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Dewdrops Sculptures

I recently installed eight sculptures on a new Norwegian cruise ship off the coast of Germany.  These sculptures, titled "Dewdrops" were all custom-made in earth tones for eight 4' x 4' x 15" niches on this huge new ship.  While designed, blown, constructed and shipped over the summer, it was late October before an assistant and I installed these while cruising off the coast of Denmark.  I've documented the process of design through installation in a detailed post on my blog and it will likely be expanded into a future magazine article.

There is a fun time-lapse video on my Instagram feed of one of the Dewdrops being installed. 


Dewdrops in Cinnamon.  Dimensions: 46" wide x 42" tall x 12" deep
 

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Podcast: Talking Out Your Glass

Talking Out Your Glass is a podcast featuring conversations between Shawn Waggoner, the former editor of Glass Art Magazine, and respected artists in the glass world. I've been a fan of the show for years so I was especially delighted to be invited on as a guest.  

Shawn and I talked about how I got started in glass, how I transitioned into glass as my full-time career, reflections of each of my series, my perfectionist tendencies, what defines art, similarities between music and my work and much more.

You can find the podcast in iTunes, or stream it from the Talking Out Your Glass website (scroll a bit to find the player).

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Collaborations: Rob Stern and James Devereux 

After collaborating with fellow artists Mark Leputa and Toland Sand, I was energized by the process and fortunately had two more opportunities to work with fellow artists whose work I admire.  

My next collaboration was with Rob Stern, a terrifically-skilled glass artist from Miami.  Rob came to San Francisco to be the featured artist at Hot Glass/Cold Beer--an occasional fundraising party Public Glass, (the nonprofit art center where I create my work).  Rob shared an idea for a sculpture of a maquette figure meditating on a murrine pillow, so weeks before the demo made the murrine and the day before the demo Rob made all the body parts for the maquette.  At the demo the next day, I blew the pillow out of the murrine, then handed it off to Rob and team, who attached the pre-made components to create the large figure on the pillow.  The finished piece was a massive 28" tall and fifty pounds.  

My most recent collaboration was with James Devereux, a UK-based glass artist who visited the US to help teach at Pilchuck Glass School.  After connecting through social media for years we met in person in Murano last year so I was jazzed when he mentioned he wanted to visit San Francisco and collaborate on a project.  Since his visit corresponded with one of the Hot Glass/Cold Beer events, it was perfect timing for him to be the featured guest artist. 

I prepared early for James' visit, getting cane and murrine patterns made, cut and composed ahead of time. James wanted to make two of his Clovis sculptures out of my patterns--one the day before the event, and one during it. 

Aside from being beautiful sculpture, a particularly interesting aspect of these is the hot chipped edge. James creates this texture this by carefully hammering the edge of the sculpture while the glass is hot on the punty, chipping through the patterns to expose the interior and create the scalloped texture.  You can see a short video on my Instagram of James chipping the Clovis we made the Friday before the event.  It was a fantastic demonstration and both pieces turned out really striking.  Both Clovis went back to the UK for finishing; we're planning on making more together and showing them in London through Vessel Gallery at COLLECT--the International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design
at Somerset House from 27 February - 1 March, 2020.
 

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Upcoming Events in Florida and Texas

Florida: I'll be visiting artist at the Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts in Lake Worth (near West Palm Beach) January 16th - 18th with the demo on the evening of the 17th.  There's detailed info on their website.

Texas: I'll be in Dallas for a solo show at Kittrell-Riffkind Gallery with a demo at Dallas Glass Art from May 15th - 17th.  The schedule is being finalized, but currently its demos/party the evening of the 15th, then on Saturday the 16th I'll be giving a slide talk at 10:30am at the gallery with the show opening in the afternoon.   
 

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New Florida Representation

My Florida representation is expanding to the west with Shaw Gallery in Naples, Florida and Studio E Gallery in Palm Beach Gardens (just north of West Palm Beach).  In addition to my work, both offer beautiful painting, glass and other sculpture.  Click their logos to see which of my work is available.

 

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Recent Events - SF MOMA Modern Art Council

This fall I gave a demo to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Modern Art Council, a group of active art enthusiasts and community leaders who are benefactors to the museum.  Hosted at Public Glass, fellow artist Kathleen Elliott, an amazing sculptor of flame-worked glass, and I did concurrent demos for this museum group. 

I frequently have a range of visitors to the studio for scheduled talks and demonstrations as well as informal visits with collectors who want to see work being made or glassblowers who are in town visiting.  If you are in San Francisco and would like to stop by shoot me an email to david@davidpatchen.com and we can schedule a time for you to visit when I'm blowing glass.