Publisher: Kenn Holsten
A free monthly e-newsletter from
Holsten Galleries, Stockbridge MA
Issue #5 - February/March 2003

• Quote of the Month
• Spring & Summer ARE Coming!
• 2003 Chihuly Studio Editions: Save 10%
• Trip to Seattle
• Fire and Form
• Artist of the Month: Steven Weinberg
• Staff Pick of the Month
• Upcoming Events

"I have spent my life as an explorer, searching for new ways to use glass and glassblowing. Glass is the most magical of all materials. To this day, I have never gotten over the excitement of molten glass."
Dale Chihuly

With three feet of snow on the ground, it is hard to believe that spring and summer are truly coming. Although hints of this notion are not obvious from nature, we know it is true because we are busy designing summer advertisements, lining up our exhibitions, preparing for SOFA-NY in late May and curating a summer glass exhibition at the Berkshire Museum. We are also preparing to go down to Florida for the ART FORM exhibtion March 6-11 where we will feature three one-person shows (Dante Marioni, Christopher Ries and Lino Tagliapietra). Please call us for free passes to the show or check the works out on our website.

Four new studio editions by Dale Chihuly have just arrived and they are the most spectacular ones to date! These unique editions are usually not released until May l, but Chihuly has made a limited number of them available to us now.

For this initial shipment of these studio editions, we are offering a 10% discount off of the retail and free shipping (a $100 value). We will also include a Chihuly book on the series and a plexiglass display vitrine. A few of the 2002 and earlier editions are still available and will go up in price on April 1.

The following prices are retail. You may deduct 10% from these prices.
“Paradise Persian,” $3000.
“Bonfire Baskets,” $4000.
“Radiant Persian Pair,” $4000.
“Moroccan Macchia Pair,” $6000.

We recently spent a couple of days in Seattle visiting the new Tacoma Glass Musuem and Bridge of Glass, and the studios of several of our artists including Chihuly and Dante Marioni. We recommed a visit to the new Museum next time you find yourselves in the Seattle area!

This exciting group glass exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL opened January 26 and runs through March 23. The show is curated by William Warmus and there is a handsome catalog/book which is available for purchase. Major installations by Dale Chihuly and Lino Tagliapietra are included in the exhibition and daily glassblowing demonstrations are part of the admission cost. For further information call the Norton at 561-832-5196.

Tagliapietra’s “Samba do Brasil,” which is in the exhibition, is available through our gallery. See this piece on Lino’s installation page on our website.

Steven Weinberg is an inventor, a visionary, a philosopher, an artist. His glass sculptures are contemplations of form, function, and metaphorical meaning. They bring us back to a way of being in which introspection feels natural; where the tools created to help us in our daily life are meant to be savored for their aesthetics as well as their usefulness.

He was among the first Americans to explore the use of glass as a non-utilitarian medium, reflecting more solid objects seen in Bohemia in the mid 20th century. Weinberg was also a forerunner in the U.S. in the use of cast glass, inventing and designing techniques and equipment used widely by glass artists today.

In a recent article in the Australian journal, “Craft Arts Internal,” Geoff Wichert said this about Weinberg’s “Boat” series:

“The relationship of boats to water is naturally antagonistic, yet boats are creatures of water, formed in every measure in response to it. They carry their human cargoes in peril in an otherwise inaccessible realm. Weinberg's boats open up this logical incongruity by abstracting the material qualities of water… Weinberg may be the closest thing in glass to a magic realist. His depictions always have what Jorge Luis Borges called, “that measure of irrealism indispensable in art’”

His work is represented internationally in the permanent collections of over thirty major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Musee des Art Decoratif, Palais du Louvre in Paris, and The Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Visit the Steven Weinberg section on our website to see many beautiful works currently available at the gallery.

^ Return to Top

“Pease Ledge Boat” by Steven Weinberg

To view this piece, click here.

We all believe that the current “Boat” series by Steven Weinberg is among his best works ever and our staff pick is certainly one of the best examples of this series that we have seen. Here are our reasons for choosing this piece:

JIM SCHANTZ, GALLERY CO-DIRECTOR:
"‘Pease Ledge Boat’ represents the culmination of the ‘Boat’ series that Steve Weinberg has been working on for the past several years. I enjoy the luminosity of the blue color and the lightness and transparency of the glass. This piece represents the perfection of the series."

MARY CHILDS, GALLERY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:
"Warm sun sparkling on the tips of gentle waves, lapping against the shore, blessed with a slight summer breeze: this is an image evoked by Weinberg’s ‘Pease Ledge Boat.’ It is a masterpiece in cast, cut, optical glass; clear, swirling cobalt with sea green, silver leaf and a hint of gold, embodying the depth, mystery, and joy of water."

KENN HOLSTEN, GALLERY OWNER-DIRECTOR:
"I have always loved the carefully placed bubbles in Weinberg’s work and the subtle trails from the bubbles down to the bottom layers of the piece. In this piece, there is a quiet, still energy, like that at the bottom of the sea, and the bubbles just hang there in suspended animation. The shade of blue is also breathtaking.

To view this piece, click here.

March 6-11: ART FORM exhibition in West Palm Beach, FL. Holsten Galleries will present three one-person shows by Dante Marioni, Christopher Ries and Lino Tagliapietra. Complimentary passes available upon request.

March 15-May 15: Spring Group Glass Exhibition at our gallery: Dale Chihuly, Sidney Hutter, Dante Marioni, William Morris, Thomas Patti, Christopher Ries, Lino Tagliapietra and Steven Weinberg. Catalog available upon request.

May: Installation in our gallery of two new Chandeliers by Dale Chihuly.

May 30-June 2: SOFA-NEW YORK (Park Avenue Armory): Holsten Galleries will present three one-person shows by Latchezar Boyadjiev, Marvin Lipofsky and Martin Rosol.

May 18-August 30: “Masters of Contemporary Glass,” Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA (curated by Holsten Galleries).

June 14-August 24: “Myth, Object, and the Animal,” Installations by William Morris. Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA.

June-August: Stockbridge Glass Invitational (25 leading artists).

July 11-13: Glass Lovers’ Weekend, Contemporary Glass Center of American (CGCA), Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ. Biennial glass symposium and exhibition. Holsten Galleries wil present two one-person shows of Christopher Ries and Lino Tagliapietra. For further information call CGCA at 856-825-6800.

^ Return to Top

At Holsten Galleries, we pride ourselves in the personalized service we offer collectors around the world. No matter what your level of expertise, we can provide you with whatever information you need to make informed choices.

The best way to work with us is to give us a call or email. Please click on the Contact link above

We look forward to working with you.