International Glass Conference update:

Yesterday morning I dug Jes’ last showpieces, the river stones, out of the basement and met her at the RAC (Regional Arts Commission) Gallery. It’s across the street from the Pageant and Big Shark Bicycles on Delmar. We installed her show and then I was given another errand. I had to transport this several thousand dollar, seventy pound piece of glass in a massive crate that had just arrived from Italy. I should have taken a picture because it filled the whole back of the van. I took it from the glass studio down to The Millennium Hotel, which is the conference HQ, and had a bitch of a time getting it unloaded and into the auction space.

There were a bunch of men standing around with conference badges on when I arrived at the loading dock and when I asked for their help, seeing that they were affiliated, they told me they were exhibiters just out having a smoke – it was their way of saying that they were artists and weren’t going to help a laborer (soon to be husband of the co-chair of their conference). I meet so few assholes that sometimes it just baffles and surprises me. I took their implied advice and found an honest, hard working and ethical hotel employee to help me. One thing about the Midwest, and St. Louis in particular, if those boys had been local, regardless of the socio economic class of their youth, they wouldn’t have hesitated to help a stranger unload a box from his van.

Later in the evening, much later, after I had taught my class, some of Jes’ friends and former assistants from Alfred arrived (around one thirty in the morning) with their modified Airstream trailer that has been converted into a mobile art gallery. They are doing a tour which began in New York and most recently they were set up in Memphis. They kept talking about their website last night, so I’ll see if I can find it and link it. As for the conference and cool links, you can go to the Third Degree web page and follow the link to the webcam. It is aimed at the main hot shop where many of the more expert demos are taking place.

Most of the conference isn’t open to the general public. Just the Gallery Hop on Friday (when you could go see Jes’ show at the RAC), and the auction on Saturday (where you could go drop several thousand dollars on art glass that has ridden around in my van), there’s also the final party Saturday night at the City Museum, but I think there is a thirty dollar ticket required for that, whereas the other two events are free.


Regional Arts Commission
6128 Delmar Boulevard
314-863-5811
www.art-stl.com
gallery@stlrac.org
Through July 30: “Next in Glass: An Exhibition of Emerging St. Louis Area Glass Artists” Curated by Sam Stang. Featuring Amber Marshall, Jessica Cope, Micah Roufa, Michael Hayes, Brendan Bayless, Nicolas Christianson, Jeremy Lampe, Whitman Rodgers, Kaj Akiria Louis-Johnson
Hours: Mon - Fri 10am- 5 pm, Sat- Sun 12- 5 pm
Gallery Hop Hours: 6 -10 pm