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Vermont craftsman Michael Egan offers a tour of his evolving designs in glassware art in his current exhibition at The Good News Cafe & Gallery.
Egan observes that he has moved in recent years into a new style of artistic glassware design. His recent works feature a wide spectrum of color variations and mixtures in a diverse selection of bowls, pitchers and vases, as well as fused-glass vessels and ornamental glass balls.
“Each piece of glass that I create is made of solid glass cane material that I design and produce in my studio,” Egan explains. “I employ this cane material in my vessels as a painter uses brush strokes, with each piece of cane acting as a gesture of color.
“Working with different styles of cane yields a variety of woven or tapestry surfaces,” he observes. “Combining different canes develops secondary colors and detailed patterns within the walls of my pieces. The results are serendipitous and controlled at the same time.”
Egan notes that such blending of colors in his glassware pieces “imparts a painterly, watercolor sensibility that I find inherent in the flowing nature of glass. Recently, I have also been slumping and fusing cane to explore abstract two-dimensional designs and lighting elements. These pieces are the natural evolution of my cane vessels. This work enables me to explore surface design, focusing on composition of color and line, while still working with hot glass.”
A graduate of the University of Vermont, Egan began his career in 1992 as an assistant and production glassblower at the Alan Goldfarb Studio in Burlington, Vermont. In 1996 he became a designer of glassware pieces produced for several Vermont studios, and since 1998 he has worked independently in the design and production of artistic glassware for wholesale and retail markets. Since opening his private studio in Granville, Vermont, in 2000, he has focused on development of new designs that incorporate blown, fused and slumped glass elements.
Over the past decade, Egan has honed his artistic skills by pursuing master-class studies with such leading craftsmen in glassware as Fritz Dreisbach, Gianni Toso, Josiah McElheny, and the renowned Venetian artist Lino Tagliapietra. Beginning in 1995, he has exhibited his works at numerous shows in Vermont and a steadily widening number of locations nationwide, including New York City, Seattle, and Baltimore. Most recently, his glassware has been featured at the 2001 Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver and the 2002 Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show.
Egan’s glassware is currently represented by a select group of elite art galleries across the United States. This marks Egan's third show at the Good News Cafe, and works from his current exhibition are available for purchase at the restaurant.
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