AdammsGallery

David Lotton Art Glass Back At Adamm's Stained Glass & Gallery

     It had been three years since I attended the American Handcrafted Show in Philadelphia. Actually there has been a wholesale craft show there for about 30 years under various names. Originally, and running for about 25 years, was the "Buyers Market of American Craft". That show eventually moved on to Washington, D.C., and ACRE(American Craft Retailers Expo) took advantage of the opportunity and moved into the available dates. Just a few years laterr, the show was sold and became the American Handcrafted Show.

     The show takes place every year for 3-4 days around Valentines day. Not the most favorable time of year to be in Philadelphia. However, Philadelphia is a wonderful city with great museums, entertainment, sports, and especially food. In the past when the economy was booming, and the arts were very popular there were about 1600 artists of all crafts in attendance. The show has dwindled since those days, but has a had a slight resurgence in the past couple of years. This year 2019 there were nearly 500 artists, with many of the older established arts returning, and 30 new emerging arts joining them.

     I am always on the lookout for new artists for the gallery, and artists that are already in the gallery with new work. I had heard from a number of my regular artists that they would be returning. Most of the artists I represent have been in the gallery 20-nearly 40 years, and we are good friends. I love seeing them, going out to dinner, and catching up on their lives. We all have gone through many changes over the past 40 years. Of course my main objective is to bring in work for the gallery, and I was not disappointed in that regard.

     There were many artists to catch up with but I will start with David Lotton.             
                

Large Clematis mixed flower paperweight vase      Free form pulled vase      freeform heart and Vine Vase

                    
Leaf and Vine Sunset Bowl                  Clematis and Hollyhock Paperweight Vase         Organic Sculpture

David wasn't at the show, but his wife Kimberly was, and it was wonderful catching up with the family goings on. David is the son of Charles Lotton a very famous self taught glass blower, and one the the gallery favorites. His brother John was an exceptional glass blower, but decided to retire from glass and now is a home developer. David in addition to being a glass blower is also a farmer and rancher raising Black Angus cows, and growing all kinds of grain. Much of David's work is the same or similar to what he has been producing for many years, and it i still beautiful. I did pick up many of that style, and some new interesting, and more playful art.

    I'll be covering more of the artists and work arriving in the gallery in future blogs.

I hope you enjoy this one.

Art Glass at Woodbury University Fashion Show and Dinner

On May 1, 2011 we packed up 30 large art glass pieces and about 50 smaller pieces for the 36th annunal Woodbury University Fashion Show and Dinner. This year's event, as last year, was held at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. I was approached a couple of months prior to the show about bringing glass for center pieces for the dinner. There were 30 tables.

After getting all my concerns addressed( guarantee, insurance, my donation to the University, etc.) we reached an agreement. In return for bringing the pieces and setting them up I would be donating 15% of all sales. The event was to provide dinner for two, and a guarantee in the event we did not sell enough to cover expenses. Members of the University picked many of the pieces to bring. Artists represented were Karen Ehart, Josh Simpson, Barry Entner, Tommie Rush, John McDonald, Charles Lotton, David Tsai, Rick Satava, Victor Chiarizia, Wes Hunting, Michael Nourot, Scott Bisson, Susan Gott, Donald Carlson, Jared Davis, Algerine Correia, Rick Strini, Richard Silver, Rollin Karg, Orient & Flume, John & Heather Fields, Kyle Gribskov, and more.

We packed up at 8:00 AM and arrived at the Hotel at 2:30 PM. The Biltmore is truly a grand hotel from Los Angeles' past. The first Academy Awards were held there. It has entertained Presidents, Kings, and many other dignitaries. It is kept up in incredible coindition. We finsihed setting up the tables by 4:30. Then we went to the room(provided by the University) to change for the fashion show and reception. At the reception we met Dr. Kenneth R. Nielsen, Ed.D.President of the University and his wife. The hoir d'vours were fantastic as were the beverages. The fashion show was very impressive. If you have never been to one I recommend it . Probably once is enough, unless you are in the business. After fashion show we returned to the ballroom for the dinner.Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Great food, especially desert. The entertainment were dancers from "Dancing With The Stars". Sold only a couple of items but that was OK. When you do promotional things like this you never know when the return will come.

We were fortunate that there was no breakage. Our return trip to Santa Monica was uneventful, and a very good night sleep awaited. All in all it was a tiring, but very good experience. The art glass made for magnificent table settings and we recieved many complements on the pieces. The artists received good representation, and we all had fun.

For A Few Dollars More- Gallery Show June 8 - 30, 2010

 

June 8th - June 30th

On June 8th, 2010 Adamm's Stained Glass & Gallery  was glad to present the opening of "For A Few Dollars More", a Gallery Show featuring the blown glass works ofJared and Nicole Davis, Rick and Janet Nicholson, and Bruce Sillars of Orient & Flume Art Glass. The show was well attended, and all the guests were astounded by the incredible pieces.

    This show is one of two we have in the Gallery each year that includes the artists and their work.All the artists were very busy talking to the guests and enjoying the good feeling.  

   Let's take a look at some of the pieces. 
   
 
Jared and Nicole Davis   Bruce Sillars

Rick Nicholson 

The show continues through the month of June.
 

Stained Glass Restoration, 2nd Church of Christ, Scientist Los Angeles

 
We bid on this project  about nine months ago when The Art of Living foundation was thinking of buying the 21,000+ square foot building.There is extensive stained glass throughout the building. The entry and all four stairwells have stained glass windows and skylights.  The sanctuary has nine very large windows with transoms.  The there are the classrooms, bathrooms, offices, and huge meeting hall. To top it off the 104 foot high dome is topped with a 32 window rotunda with each window being approximate 4 feet by 8 feet.

The Church is located in the historic West Adams area of Los Angeles. It was completed exactly 100 years ago this year, and is surrounded by numerous 100 year old large homes and mansions. Most of these either have been or are in the process of being restored to their former magnificence. Just down the street on Chester Place is the Doheny Mansion which we finished restoring just last year. Located in an area that has been notorious for vandalism the church's stained glass windows have not stood up well under a bombardment of wine and beer bottles.

We started restoring the windows in the North stairwells.  Fortunately, we were able to get a very good match on the glass from both Bullseye Glass Company in Portland,Oregon, and Kokomo Opalescant Glass Company in Kokomo , Indiana. We removed the windows by passing them through the opening and carrying them out on a piece of plywood.  The installation of the restored windows were done the same way.  We did use a bucket lift to place our men on the ledge of the window and back them up for safety. The ledge is quite deep.

You can see from the photos how badly the windows were damages.The other window was missing most of the bottom quarter. Surprisingly, the lead for most of the window was in good shape.We did not have to relead except in some areas where wine bottles had torn the leading away. The window frames and sash were also in pretty good shape and will need little restoration other than stripping and painting.  We primed and painted the detail area of the sash and the moulding.

  The next project was the repair of broken and missing pieces in the sanctuary.  I will cover this in another blog.

This weekend in Santa Monica

     Santa Monica is always beautiful, but the spring is really special. The sun is out and everything is warming up. So don't stay at home... get out and enjoy spring.

There is a lot going on in Santa Monica this weekend. Here are two activities that promise fun and excitement.

The Montana Branch Library turns 50 this weekend. Join the festivities on Saturday for a day full of magic, music, food, games and surprises. It's fun for the whole family.

The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is hosting The International Gem and Jewelry Show from April 9-11. This fabulous jewelry exhibition brings hundreds of companies, designers and manufacturers together to provide the best high-quality jewelry selection at the lowest prices.

If you are looking for some outdoor activities head to Santa Monica Beach with its famous pier and array of activities. All year round you can go swimming, surfing, fishing or biking. Want to play volleyball or even chess? No problem at Santa Monica beach. And there is more...

The Santa Monica Pier is always worth a visit. It offers a variety of entertainment, dining and shopping experiences, including the thrill rides of Pacific Park; a historic 1922 Carousel, and an interactive aquarium. Check out the Pier's website.

 

The Remarkable World of Faberge'

Most of us have heard of Faberge' eggs.  The magnificent lavious Easter eggs created by Peter Carl Faberge' for the Russian Imperial court from 1885-1916. These celebrated masterpieces are inextricably bound up with the Farerge' name and legend and are considered to be the last great commissions of objects d'art to date.

Tzar Alexander II first became familiar with Carl Faberge' in 1882 at the Moscow Pan-Russian Exhibition. As a gift to his wife the Empress Maria Fedorovna he commissioned Farerge' to make an Easter egg, perhqps for their 20th wedding anniversary. Easter in the Orthodox church was equivilent to Christmas in the West.  Bringing hand colored eggs to Church at Easter is a centuries old tradition. They were blessed and presented to friends and family. The Tzar had a hands on involvement in the design and execution of the egg. Each egg took a year or more to make.

The tradition was continued until 1895 when it was taken up by Alexander's son Nicholas II.  The young Tzar gave two eggs each year one to his wife the Emperess Alexandra Fedorovna, and his mother the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna.This traditon for the Imperial family continued until the 1917 revolution.

The most expensive egg was given in 1913.  At the time it cost 24,600 roubles, an amount equal to over 2.8 million US dollars. Amazingly of the 50 eggs made for the Imperial family from 1885 until 1916, 42 survive today.

After the revolution of 1917 the Bolsovics took over.  Faberge' fled the country for Switzerland where he died in 1920.   The company has changed hands a number of times since then.  In 2007 it was aquired by the English firm Pallinghurst. In September of 2009 Pallinghurst decided to drop the magnificant crystal, china, and glass figures from their line and specialize in high end jewelry.

I was fortunate enought to obtain  a small amount of the Faberge' crystal for the gallery.  I have Martini, Champagne, cordial, and wine glasses, as well as a very nice vase. You may view the pieces in our next newsletter, coming out very soon, or you can email me at [email protected] for photos. These are very special pieces and will not be availbale ever again. We are offering them at a 20% discount from full retail.