Mary Savig, Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, leads us through New Glass Now at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery.

New Glass Now was organized by The Corning Museum of Glass to highlight work that best represented a diverse approach to glass today.  In 2018, it issued an open call for submissions to artists and designers from around the world, asking for works made in the previous three years. Anyone working in glass could apply, from novice hobbyists to the most famous artists, and all were given equal consideration. More than 1,400 individuals, collaborators, and companies submitted nearly 4,000 images of work.  A panel of thinkers, makers, and writers reviewed and chose 100 artworks that best represented glass today.

New Glass Now is the third iteration of a groundbreaking exhibition series. The two prior exhibitions, Glass 1959 and New Glass: A Worldwide Survey in 1979, catalyzed major changes in the glass field. The Renwick Gallery hosted New Glass: A Worldwide Survey in 1980. Today, as the Renwick continues to keep with the pulse of contemporary glass in the United States, New Glass Now once again highlights the dynamic, global field as it is today.

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Proof of vaccination will be required.
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The James Renwick Alliance for Craft partners with the Furniture Society and the Society of North American Goldsmiths for an artist talk by blacksmith Rachel David. 

Rachel David is a blacksmith, sculptor, designer and maker, whose work encompasses art, furniture, architectural elements, activism, and collaborations. Her work is inspired by her life, the body, landscapes and the processes of metalworking that she specializes in. Her structured, organic forms and textures reference physical restraints, shibari, cellulite, valleys, hills, and crevasses.

She received a Bachelor of Arts from Evergreen State College in 2004 and has continued her studies through workshops at Penland School of Craft, John C. Campbell School of Craft, Nunez Community College and Haywood Community College where she currently is pursuing a machining certification. In 2019, she was featured in 40 Under 40: The Next Generation of American Metal Artists at the Metal Museum in Memphis, TN and received the Smithsonian Craft Show’s Best in Show Award and the Artists Gold Choice Award. 

David was one of the founding members of the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths, a small group of female, queer, transgender, people of color, and gender non-conforming metalworkers who support equity, diversity and inclusion in the field of blacksmithing.

As a part of this event, JRACraft will bestow the 2021 Chrysalis Award in recognition of Rachel David's innovation and excellence.

The Chrysalis Award was created by JRACraft to promote and inspire US-based emerging craft artists. Emerging is defined as someone early in their professional artistic career, with no regard to age, and has not had a solo museum exhibition or exclusive representation by a commercial gallery. The ideal candidate demonstrates excellence in their work and a commitment to developing in unique and dynamic ways.