Fire to Form: Glass Artists of HawaiÎi
February 14 - May 13, 2003

The glass community in HawaiÎi has steadily expanded, with several generations of glass artists now actively producing exciting, dynamic works. This exhibit, organized by the Hui NoÎeau Visual Arts Center on Maui, surveys the diversity and excellence of current work created by 15 contemporary island glass artists. The exhibit provides an overview of glass work by artists either working in HawaiÎi or with strong ties to the islands. Invited artists include Ture Gustafson, Hugh Jenkins, Chris Lowry, Rick Mills, Mark Mitsuda, Michael Mortara, Misato Mortara, Chris Richards, Stephanie Ross, K.C. Smith, Boyd Sugiki, Daniel Wooddell, Bill Worcester, Sally Worcester and Wilfred Yamasawa.

In a history over five thousand years long, the substance of glass has gone from rare artifact to utilitarian material, from art to craft, and back again. This venerable tradition partially forms the genealogy of even the most contemporary glass artist. Glass art in HawaiÎi began in the late 1960s, when Claude Horan, ceramist and visionary faculty member at the University of HawaiÎi at Manoa, began to offer a glass course. Since that time, island glass artists have not lacked educational resources, with strong programs in place at both the secondary and university levels. The genealogy of island glass has played out not only in terms of educational training, but also in terms of direct connections between artists. Many artists have worked together and have formed independent studios, such as Hot Island Glass in Makawao, Maui, which continue the tradition of both workshop and public gallery.

The locale provides island glass artists with stunning beauty÷the colors, the forms of nature÷as well as benign conditions that allow year-round work. The artists are also cognizant of the many strands of visual culture that feed their work. Like island geology itself, the history of glass in Hawaiâi continues to be written. Beneath it all, the islands themselves, in a state of deep flux and volcanic activity, provide a potent metaphor for the work these artists do, shaping a substance that is both liquid and solid, transformed by heat÷fire into form.