Posted on

Friends of Penland at Patina Gallery, Santa Fe

If you live in or near Santa Fe, New Mexico, or you are planning to attend the SOFA West exposition (sofaexpo.com), we hope you will join Allison and Ivan Barnett of Santa Fe’s Patina Gallery (patina-gallery.com) for a relaxing afternoon reception with Friends of Penland School on July 10. Meet Penland’s director, Jean McLaughlin, instructor Gail Reike, and student Cary Stickney. Gail is book/paper/mixed-media artist and Cary is a tutor at St. Johns College. They will share their stories and insights into Penland.

July 10, 2010
4:00 – 6:00 PM
Patina Gallery
131 W. Palace Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87501

Posted on

Penland Gallery Artist of the Week – George Bucquet, Glassblower

 

Pond Bowl

There are quite a few ‘do not touch’ signs in the gallery, and most of the time people are pretty good about exercising restraint. George’s Pond Bowl is the exception – allot of fingerprints on a piece that has a Please Do Not sign nearby – but – it is SO inviting. All that cool, clear watery glass with the koi and leaves just beneath the surface; who can blame them for trying to satisfy their curiosity?

Pond detail

Whether it is the pond bowl or the luminous font bowl, George’s work is much admired and respected in the gallery. Technically, the work is beautifully crafted with polished surfaces and crisp details. Aesthetically, the work is calm and inclusive – the weight and solidity of the work combined with the imagery and delicate coloring is extremely approachable. Nothing shy about it either, since the pond is nearly two feet across.

George has been a friend of the school for many years and has had work in our gallery as far as our records and memory can go back. His craftsmanship, work ethic, professionalism, and sense of humor make us happy that he is still producing beautiful work for us to show in the gallery.

Oval Fish Bowl

About George

I enjoy and appreciate many aspects of hot glass, but it’s the aesthetics of cast glass that has held my attention for the last 26 years. I love the whole process of designing work and overcoming the technical challenges that seem to come with each piece. In the end, it’s simple beauty that moves me most, and I feel successful and grateful when it moves others.

George Bucquet began casting hot glass at Penland School in 1984. During his seven years spent at Penland, he became a Resident Artist. After completing his studies and residency, George moved to Arcata, CA, where he has continued to develop new and innovative techniques for creating his cast glass. George’s work is found in galleries around the world and in the private collections of Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, Irvin Borowsky, Noel and Janene Hilliard, and the estate of Jerry Garcia. His work can also be found in the permanent collection of the U.S. Embassy, Ottawa, Canada; the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland; the Asheville Museum of Art, NC; the National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA; and the White House.

Hemi Luminary Font

From an article in World Art Glass Quarterly Magazine:

George Bucquet makes what he wants, and if you like it too, well, that makes his job even easier. And Bucquet’s “job,” as he sees it, is not centered on selling as many pieces of his art as possible. Rather, as Bucquet states, “I try to stay focused on the work that is in front of me, or better yet, the work that is in me. Of course I care very much if people are buying the work. However, it is important to keep in mind that selling the work is not the end, but the means.”

Fortunately, Bucquet has had ample financial success and collectors’ acclaim to keep his studio running. His cast glass pieces have found homes with the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates. He doesn’t care much for throwing around those names, however, and is quick to point out that “they’re just people and nobody’s more important than anyone else who buys the work.” Rather than dwelling on commercial success, which he says has come by the “Grace of God,” Bucquet’s priorities are on glass for the sake of the glass itself.

Bucquet’s artistic journey began in Carmel, California, when he visited a prominent glass gallery and felt for the first time the excitement of blowing and creating artistic glass. From there he went to the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle and then finally to Penland School in North Carolina, where he spent one year as a student and four years as a resident artist.

About the Work

Working together with precision timing, George and his assistants pour hot glass, thick and translucent as honey, into a handmade sand mold, and then carefully press it into shape. A mold is individually created for each casting and the colored molten glass, formulated from scratch, is melted to 2350 degrees F in a custom built furnace. After several days of cooling in an annealing oven, each bowl is hand detailed with copper, silver and gold leaf.

George in the studio

 

Penland Gallery’s web page

George’s website