After obtaining his Master of Fine Arts degree at Tyler School of Art at Temple University, 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 steel and wood, 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.
Koss is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Endowment for the Arts; the New Orleans Community Arts Award; and Pace-Willson Art Foundation grants. His work is included in numerous private collections and has been displayed in museums and galleries throughout the United States and abroad, including the International Biennale for Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy, and has been featured in International Glass Art, Contemporary Glass-Color, Light & Form and Glass Art from Urban Glass publications. Koss is represented by Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, LA.
In 2019 Gene Koss Sculpture was published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany, and released internationally. The monograph features Koss’ most important artistic achievements created during his 45-year career, and, through insightful essays by well recognized critics and curators, places his sculptures in historic perspective.
Lead Sponsorship of this exhibition provided The Boldt Company.
Based in Amherst Junction, Wisconsin, artist Sharon Fujimoto creates art and functional objects using glass as the basic medium. She believes in the simplicity of form and color and the fact that “…’accidents’ are a beautiful thing.” She says, “I am not the master of my medium, I simply go with the flow as a witness, a participant and a supervisor. The end result is a one-of-a-kind object that will hopefully endure trends and fads – a piece that will make a connection with the artist and the viewer.”
As a result of her selection as the 1st place winner, sponsored by Rosann Baum Milius, of the 2023 GLASS Arts Festival, Fujimoto’s art will be on exhibit in the museum’s Blue Gallery through February.
One-of-a-Kind: unique perthshire paperweights
Stephanie Sara Lifshutz is an artist and educator residing in Brooklyn, New York. She began working with glass while studying at the University of Wisconsin – Madison as a graduate student. As an undergraduate, she attended Franklin & Marshall College, where she studied photography and printmaking. Stephanie’s work is currently part of the traveling group exhibition, She Bends. A solo exhibition of her work, no time at all, was exhibited at Var Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2022. Other solo exhibitions include but i don’t mind, UrbanGlass, 2020 and PLEASE GO AWAY, Rare Air, Governor’s Island, New York. She was the recipient of a 2016 professional development grant from the University of Wisconsin. She currently teaches at Tyler School of Art & Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia.