Visiting Artist Daniel Alley

Join us on Wednesday, March 1st for a sculpture demo with visiting artist Daniel Alley in the Woldenberg Art Center's  Pace-Willson Glass Studio. This program is supported by the JoAnn Flom Greenberg Fund and is open to the public.

Daniel Alley was born in Anchorage, Alaska. He received his BFA in ceramics from Washington State University in 2003 and his MFA in glass from Tulane University in 2014. Dan frequently exhibits work throughout the city, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Center, Good Children, and The Front. His playful yet intellectual mixed-media sculptures combine his knowledge of material processes with an interest in history and science. As owner and operator of Denali Art Solutions, Dan now dedicates most of his time and knowledge in assisting museums, galleries, and artists from around the world with their custom art fabrication, installations, and logistical needs.

Attendees are asked to be aware of parking restrictions on Tulane's uptown campus. More info here: https://campusservices.tulane.edu/departments/parking/uptown

Gene Koss: solo exhibition at Ohr-O'keefe Museum

Always an admirer of Frank Gehry's architecture, Gene Koss is excited to exhibit in a stainless steel Gehry designed pod on the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum campus. The huge steel panels and exposed beams in the raw, unfinished interior of the pod contrast and complement Koss’s sculpture.

The exhibit covers a span of Koss’s sculpture career from 1990 to 2019 and was curated by David Houston, the Ohr-O’Keefe executive director.  Included is Arc, a large-scale sculpture of steel, stone and glass; Totem, a large wooden timber sculpture; as well as several multi-media maquette sculptures. 

Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art  386 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39530
Open to the public:  10am-5pm Tuesday – Saturday; 1pm-5pm Sunday

Forging Strength: the Art of Labor

Gene Koss, Arc, installation view, Hibernian Memorial Park, New Orleans

The opening of Forging Strength: The Art of Labor, a new sculpture garden at Hibernian Memorial Park, will take place on Friday, January 17 at 10 am at the Celtic Cross Monument in New Orleans, located on the neutral ground between West End and Pontchartrain boulevards. (map) The guest of honor for the kick-off is Irish Consul General Claire McCarthy, making her first trip to New Orleans since her appointment to the Irish Consulate in Austin, Texas, last fall.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Earl Dismuke, Erica Larkin Gaudet, Hernan Caro, Gene H. Koss, Mia Kaplan and Tara Conley. The exhibit provides artistic representation of the immigration experience and supports the mission of the Irish heritage park to honor the contribution of the Irish in the Crescent City.

For more information contact Louisiana Hibernian Charity board president Jim Moriarty 504.616.3999.

Funding for the Hibernian Memorial Park sculpture project was provided by the Emigrant Support Programme of Ireland, with additional support from the Louisiana Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Hash House Harriers, the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Club and Roubion Shoring and Construction.

Gene Koss: Through the Valley

Through the Valley, an exhibition of recent sculpture by internationally-known glass sculptor Gene Koss will be on view at Arthur Roger Gallery, located at 432 Julia Street, from August 4–September 22, 2018. 

The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist in attendance, Saturday, August 4 from 6 to 9 pm in conjunction with the Hancock Whitney White Linen Night

Visiting Artist: James Vella

The Newcomb Art Department welcomes James Vella as Visiting Artist in Glass on Wednesday March 22nd.

Vella will demonstrate a variety of hot glass sculpting techniques in Tulane's Pace-Willson Glass Studio from 3-6pm. The demonstrations will be followed by a barbecue from 6-7pm and slide talk from 7-8pm.

This free event is open to the public and supported by the Joann Flom Greenberg Fund.

Student News: Lilith Winkler-Schor (BFA, 2017)

Lilith Winkler-Schor is one of 62 national recipients of the prestigious Truman Scholarship

by Barri Bronston, photo by Ryan Rivet

With so much work to complete before the end of the semester, Tulane University senior Lilith Winkler-Schor was in a grumpy mood. She needed something to cheer her up — and she got it in the form of a phone call from Tulane President Mike Fitts on April 7.

Fitts informed her that she is one of 62 in the nation to win a prestigious Truman Scholarship, and just like that, the grumpiness turned into ecstasy. “I was elated,” she said. “I called my parents, but I didn’t want to post anything until I saw something in writing.”

Her skepticism was short-lived. She indeed won the scholarship, which provides $30,000 toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development programming to prepare for a career in public service leadership.

Candidates for the scholarship must be nominated by their colleges. This year, 768 candidates were nominated by 315 institutions. That number was whittled down to 199 finalists, and eventually the 62 winners, who will receive their awards at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, on May 28.

Winkler-Schor, a Newcomb Scholar from Seattle, Washington, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social policy and political science and a bachelor of fine arts degree in glass and sculpture. Her scholarship focuses on urban policy, with special emphasis on incarceration, poverty and housing policy.

She is co-founder of Roots of Renewal, a community development nonprofit that provides work training for formerly incarcerated young adults as they re-enter their neighborhoods. She is a fellow at the Next City Vanguard, and is one of two recipients this year of the Tulane Center for Public Service’s Jim Runsdorf Excellence in Public Service Award.

Winkler-Schor plans to defer graduate school so she can continue working at Roots of Renewal and helping the formerly incarcerated become productive members of society. “It’s been a wild and wonderful journey,” she said. “But it’ll be nice to concentrate on this work without having to worry about school for a while.”

[Tulane New Wave, April 27, 2017]

Glass program celebrates four decades of growth

by Margaux Armfield

For more than 40 years, Tulane has offered students the opportunity to explore glass as a sculptural medium. Professor Gene Koss took charge of the program in 1977 and has seen it grow from only eight students to more than 70.

Tulane’s glass program is unique in that it emphasizes using glass as a sculptural element to create artwork as opposed to craftwork.

“If you come and study [glass] at Tulane, it’s going to be sculpture that’s idea-based,” Koss said. “We want the work to be elevated enough that it can fit into the fine art world.”

This emphasis on sculpture encourages students to create mixed media pieces. Students have access to the woodshop, metal shop and sculpture foundry in addition to the glass studio. Senior Ethan Champagne, currently enrolled in Intermediate Glass, said the program has taught him a variety of technical skills.
“We have some new laser cutters and new computer software to help us with design and fabrication, but the thing that [Koss] finds and that we find enjoyable is having something to do with our hands,” Champagne said.                     [Read more: Tulane Hullabaloo, March 22, 2017]

Christopher Gray honored in International Student Exhibition

Christopher Gray, MFA candidate 2017, was recognized by the Glass Art Society with an Honorable Mention for his work, "Meander White," a kilnformed glass sculpture shown in the 2016 International Student Online Exhibition.

In his artist statement Gray describes the sculpture's intellectual and formal inspiration.

Labyrinths can be perplexing and enlightening at the same time. One can be constructed as if to disorient, and another to be used as a meditation device. Both have a common design yet carry an extreme polarity and duality within their uses.

The Carroll Gallery will host Gray's MFA Thesis Exhibition next month.

At left: Christopher Gray, Meander White, 2016, kilnformed glass, 12.5 x 5.5 x 2.5 in.

Koss honored at CAC's 40th Anniversary Party

On Saturday February 4th the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans will celebrate its 40th Anniversary at the annual SweetArts Ball. This "Black Tie Birthday Party" will honor Tina Girouard, Gene Koss, Martin Payton, and Mario Villa, all artists associated with the founding of the CAC.

After obtaining his Master of Fine Arts degree at Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 1976, Gene Koss started the Tulane University glass program and brought the movement of glass art to New Orleans.  He uses steel and glass to create monumental works.  Working with serial cast glass parts to enlarge scale and combining these elements with iron and neon, he has raised glass sculpture to the realm of public art.  Koss’s work has had a profound impact on American artists working in both steel and glass media.

Gene Koss and Skylar Fein to be honored at NOMA

NOMA’s annual fall soiree in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden will be held on Friday, September 23, 2016.

This year’s LOVE in the Garden honorees include Gene Koss, Professor of Glass at Tulane for nearly forty years, and incoming graduate student in Photography, Skylar Fein, as well as Eleanora Rukia Brown, Ashley Longshore, Alexa Pulitzer, and Josephine Sacabo.

The evening events will kick off with a Patron Party at 7 pm, Garden Party at 8pm, followed by a Late Night Party at 9pm. The New Orleans Museum of Art is located at 1 Collins Diboll Circle in City Park. For more information, see:
https://noma.org/event/love-garden-2016-presented-whitney-bank/.

Jeffrey Stenbom receives Silver Academic award at Emerge 2016

Army veteran and Tulane alumnus Jeffrey Stenbom (MFA, Glass, 2015) received the Silver Academic award at Bullseye's ninth biennial exhibition, Emerge 2016.

Stenbom's sculpture of monumental kiln-cast glass dog tags titled, To Those Who Have, was first shown in his MFA exhibition at Tulane University's Carroll Gallery.

Christopher Gray (MFA candidate, 2017) was also named a finalist in the competition.

[photo courtesy of Pamela Price Klebaum]

Two Tulane Artists in Bullseye Glass Biennial

Christopher Gray (MFA candidate 2017) and Jeffrey Stenbom (MFA 2015) have been named finalists in Bullseye Glass' ninth biennial exhibition Emerge/Evolve 2016. The award ceremony for this international juried competition will take place on June 25 at the exhibition's opening reception at Bullseye Projects in Portland, Oregon. Shown: Christopher Gray, Meander White (L);  Jeffrey Stenbom, To Those Who Have (R).

Tulane Contemporary Glass at St. Tammany Art Association

The St. Tammany Art Association’s current exhibit, Tulane Contemporary Glass, spotlights the energy and influence behind Tulane University's Glass program and its founder, Professor Gene Koss. On view are works from professors, graduate students and former students of the glass art program at Tulane which has inspired and shaped the New Orleans glass art movement. The exhibit features works by Gene Koss, Dan Alley, Christopher Gray, Weston Lambert, Andrew Ledford, Dakota Moe, Devon Murphy, Francine Judd Stock and Lisa Tahir.

Tulane Contemporary Glass will be on view from February 13 - April 2, 2016. The St. Tammany Art Association is located at 320 N. Columbia Street, Covington, Lousiana. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10am – 4pm and Saturdays, 11am – 4pm.

Exhibit by glass master Gene Koss inspired by NOLA

From a Distance, Photo by Owen Murphy

Inspired by views of the Crescent City and the rural Wisconsin landscapes of his youth, Tulane University glass professor Gene Koss has crafted sculptures from cast-glass forms and found or fabricated steel for his latest exhibition at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans.

With sculptures ranging from small-scale pedestal works of glass, steel and found objects, to monumental pieces, some weighing several tons, the exhibit “From a Distance” will be on view through Feb. 27 at the gallery, 432 Julia St.

“My goal has been to make glass fine art, not craft,” Koss says. “I use glass as a medium of pure sculptural expression resulting in monumental sculptures of cast glass, steel and light.”

The signature sculpture titled From a Distance was inspired “by this city I’ve loved for 40 years,” says Koss, who travels frequently across the Crescent City Connection bridge from his studio in Plaquemines Parish.  

“The view of the city from the bridge is amazing and inspirational — the architecture, the movement of the water in the river, the way the light reflects off the buildings, the ships and barges traveling up and down the Mississippi,” he says. “The cantilever of the sculpture addresses the precarious feeling of being suspended over the river.”

Koss leads the glass program in the Newcomb Art Department and is teaching courses to both undergraduate and graduate students this semester. This video shows Koss and students at work in the Pace-Willson Glass Studio.

His work has been exhibited at the New Orleans Museum of Art; the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans; the Masur Museum of Art in Monroe, Louisiana; the Sculpture Center in New York City; and the International Biennale for Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy. His work is in many prominent collections including the Pan American Life Collection in New Orleans and the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.

[Tulane New Wave, January 8, 2016]

Jeffrey Stenbom's MFA exhibit in Top 10 best shows in 2015

Jeffrey Stenbom's MFA exhibition, "Thank You," was selected by Doug MacCash as one of the Top 10 New Orleans Art Exhibitions in 2015. MacCash interviewed Stenbom in March and recorded a video of the exhibition in the Carroll Gallery. Stenbom's thesis exhibit included  installations of cast glass military boots, bootprints and monumental glass dog tags. MacCash wrote, "Stenbom, who was a combat soldier during the Iraq War, said that for him, producing (glass) sculpture is key to coping with post traumatic stress disorder. 'More than talking in a group or something or taking medication, making artwork's been my therapy,' he said. In short, he said, 'art saved my life.'"

The original article and video can be viewed on nola.com.

Gene Koss: "From a Distance" opens at Arthur Roger Gallery on January 9

This week @NewcombArt

Doreen Garner, The Observatory, 2014

W Ceramics Talks, Jeffrey Thurston / Michelle Swafford, MFA artist lecture | Wednesday, November 11, 6pm | Freeman Auditorium

TH An Inter-American Standoff: Marisol, MoMA and the Cold War, Art History Works in Progress & the Stone Center for Latin American Studies lecture by Delia Solomons | Thursday, November 12, 6pm | 209 Woldenberg Art Center

F Visiting Artist Doreen Garner | Friday, November 13, 5:30pm BBQ, 6:00pm lecture, 7:00pm performance | Pace-Willson Glass Studio, Woldenberg Art Center | sponsored by the Sandra Garrard Memorial Fund for Recent Trends in Contemporary Art

Visiting Artist: Rachel Rader

Visiting artist Rachel Rader will present a lecture and demonstration
Monday, October 19 at 4:30pm in the Pace-Willson Glass Studio.

Tulane/Newcomb Glass Art Exhibition at Longue Vue

Join Longue Vue House and Gardens for the Tulane/Newcomb Glass Art exhibition opening reception, featuring works from professors, graduate students and former students of the Tulane/Newcomb glass art program. Guests will explore a varied collection of sculptures made partially or wholly of glass.

Featured artists: Daniel Alley, Gene Koss, Weston Lambert, Andrew Ledford, Devon Murphy, Jeffrey Stenbom, Francine Stock and Lisa Tahir.

Reception: Saturday, April 18, 5-7pm
Longue Vue House and Gardens
7 Bamboo Road, New Orleans, LA 70124

Tulane Glass welcomes visiting artist Mick Meilahn