Publisher: Kenn Holsten
A free monthly e-newsletter from
Holsten Galleries, Stockbridge MA
Issue #12 – February/March 2005

• Quote of the Month
• Artist of the Month: Hiroshi Yamano
• New Chihuly Studio Editions Release
• Calendar

“Mystery is the hidden companion of joy and of loss, both of which are deeply felt but not always understood. We think we know these fundamental emotions until we try to summon them; only later do we realize they are not something we can control. The feelings arrive unannounced, and we must be willing to recognize and embrace them fully. Our creativity and intuition access endless magic. If we draw on them…many of our learned notions dissolve, bringing us to a place of liquid contemplation.”

William Morris
Cinerary Urn Catalogue for the 2003 American Craft Museum Show, New York 2003

When an accomplished glass artist like Hiroshi Yamano creates a self portrait, a blue, thick-lipped fish emerges as an unexpected image. Japan’s most notable glass artist, has created the perfect reflection of Self.

Yamano received an MA from Chuo University; an MFA fro the Rochester Institute of Technology, and studied at the Tokyo Glass Art institute and California College of Arts and Crafts. The recipient of numerous awards, he has worked and taught at the Pilchuck School in Seattle, Waterford Crystal Factory in Ireland, and Penland School in North Carolina. “Migratory Fish have to carry on swimming to stay alive. I feel that this is common in my life too. Ever since I realized that, I have put fish in my work,” says Yamano, a lover of the outdoors.

Yamano’s artistic creation married to life’s experience births extraordinary results. After living away from home for several years, he resisted creating work that was Japanese, but the beauty of the mountains, valleys, and rivers reminded him of being Asian, and he decided to incorporate his roots into his work. “I wanted to create something as someone from the East but straddling Eastern and Western cultures.”

Since 1988, his body of work has been titled “From East to West”. “In ‘Fish Catcher’, I wanted to recreate the world in glass.” Yamano begins with a thick, blown-glass bowl, which is covered with silver and copper leaf and etched with schools of fish. A chemical and electroplating process creates a patina reminiscent of Japanese work from the 1500s. Cut into the surface, flat and concave facets provide transparent portholes through which the reflection of light and the reflections of the fish create the illusion of activity inside the bowl…

In some pieces, Yamano creates a separate, three dimensional fish that rests on the bottom of the hollow interior. In others, the head or tail protrudes through a hole. In wide mouth pieces, two or three fish hang into the interior by tails crooked over the lip. Such metaphors represent Yamano’s struggle with being sometimes half in, sometimes half out, or fully immersed in his world. Unable to escape our own ethnicity, we all grapple with being comfortable in our own skin while striving toward world citizenship. Yamano’s (latest direction) illustrates a profound acceptance of this conflict. Instead of fish etched onto the work’s surface or swimming into or out of its core, the entire composition is shaped like a fish, it’s head pointed upward…

“Yamano exudes humility through lack of pretension. More poignantly, the artist bridges cultural gaps in the fascinating allure with which the work draws viewers deeper and deeper into his world, thus into their own.”        – Michael Hice

Hiroshi had a solo exhibition at Grand Crystal Museum in Taiwan from November 2, 2004 to January 15, 2005. During the show he taught in a workshop held at the museum.

tittot Museum

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April 1, 2005

The following editions will be released for purchase:

The prices of all editions from previous years will be raised by $500 as of April 1^st.

The prices of all editions from previous years will be raised by $500 as of April 1^st.

June 2-5: SOFA NY 2005, Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue and 67th Street, New York, NY. Holsten Galleries will represent four artists at SOFA NY 2005: Latchezar Boyadjiev, Martin Rosol, Christopher Ries, and Marvin Lipofsky. We are excited by their new work, and look forward to sharing it with you!

Please contact the gallery for catalogues and further information.

Dale Chihuly:

“The Sun at Kew Gardens”, May 28, 2005-January 15, 2006

“Chihuly: Los Angeles”, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CA. Through March 20, 2005

“Nijimi Night Floats”, Museum of Glass in Tacoma through May 31, 2005

“Wrapped in Tradition: The Chihuly Collection of American Indian Trade Blankets”, Gilcrease Mueum, Tulsa, Oklahoma through February 20, 2005

Dick Marquis:

“2005 Spice Box Invitational”, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA. April-August 2005

“Global Art Glass 2005: The Third International Glasstriennial in Sweden”, Borgholm Castle, Oland, Sweden, Through March 20, 2005. June 18-September 4, 2005

Dick Marquis will receive the “Lifetime Achievement Award, Glass Art Society”, To be presented at the Glass Art Society’s 35th Annual Conference: GAS@Ausglass: Matters of Substance, Adeleaide, Australia. May 7-9, 2005

William Morris:

Look for the March release of the new Morris publication, “Objects of Common Ceremony”, distributed by the University of Washington press, Seattle, WA.

Leighyawkey Woodsdon Art Museum, Wausau, WI, January, 2005

International Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA., June, 2005

Preston Singletary:

Preston’s work is currently showing at Vetri. Nel Mondo. Oggi. At the Istituto Venneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti in Venice, Italy. (The show closes in April 2005)

“Fusing Traditions”, the Burke Museum, Seattle Washington, opening September 30, 2005.

Stephen Rolfe Powell:

Solo Exhibit “Glass by Stephen Rolphe Powell”, Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan. February 27-April 24,2005

Hiroshi Yamano:

Received the prestigious “Osaka Prefecture Governor Prize”, at the Osaka Kogei Exhibition 2004, Osaka, Japan, and has just finished a Solo Exhibition, Tittot Glass Art Museum, Taiwan, which received rave reviews.

PB3 2005 Show:

Thanks to all our friends and collectors who were able to find us at Palm Beach3, and who helped make the show one of our most successful. As always, it was a pleasure to see you, and to keep our relationship fresh and growing! We wish everyone who we saw at the show, and those who wanted to be there but were unable to do so, a wonderful spring, and we hope to see you in the Berkshires this summer!

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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, please see our Contact Us page for all our contact information.

We look forward to working with you.