Hunter Museum of American Art

It’s been another busy spring for the curatorial department at the Hunter. We recently completed installation on all of the Art in Public Places sculptures. If you haven’t seen them yet, go by Renaissance Park and have a look at the two latest additions—Place in the Woods by Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse, and Tennessee Leaf by Terry Allen.

We also just installed a new glass exhibition here at the museum. It’s called Transformation 6 and features several different artists who are making glass pieces using really unique and innovative techniques. Many of the artists are combining glass with paint, metal, wood, skin and bones. Some of the works are rather non traditional and installation based; some of the works are kinetic. It’s a terrific exhibition that stretches the boundaries of what we all generally think of when it comes to glass sculpture.

Next month we will be installing our second summer exhibition, a retrospective of glass artist, Stephen Rolfe Powell. Powell, who is a professor at Centre College in Danville, KY, is an internationally renowned artist and makes amazing large scale glass vessels from thousands of tiny murrini—the works full of vibrant colors and patterns.

Are you wondering, ‘why so much glass?' It’s because we have been partnering with the Tennesee Aquarium on a three year exhibition called Jellies:Living Art. This exhibit pairs jellyfish with glass artwork, comparing natural forms to artistic forms. So to further complement the partnership, the Hunter has had three summers of glass exhibitions. Two years ago we had an exhibition of William Morris’s work that truly explored natural and archaeological forms in glass. Last year, we had the incredible Laguna Murano chandelier by Dale Chihuly, and this year we have the gravity defying vessels of Stephen Rolfe Powell and the conceptual imaginings of emerging artists in Transformation 6.

I hope you’ll have the chance to come have a look.

Nandini Makrandi, Curator of Contemporary Art