form, color, scale, and presentation are in keeping with her intuitive approach to the creative process, and to life in general. The presentation of these contemporary glass sculptures on antique stands seems quintessentially Jayne, to those of us who know and love her. It encapsulates one of her defining characteristics as an artist, and as a spiritual being: resolving the tensions between tradition, memory, and moving through life in the present, contemporary world.

While her early abstract paintings reveled in the sheer pleasure of working with paint, the more recent ones tend toward a more representational treatment of similar themes revolving around the intuitive, personal memories of place, context, and relationship. The glass works develop similar themes of color and light, of memory and intuitive association, and of resolving disparate elements to reveal some internal truth that cannot be otherwise articulated – or that is at least more beautifully expressed in physical form.

— Diana Lyn Roberts

Statement From the Artist

I want to thank you, Creative Connections, for the invitation to exhibit in this wonderful Historical museum space of the Merriman-Bobys House, Heritage District, Corpus Christi, Texas.

This exhibition is entitled, “25 Works, 25 years in Glass, 1988 – 2013”. A survey of glass works produced over my 25 years in hot glass. I have displayed the contemporary glass on antique stands as a reference to the duality of; “The juxtaposition of Contemporary Glass and the Antique”, an interesting concept to me.

Art photo - Whirling
The inspiration for glass began in the 1960’s. When I was young, maybe 7 or 8 years old, I had the opportunity to see glass blowing as a young child. It was a dark sultry brick building with glowing sticks of light in a small glass factory in Riverhead, New York. It was magical! I have since returned to that location and found that it is now a residence home with some of the bricks and history incorporated into it's design.

Some many years later, in 1988, I was again introduced to glass during a Texas Association Schools of Art Conference in Junction, Texas. Then, Bill Bagley, an art professor from Texas Tech University, gave a glass blowing demonstration for the group. Again, it was magical! I then spent a week with Bill soaking up his knowledge of glass. My delight in glass was unbearable! I continued with warm glass fusing and slumping as there were no facilities for Hot Glass in South Texas. Bill Bagley, Texas Tech University in Lubbock and Matthew Labarbera, “Fire Island” in Austin, were all that existed. Robert Willson was living in San Antonio and blowing glass in Murano, Italy at that time which I knew nothing about.

Knowing this dilemma, I secured a small seed grant from a private foundation and began the process of establishing glass blowing facilities at Coastal Bend College. The private foundation offered us the opportunity to develop glass and has continued their support yearly.

Texas Tech University closed glass due to the death of Bill Bagley in 2000. However, it does continue today at the Junction site in the summer with Angie Health, one of Bills graduates and a CBC workshop participant.

Other schools, such as University of Texas at Arlington - Jim Bowman (Bill Bagley student) and West Texas State University - Darold Smith (Jayne Duryea student) and Mary Harden Baylor University - Hershal Seals (Jayne Duryea student) have set up glass since. There are now hundreds of private glass blowing facilities across the state. Many of whom were glass students from Coastal Bend College.

I have been teaching at Coastal Bend College since 1981 and in 1990 the first academic glass classes began. Coastal Bend College is the oldest academic glass blowing facility in the state. Glass was so new for South Texas that in 1989, the Art Museum of South Texas gave me a show in the down stairs entry way of my very first small glass works.

The techniques of glass blowing are many. The chemical make up of hot glass in particular, COE, can be a problem as there are many types of glass which are not always compatible. We use recycled glass from the community with a batch of a few particular chemicals to make it more pliable, clear and hold heat longer. The glass studio is state of the art with two 250 pound day tanks, 3 top loading and one front loading Lehr annealing ovens, two Glorie holes, and all the other necessary equipment for a Hot Shop. Students learn the traditional offhand techniques of glass blowing as well as technical and maintenance of the studio. They come away with quite an experience in sculpture, physics and beautiful contemporary hot glass objects. As Director of the Simon Micheal Gallery at CBC, we have had many contemporary studio glass exhibitions over the years. “Contemporary Texas Glass” and “Classy Glassy Women”, to name a few. Our annual glass workshop is held every spring where guest artist are invited to participate. Marvin Lipofsky has given quite a few workshops and Ed Schmid, author and artist, has as well. One can view the workshop events at www.Youtube.com/jayneduryea and www.JayneDuryea.com.

I teach traditional offhand Italian glass techniques of blown and solid work. These techniques are the new contemporary studio glass. There is nothing new under the sun, only new experiences and new expressions through new creative people. Unlike Italy in the past, America offers the opportunity to be free, a new liberation, a hunger for technical knowledge, an artistic expression in glass as opposed to the constraints of tradition of the glass factories in Murano. The most esteemed teacher today is Lino Tagliapietra. He has brought the traditional Venetian techniques, as a Maestro, to us and become an artist in his own right from his American experiences. Before he came to the states in 1979, he was a factory production worker on the island of Murano, Italy. Glass in Italy is now changed forever as well.

I am a painter who now moves between many types of media for my expression. The delightful curiosity of nature, particular the color and light quality are my major concerns and can be seen in either two dimensional or three dimensional forms. It is the “essence” of my expression and the process of delightful encounter that truly intrigues me. To live a creative encounter so to speak. The life of Art or the art of Life… it is all the same to me.

In 1993, I spent 6 months in France to see if I could juggle the two mediums of paint and glass. Some artist friends had said that “I must concentrate on only one”. So off I went and found that I can do both! I work in many media and use what is of interest to me at that time. It is not the media but the expression and the experience is what interests me. I spent time at ADAC the only glass facility in Paris at the time, painted plein air, visiting museums, cathedrals, and the life of a bohemian.

Moving to a small village in the south of France was a major turning point. Chateauneuf de Grasse offered me the opportunity of far greater plein air work and glass at Biot, International Gallerie Du Verres as well as working with glass blowers, Robert Perini and spending time with Marinot the grand daughter of Maurice Marinot and Navaro.

Hot sculptured glass is beyond the two dimensional painting aspect of creativity to the three dimensional expression of my need to complete the cycle. Glass is the natural choice as it is extremely fluid and alive. It constantly surprises and inspires me to push the limits of glass beyond the realm of understanding. A meditative dance, it influences me as I influence it, until the collaboration is done.

As Alfredo Barbini once said, “You do not force glass, you follow glass.”

My influences are many yet one in particular stands out, Robert Willson, an amazing glass artist and dear friend who has since passed on. The last few years of his life, He and his wife Margaret and I would go to Murano, Italy together. Robert and I would take the “vaporeto” daily from Venice to Murano through the canals and out into the Mediterranean Sea to arrive at the ARS Murano Glass Factory to work for the day. There is no match to working with hot molten glass on the end of a blow pipe. The works produced were magical then and the Italian influence was all that one could imagine. The hot sculpted glass work in this exhibition titled, “Le Fleur” is my only work in my collection from that time period. I keep in touch with Murina at the factory and will return some day.

Hot shops are many in Texas and across the United States. From the pulse of the glass world, I suspect that contemporary glass will become the new “Impressions” of our time originating in the United States. This is evident in that contemporary glass enthusiast are feverishly collecting contemporary glass and not the beautiful crystal of their grandparents as seen in the recent closing of the Steuben crystal glass factory in New York.

Contemporary glass is a relatively new media for artistic expression in the United States, just 50 years old last year. The Studio Glass movement began in 1962 with a ceramic professor, Harvey Littleton and a chemist, Dominick Labino working outside the factory setting of industrial and utilitarian production. Contemporary glass in the United States has grown exponentially and exploration is moving faster than believed possible. With the flooding of the market in the last 10 years of Chinese knock-offs of production craft and vessel forms being sold at a minimum, everyone can now enjoy hand blown production glass work. Due to this, contemporary glass in the United States has been hurled into the use of glass as a true sculptural media for expression and no longer the historical production craft that it has been in the past. The glass artist, Chihuly, has pushed glass over the top with the massive sculptural installations produced by his team in the past few years. One can see works beyond the scope of simple craft to full blown hot sculptured works never seen or imagined before. The expression is unlimited and daunting in its scope and as to the distance in expression, it is never ending. We have just begun to touch the surface of where contemporary glass will venture.

It is unimaginable today.

— Jayne Duryea 2013

About Jayne Duryea

Originally from New York, Jayne Duryea has been a resident of South Texas since 1981. Currently she is Division Chair of Fine Arts and Kinesiology at Coastal Bend College in Beeville, Texas. She has been Division Chair since 1989 and also Director of the Simon Michael Gallery.

Her expression is realized through sculptured hot glass and painting, which are also courses and workshops she teaches throughout the year. Jayne attributes a deeper enrichment of her work — both painting and glass — to a six-month sabbatical in France, and an opportunity to study glass-blowing at Murano glass factories in Italy. “Light and color, along with a return to nature, are the key elements of my artwork”, stated the artist.

Jayne is a member of the Texas Fine Arts Association, Glass Art Society, American Association of University Women, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and has been nominated as “Texas Artist of the Year” two years in a row (2008-2009 and 2009-2010).

Her work can be found in many private and permanent collections throughout the States, Canada, Cayman Islands and France; including the Rockwell Foundation, Houston, Texas, the National Museum of Women, Archives, Washington, D.C. and the Corning Museum of Glass, Archives, Corning, New York.

About Merriman-Bobys House

The Merriman‐Bobys House is the second oldest structure existing in Corpus Christi. (The oldest is the Centennial House located at 411 Upper Broadway.) The structure was built in 1851 by Walter Merriman, a lawyer and land developer. The house was used as a hospital during the Civil War and the yellow fever epidemic of 1867. Nearly one‐third of the population, including Corpus Christi’s only three doctors, died in the epidemic. The house had many owners over the years, including prominent ranchers who used it as a town home. Mr. & Mrs. Ernest Bobys purchased the house in 1936 and the local chapter of the Texas Poetry Society held meetings here. Morris Lichtenstein bought the house and later donated it to the City in 1981. It was moved from its original location on the Bluff in 1982 and restored by the Corpus Christi Arts Council. This is probably the most unique structure in Heritage Park, yet the most typical of early Corpus Christi architecture. The open porch and shellcrete fireplace are good examples of Early Texas regional architecture. The three distinctive gables are the result of additions to the original structure which was built with native wood and square nails. The front entry includes a raised panel door bordered by sidelights and a full transom.

Heritage Park is the site of twelve historical Corpus Christi homes, the oldest dating back to 1851. Many of the homes are recorded as Texas Historical Landmarks and all have been beautifully restored. These twelve incredible homes are a tribute to the ethnic diversity and culture of the area. The Multicultural Center, located in the historic Galvan House, provides several events year round, giving visitors and residents alike a taste of the rich culture and tradition of the area. The Center also includes a Courtyard, Central Plaza and the Lytton Memorial Rose Garden.

About Creative Connections

Creative Connections is located in the historic Heritage Park Merriman-Bobys home. Open for public tours as the second oldest home in Corpus Christi. It offers an Art Gallery, Artist Studios and Gift Shop, and Art workshops to increase artistic and cultural awareness.