Tg: Transitions in Kiln-Glass

  • Award Winners 2022

  • Tg: Transitions in Kiln-Glass is Bullseye Glass Co.'s biennial juried competition honoring outstanding contemporary kiln-glass design, architecture, and art. The competition is open to artists and designers of all levels. Award winners and finalists are included in a traveling exhibition hosted by Bellevue Arts MuseumPittsburgh Glass Center, and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and published in a catalog.

     

    Tg refers to the glass transition temperature that lies near the center of the region in which the material shifts between behaving like a solid and behaving like a liquid.  This metamorphosis embodies the ethos of kiln-glass, the transformation that occurs when glass softens and yields to the fierce heat of the kiln.

  • Jury Members

    • Michael Endo

      Michael Endo

      Artist, curator, and educator; Co-Director of High Desert Observatory; Partner at Yucca Valley Material Lab; Curatorial Consultant at Bullseye Projects.

    • Helen Lee

      Helen Lee

      Artist, designer, and educator; Head of Glass at University of Wisconsin-Madison; Founder of Glass Education Exchange (GEEX).

    • Namita Gupta Wiggers

      Namita Gupta Wiggers

      Artist, curator, educator, and writer; Founding Director of the MA in Critical Craft Studies at Warren Wilson College, North Carolina; Director and Co-Founder of Critical Craft Forum.

  • Gold Award

    Saman Kalantari
  • SAMAN KALANTARI

    IRAN/ITALY

    In my works, wasted and discarded materials and display pedestals are as important as the artwork itself and are well integrated into it. I try to create a dialogue between traditional crafts and fine arts, between handmade and ready-made/found objects, between interior design and architecture.

    A little bit of everything, 2021

    kilnformed glass, wire, MDF, ribbon
    55 x 70 x 70 inches (installed)

     

    Saman Kalantari is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist based in Bolzano, Italy. He studied at Vetroricerca Glas & Modern in Bolzano, where he received his introduction to glass. Kalantari’s innovative method of pâte de verre awarded him the Glass Art Society 2015 Technology Advancing Glass grant. He has been a finalist in many competitions including the International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa and the Toyama International Glass Exhibition in Japan. Kalantari has taught various international master classes around the world.

     

    My focus is on what is at the margins of attention. In my works, wasted and discarded materials and display pedestals are as important as the artwork itself and are well integrated into it. I try to create a dialogue between traditional crafts and fine arts, between handmade and ready-made/found objects, between interior design and architecture. I arrange objects in contemporary installations in which similarities, differences, and diversities of materials and techniques coexist. 

  • Silver Award

    Anthony Amoako-Attah
  • ANTHONY AMOAKO-ATTAH

    GHANA/UK

    I manipulate glass to look like woven fabric by screen printing and kiln-forming with glass powders. My work explores themes related to the effects of migration, dislocation, and personal identity using traditional Kente designs and Adinkra symbols from Ghana.

    Puberty, 2020
    screenprinted and kilnformed glass
    35.5 x 19.75 x 0.25 (installed)

     

    Anthony Amoako-Attah is a PhD student in art and design (glass and ceramics) at the University of Sunderland, where he received an MA (glass) in 2016. He completed a BA in industrial art (ceramics) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. 

     

    His work has been exhibited at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, and at Sunderland Museum, which commissioned him to produce an artwork for their collection in 2020. Amoako-Attah was awarded winner in the Aspiring Glass Artists 2020 category in Warm Glass UK’s The Glass Prize and is scheduled to teach at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington during the summer of 2022.

  • Bronze Award

    HELEN SLATER STOKES
  • HELEN SLATER STOKES

    UK

    Geometric forms analyze the mathematical quantifiable nature of space, devoid of emotion, as these virtual, almost holographic time-based spaces animate and transition in harmony with the movement of the observer.

    In the Pink, 2019
    kilnformed glass, digital ceramic transfer
    16.5 x 16.5 x 2.5 inches (installed)

     

    Helen Slater Stokes received an MA from the Royal College of Art, London, in 1996. Having exhibited extensively, she went back to the Royal College of Art to complete a PhD by practice in 2020. She lectures and has presented research papers at numerous conferences, most recently the Glass Art Society Conference 2019. Her work has been selected for the International KOGEI Award 2020 in Toyama, Japan, and the British Glass Biennale in 2017 and 2019, and has been featured in New Glass Review 41.

    My work combines notions of visual spatial perception with current issues around encroachment, distancing, and proximity. Titles create a dialogue around health, social inequalities, and overcrowding by suggesting we consider our perception of space and the space between as we coexist. Geometric forms analyze the mathematical quantifiable nature of space, devoid of emotion, as these virtual, almost holographic time-based spaces animate and transition in harmony with the movement of the observer.

  • Architectural Award

    First Place - Cable Griffith
  • CABLE GRIFFITH

    USA

    I translate personal observations, photographs, and memories through reductive systems of mark-making. These systems emulate a relationship between parts and whole, existing as both distinct elements and a collective harmony.

    Siler's Mill (Redmond Watershed), 2021
    rendering of a glass mosaic
    (currently being fabricated by Tieton Mosaic)
    Courtesy of Sound Transit Art Program
    72 x 144 inches (installed)

     

    Cable Griffith’s work reflects our complex relationship to landscape, filtered through the influence of technology and popular culture. Based in Washington, Griffith’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in numerous collections, including Microsoft, Vulcan, Weyerhaeuser, Capital One, the Washington State Art Collection, and the Port of Seattle. He is represented by Linda Hodges Gallery and is an Assistant Professor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

    My work comes from a deep appreciation of nature and a desire to communicate our shared relationship to it. I translate personal observations, photographs, and memories through reductive systems of mark-making. These systems emulate a relationship between parts and whole, existing as both distinct elements and a collective harmony. Digital imaging, virtual modeling, and other systems of representation combine to create places that exist somewhere between virtual, real, and imagined.

     

    Siler’s Mill is one of five glass mosaics designed by Cable Griffith for the Downtown Redmond Transit Station in Washington. Each 6 x 12-foot mosaic is inspired by specific locations within the Redmond Watershed Preserve. The composition of each piece is based on photographic material depicting this Redmond landmark’s distinctively dense wooded environment, which is then reinterpreted through a process of pixelation and abstraction of natural forms. This process melds the tradition of mosaic with a digital sensibility to depict the unique landscape and light of the Pacific Northwest. Siler’s Mill was commissioned by Sound Transit and fabricated by Tieton Mosaics.

  • Architectural Award

    Second Place - Te Rongo Kirkwood
  • TE RONGO KIRKWOOD

    NEW ZEALAND

     My work is inspired by whakapapa (existential links between all things) and wairua (life force) stories where the relationship of past/present/future is entangled in threads and glimpsed in the transparency of glass.

    Eunoia, 2020
    fused and coldworked glass, cord, steel
    119 x 27.5 x 27.5 inches

     

    Te Rongo Kirkwood works with fused glass, textiles, and other media to create objects that blur the lines between sculpture, craft, and personal adornment. She draws upon her Māori and Scottish heritage, the natural world, and celestial themes for inspiration. Kirkwood has been working in glass for 15 years and regularly exhibits within New Zealand and abroad. She is a three-time finalist in the prestigious Ranamok Glass Prize, and her work is held in public and private collections internationally.

    I aim to reveal underlying celestial narratives and achieve collapsing of space and time as possible through a Māori world view. I embed within each woven strand of flax or patterned piece of glass not only my own stories, but also stories of those who came before me and those that follow. My work is inspired by whakapapa (existential links between all things) and wairua (life force) stories where the relationship of past/present/future is entangled in threads and glimpsed in the transparency of glass.

  • Design Award

    First Place - Te Rongo Kirkwood

  • TE RONGO KIRKWOOD

    NEW ZEALAND

    I aim to reveal underlying celestial narratives and achieve collapsing of space and time as possible through a Māori world view. I embed within each woven strand of flax or patterned piece of glass not only my own stories, but also stories of those who came before me and those that follow.

    Meremere (venus - evening star), 2021
    kilnformed glass, dyed flax fibre, silk cord
    31.5 x 41.5 x 1 inches (installed)

     

    Te Rongo Kirkwood works with fused glass, textiles, and other media to create objects that blur the lines between sculpture, craft, and personal adornment. She draws upon her Māori and Scottish heritage, the natural world, and celestial themes for inspiration. Kirkwood has been working in glass for 15 years and regularly exhibits within New Zealand and abroad. She is a three-time finalist in the prestigious Ranamok Glass Prize, and her work is held in public and private collections internationally.

    I aim to reveal underlying celestial narratives and achieve collapsing of space and time as possible through a Māori world view. I embed within each woven strand of flax or patterned piece of glass not only my own stories, but also stories of those who came before me and those that follow. My work is inspired by whakapapa (existential links between all things) and wairua (life force) stories where the relationship of past/present/future is entangled in threads and glimpsed in the transparency of glass.

  • Design Award

    Second Place - CELIA DOWSON

  • CELIA DOWSON

    UK

    The centerpiece represents a continuous horizon, translucency allowing the components to transform with light throughout the day, as nature does under open skies.

    Rhossili Mist Centerpiece in Indigo and Clear, 2019-2021
    kilncast glass
    4 x 18 x 18 inches (installed)

     

    Celia Dowson graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2018, specializing in both ceramics and cast glass. She received a BA (Hons) in ceramic design from Central Saint Martins, London, in 2014. Her most recent exhibitions include Artefact 2021 at Chelsea Design Centre, Young Masters at London Glass Blowing, and Collect 2020 at Somerset House. Dowson’s work can be found in the collection of the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan. She received a Wallpaper* Design Award in 2020.

    The centerpiece represents a continuous horizon, translucency allowing the components to transform with light throughout the day, as nature does under open skies. Varying thicknesses and contrasts of polished and satin surfaces create subtle shifts in the glass hues, challenging our perception of inside and outside, what is solid and what is not. The work seeks to reflect on the tangibility of everyday objects and how we use and ritualize them, while echoing the transitioning natural world around us.

  • Academic Award

    First Place - Wai Yan Choi
  • WAI YAN CHOI

    HONG KONG

    My practice is rooted in material experimentation. I am inspired by the qualities created by the often-unpredictable reaction that happens when two or more materials collide.

    Praemonitus Series, 2021
    kilnformed glass, metal inclusions
    12 x 38.5 x 4 inches (installed)

     

    Wai Yan Choi was born in Hong Kong, China. She graduated with a BA in fashion jewelry at London College of Fashion in 2018, and recently received an MA in ceramics and glass from the Royal College of Art, London. Choi’s creations in both jewelry and glass focus on the study of materials. In 2020, her glass series “Vessel-Boundaries” won the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers Ceramics and Glass Award, and more recently Choi was shortlisted for the Travers Smith CSR Art Program 21/22.

    My practice is rooted in material experimentation. I am inspired by the qualities created by the often-unpredictable reaction that happens when two or more materials collide. This series of work is a material investigation in combining incompatible materials: clear glass with alkali metal, solid low-melting point metal and metal oxide. Although they are traditionally destructive materials in casting, under controlled circumstances new colors and textures can be created.

  • Academic Award

    Second Place - Anthony Amoako-Attah
  • ANTHONY AMOAKO-ATTAH

    GHANA/UK

    I manipulate glass to look like woven fabric by screen printing and kiln-forming with glass powders. My work explores themes related to the effects of migration, dislocation, and personal identity using traditional Kente designs and Adinkra symbols from Ghana.

    Puberty, 2020
    screenprinted and kilnformed glass
    35.5 x 19.75 x 0.25 (installed)

     

    Anthony Amoako-Attah is a PhD student in art and design (glass and ceramics) at the University of Sunderland, where he received an MA (glass) in 2016. He completed a BA in industrial art (ceramics) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.

     

    His work has been exhibited at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, and at Sunderland Museum, which commissioned him to produce an artwork for their collection in 2020. Amoako-Attah was awarded winner in the Aspiring Glass Artists 2020 category in Warm Glass UK’s The Glass Prize and is scheduled to teach at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington during the summer of 2022.

  • Emerging Artist Award

    First Place - ABEGAEL UFFELMAN
  • ABEGAEL UFFELMAN

    USA

    When this piece was made, I had just read through my adoption records for the first time. I re-created some of the pages in glass, providing only language and information that intrigued or disgusted me, turning analytical text about myself into a poem-like archive using a fragile, yet precious material.

    Moon, Hyun Kyung, 2019
    pâte de verre, printer ink transfer
    12 x 50 x 1 inches (installed)

     

    As a glass and mixed media conceptual artist, Abegael Uffelman analyzes concepts of social interaction, politics, and identity through the creation of physical objects and installations. In 2019, Uffelman earned a BFA with a minor in art history from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University. Currently, she works as an instructor and kiln assistant at Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Art in Minneapolis.

    As an adopted Asian American, I've questioned my identity and race since the ability to comprehend those terms. My responses lie within my work. When this piece was made, I had just read through my adoption records for the first time. I re-created some of the pages in glass, providing only language and information that intrigued or disgusted me, turning analytical text about myself into a poem-like archive using a fragile, yet precious material.

  • Emerging Artist Award

    Second Place - Lara Saget

  • LARA SAGET

    USA

    I start by trapping rock in glass. Logically, the heat of the rock cracks the glass. However, this is not always the case. The separation between them is circumstantial. There may be no answers, nothing concrete to hold onto.

    Joshua Tree Inside, Joshua Tree Insides, 2021
    kilnformed glass, Joshua Tree ground (rock), desert rock, ventifact rock
    Joshua Tree Rocks Match, 2021
    kilnformed glass

     

    Lara Saget lives and works in New York. She received a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an MFA from New York University. Her work has been exhibited in the US and abroad. Residencies include Yucca Valley Material Lab, California; Iris Project, California; Art Ichol, India; and Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland. She has received grants and awards including a Brooklyn Arts Fund grant in 2021, New York University MFA Artistic Practice Award in 2017, 2016 Steinhardt Scholarship Award, and an Urban Glass Scholarship in 2017–2018.

    My work makes materially visible the limitations of logic. My practice is fueled by the belief that not all facts are absolute. I start by trapping rock in glass. Logically, the heat of the rock cracks the glass. However, this is not always the case. The separation between them is circumstantial. There may be no answers, nothing concrete to hold onto. But there are patterns; my charge is to distill the patterns to reveal new archetypes and, in doing so, crystallize the transience of certainty.

  • View all Tg: Transitions in Kiln-Glass finalists online and visit the exhibition in person at Bellevue Arts Museum.