School of Art & Design Hosts Black Glass Artist Series
During the Month of February 2022 Alfred University School of Art and Design and Sculpture / Dimensional Studies will host glass artists who hail from the afro diaspora. Each week an Artist working with glass will lead workshops and lecture on their work and experience.
During the Month of February 2022 Alfred University School of Art and Design and Sculpture / Dimensional Studies will host glass artists who hail from the afro diaspora. Each week an Artist working with glass will lead workshops and lecture on their work and experience.
From 9am-11am every Thursday, there will be Public Glass Demonstrations in the Hot Glass Studio Binns Merrill Hall Sub-Basement.
Materials provided for the artists by Olympic Color Rods.
N'KOSI BARBER January 31 - February 4
Barber is an illustrator and sculptural glass artist from Chicago’s South Side and is an instructor and peer educator with Project Fire, a program that teaches wounded victims of gunfire the skills of the hot glass shop. He draws inspiration from his Project Fire students and mentors, noting that learning patience and trust have a great deal to do with his perseverance in the art form. Learn more about Barber and his work.
Project Fire: A 501(c)3 born in 1990, the mission of our organization grew as we broadened our community reach. In 2015 we became ArtReach Chicago and expanded to the Firehouse Art Studio on Roosevelt near Racine. Since 2018, we moved all operations to our current studio at 2651 W. Lake in East Garfield Park. In 2020 we grew into our new name: Firebird Community Arts. Here we honor the legacy of our roots by empowering and connecting Chicagoans through the healing practice of glassblowing and ceramic arts.
Our flagship program, Project FIRE, began in 2015 and informed our understanding of the arts as a tool for healing. As a result we have structured our programs to include trauma-intensive programs with robust wraparound services and healing justice programs that focus on cultivating wellbeing and reimagining futures. Firebird Community Arts signals the rebirth of our organization. Our use of two fire-based artforms to reimagine and rebuild ourselves brings to mind how mythological firebirds regenerate themselves through fire from ashes. Firebird Community Arts signals the rebirth of our organization. Our use of two fire-based artforms to reimagine and rebuild ourselves brings to mind how mythological firebirds regenerate themselves through fire from ashes.
SARABETH POST February 7-11
Post is an interdisciplinary artist primarily utilizing glass in sculpture, utilitarian wares, and jewelry. She earned her BFA in Glass + 3D Studios from the University of Louisville. Her studies of pattern & color pave a path to explore human development juxtaposed to spirituality. Her production line is produced under the name Ultra Lit, a pen name coined as a reflection on her navigation in the world as a mixed race light-skinned woman.
CEDRIC MITCHELL February 21-25
- TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 IDEA LAB WORKSHOP: COLOR REPRESENTATION MATTERS
- THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 9-11AM PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION HOT GLASS STUDIO
- THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 5-6PM BMH 106 (C) PUBLIC LECTURE
ABOUT THE ARTIST: Cedric Major Mitchell, Los Angeles based glass artist from Oklahoma who honed his skills while attending Tulsa Community College studying business. Learning about the glass art-form as an emerging local hip-hop artist while recording in the music studio, he immediately enrolled as an elective. As a student he quickly transitioned into an apprentice and instructor at The Tulsa Glassblowing School.
Inspired by an eccentric mix of Graffiti Art, Pop Culture, Mid-Century Modern and Memphis Design. Cedric creates work that ranges from functional to decorative art, combining simplicity in design with bold colors to craft hand-blown vessels with a purpose