Palley Pavilion for Contemporary Glass and Studio Arts July 18, 2008

The Palley Pavillion in the Lowe Art Museum is on the University of Miami campus at 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables. Admission is $10 for adults, and $5 for students with ID and children younger than 12. Call (305) 284-3535 or visit http://www.lowemuseum.org
http://www6.miami.edu/lowe/

Featuring a stunning collection of more than 150 pieces, the Myrna and Sheldon Palley Pavilion for Contemporary Glass and Studio Arts at the Lowe Art Museum opened May 1, 2008
Also included: View building and selections from the collection, View Palley video, View Palleys in the Press See more information and art by artists: http://www6.miami.edu/lowe/palley/

Glass collection at Lowe Art Museum in Coral Gables
South Florida couple's collection showcased at Lowe.
By Bob Weinberg | Special Correspondent
July 9, 2008
Photo: Myrna Palley discuss pieces from her personal glass art collection that is on display at the Lowe Art Museum on the University of Miami campus. (J. Pat Carter, AP / June 17, 2008)

Light pours into Palley Pavilion from strategically placed windows, illuminating a lustrous and varied collection of glass art. A smooth blue-and-raspberry ovoid by glass pioneer Harvey Littleton radiates a quiet luminescence, looking like a section of quartz. Resembling a pulsating underwater creature of pale blue with purple flecks, a work by Littleton's protege Marvin Lipofsky is displayed next to his mentor's. More dramatically, the suspended prisms comprising Jon Kuhn's Heavenly Reach dazzle the eye as sunlight plays off their pristine surfaces.

"It's marvelous the way it picks up the light, and at night it's spectacular," says Myrna Palley, as she and husband Sheldon Palley lead a visitor on a tour of the newly opened wing of the University of Miami's Lowe Art Museum that bears their name. "And it's motorized. It's fantastic how each piece turns ..."

"I don't think it's moving," says Sheldon Palley, peering up at the shimmering, icicle-sharp pendants.

"Sure it is, Shel!" Myrna Palley sputters with mock consternation that her husband can't detect the subtle rotations of the work.

Related links: (Included) Using molten glass, bold color and modern ideas, a unique artistic window opens

The pavilion, which opened in May, contains works by the major figures of the glass medium. A mission statement explains its aim to "showcase and explicate ... contemporary glass and related studio arts," which include ceramics, wood and fiber. But clearly, glass is the Palleys' passion.

About 11 years ago, the couple — alumni who met at UM more than 50 years ago — instituted a glass-blowing program at the university. They also donated ancient Roman glass artifacts to the Lowe, a series of bottles and flasks dating from 31 B.C. to the fourth century, which are displayed elsewhere. And, of the 113 works on display in the new pavilion, 70 were taken from the Palleys' South Miami home.

William Morris' Dinka Woman's Hearth and Dinka Woman is not one of them. The installation fills a wall with atavistic animal heads, totems, vessels and utensils as well as a serene, majestic figure of an African woman, her body abstracted to a shield and tripod.

"Everything's glass. No metal in here whatsoever," Myrna Palley says of Morris' work. Valued at $1.2 million, it was donated by a friend of the couple who wishes to remain anonymous.

"She wanted to change her apartment," Myrna notes.

The Palleys' home collection is constantly in flux, as well. This one was in the bedroom, that one came from the bathroom, this other left a huge void in the living room. And yet the Palleys seem delighted to share the art that has brought them so much joy since they first began collecting it in the 1970s after buying a bowl at a Coconut Grove crafts show. Over the years, glass art would grow exponentially in sophistication — and value — as would the Palleys' tastes.

"We went to craft shows because that's where [the glass artists] were," Sheldon says of their early experiences. "They weren't in the galleries yet."

"But now that the form has taken off," Myrna adds, "there are galleries that specifically collect glass of museum quality. It's doubled and quadrupled [in value] since the '60s."

Both are active members of the national organization Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, and Sheldon, an attorney, serves on the board.

The Palleys are intimately familiar with the artists and their techniques. They take pride in explaining how one artist gets a "honeycombed" effect by blowing glass into a piece of wire mesh, or how another creates ultra-fine filigrees by heating a glass rod and pulling it until it's as thin as a strand of hair.

And though the couple miss seeing this or that piece around the house, they seem gratified that their passion and knowledge are being shared with the public.

"That's what it's about," Sheldon notes. "That's why it's at a university and not in a private collection."

Bob Weinberg is a freelance writer in Hallandale Beach. On view The Palley Pavillion in the Lowe Art Museum is on the University of Miami campus at 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables. Admission is $10 for adults, and $5 for students with ID and children younger than 12. Call (305) 284-3535 or visit http://www.lowemuseum.org.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/events/sfl-enpalleyglasssbjul09,0,5219303.story

Using molten glass, bold color and modern ideas, a unique artistic window opens
By LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL | The Associated Press
July 9, 2008

Artist William Carlson dips the large steel ladle into the blazing furnace and fills it with liquid glass. With sweat pouring down his face, he quickly moves to a graphite mold he has made and pours in the yellow liquid.

He is making glass wall tiles with an imprint of fiber knots in them that he will remove with tweezers. This will leave a fossil of the knot. The tiles will then be hung together in a grid format. Carlson, who teaches at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, says he is trying to start a discourse about language with the way he lays out the fiber.

Glass art is attracting more admirers and collectors today, and gaining more attention as a fine art, as artists explore more with the medium. Meanwhile, prices for pieces are on the rise.

"It's a maturation of the field. More and more we are seeing people interested," said Michael Heller, vice president of the Heller Gallery in New York, where glass art is sold. "More and more collectors have also started to realize the value of work that has integrity."

Related links: (included)
Glass collection at Lowe Art Museum in Coral Gables
The artistic content of glass art has developed over the last decade or so, artists say.

"It's kind of coming of age where craft is no longer the title of the work. Craft is the means to an end. It really is the strength of the concept and power of the image," says Carlson.

Fran Kaufman, director of the contemporary art fair palm beach 3, says the reason glass art is on the rise is because many collectors aren't purchasing just one type of art anymore, but varying the kinds of art they collect. Prices are also getting higher, which is enticing people to buy it.

"Prices getting higher, that is appealing to collectors. People are looking beyond the more traditional glass pieces. Collections are not so specific anymore," Kaufman says. "I think the experimentation has grown more."

Mark Lyman, director of the two annual shows called SOFA, which take place in New York and Chicago, says that 10 to 15 years ago an expensive glass piece would cost between $50,000 to $100,000. Now, such works can reach anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million.

"It's a very active market for them," Lyman says of the glass pieces. "It's really come along. We're seeing a lot of growth and strength."

In an effort to expand public awareness, collectors Sheldon and Myrna Palley of Miami donated many of the pieces they have been amassing since the 1970s to the University of Miami's Lowe Art Museum.

Artist Tom Patti, whose studio is in Fitchburg, Mass., says he also sees an increased interest in glass art.

"I think the interest in glass is continuously growing, getting larger," Patti says. "It's been accumulating. It's just something that if the art form is strong, it inherently progresses in many avenues. The museums are not just collecting it, they are seeing it as an applied art form that can be incorporated as part of the building itself."

Some artists credit Seattle-based Dale Chihuly for getting their art more publicity. His colorful glass works are on display at have reached audiences across the United States and world, including Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables.

Studio glass was introduced into college programs in the 1960s and then increasingly explored by students. It really started being considered art after 1960 when artists began to work in their own studios and not in factories. Around the same time, a non-industrial glass furnace was created, which opened up opportunities for creative use, Carlson says.

Now, a common recipe for the material is sand or silica mixed with sodium carbonate, lime, magnesium carbonate and any additives that may change the color.

Wisconsin-based artist Beth Lipman, who creates glass still lifes inspired by Dutch, German and Italian paintings of the 1600s, says she feels a definite shift in the way her art is perceived.

"I think people are kind of hungry for more of a dialogue," Lipman says. "There is this overall shift of looking at the capitalist community that we're living in and being mindful about what you are using your money for."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/events/sfl-glassrisingsbjul09,0,3999388.story

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Official Website: http://www6.miami.edu/lowe/