It’s got to be Art!
In 2007 we had only been collecting marbles for a few years and our focus was on glass mid-20th century American machine-made marbles. However, we had learned about stone (and agate), clay, and other marble materials and we had seen all sorts of handmade art marbles online and in a few shops.
For Christmas that year we were gifted with our first contemporary glass art marble. Joanne’s Mother and Aunt bought it for us in the gift shop when they visited the Phillips Collection which is billed as America’s first museum of modern art.
The Museum, in Washington, D.C., opened in 1921 in the home of Duncan Phillips (1886–1966). Art in the collection includes Renoir and other outstanding Impressionist paintings by van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Cézanne. The list also includes American painters as well.[1]
Cuneo Furnace Studios & Steven Maslach
This gift marble was handmade at Cuneo Furnace Studios in 2007 in California, and it was designed and possibly made by Steven Maslach. Y ou could buy “new old stockCuneo stopped production in December 2008 and their inventory was then sold off. Several investors bought large quantities of Cuneo and Maslach ” online and in shops for a number of years. We are unsure if most of that stock has now been sold, but you can still find Cuneo and Maslach marbles online.
Steven Maslach is a true glass art marble pioneer. He “…made …many gorgeous soft glass cane style marbles in the furnace, and they have become a mainstay for many of the great collections out there.”[2] This is the type marble shown here. Both of these examples are ⅞”, which is a typical size for Cuneo. We learned that most Cuneo Furnace marbles are just on the upper edge of our marble collecting budget, and over the years we have collected several more Maslach creations. They make an excellent “starter marble” for the new art glass marble collector. Maslach neither signed nor dated his marbles.
A Frog on a Marble?
We know that you saw the bright green frog with the bug eyes in the lead picture of this post. She is just precious, isn’t she? Several years ago we were in Rome, Georgia, visiting family. Larry’s sister Lynn G. Howell knew a local artist who could make art glass marbles and art glass animals.
But, oddly, she could not make a glass animal atop a glass marble! We have no idea how difficult it may be. Joanne has made glass pendants, earrings, and fan pulls. She won five blue ribbons for her glass once at the Osceola, Florida, County Fair! We do know that glass cools and expands according to different temperatures and just enough about concept of Coefficient of Expansion to get us in trouble.
Look back at the frog photograph. Those tiny glass toes are translucent! It could not have been easy to apply the glass frog to a much cooler corkscrew swirl marble.
Sara Sally LaGrand
Well, Sara Sally LaGrand figured it all out! She made this gorgeous and whimsical glass art marble. Since we really wanted a glass animal marble and yet we could find no artist to commission one, we looked online and finally found this one at Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs, Kansas. The marble is 1” and it has a school bus yellow base with a corkscrew orange stripe and the little frogs’ legs are transparent or translucent.
LaGrand made the marble using lampwork. She is a talented artist who makes free form glass works, beads, and, at the time we bought the marble, she also made whimsy marbles for Moon Marbles. At that time she also demonstrated lampwork and marble-making for the public who visited Moon. The marble is signed ‘SSL’ and it is not dated. The little marble is delightful. We have looked for years and have never seen another animal on a marble. Have you seen one?
Jody Fine
Photograph of Fine, his wife Jodene and son Isaac used with permission of Adamm’s Stained Glass & Art Glass Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Adamm’s Gallery provides a comprehensive snapshot of Fine and his work.[3]
The Gallery biography reads in part: “Accomplished in the classical Italian techniques of latticino, murrini, and millifiori, Fine uses these ancient methods to create contemporary ‘off-hand’ blown pieces.” As you can see, the two Fine marbles we show below illustrate these principles. Fine calls the marble on the left a Medium at 1⅛” and it is a banded Latticino in blue, red, yellow, and green. It is neither signed nor dated.
More from the Gallery: “…One-of-a-kind works include sculptural forms and vessels distinguished by bright multicolored patterns and loose organic shapes. … Ongoing studio lines include bowls, jars, spinning tops and everybody’s favorite, marbles.”
We bought our first Fine in October 2011 at Brooke Pottery, Lakeland, Florida. The price of the marbles then was $20.00. Today the market price is about $100.00+. They are gorgeous, still available in studios and online, and are wonderful additions to any art glass collection.
We bought the marble to the right in the photograph in October 2012 at Fusion Art Glass Gallery Seaside, Florida. The shop is now Fusion Art Glass and Fine Jewelry.
Over the years this little shop on the Gulf of Mexico has grown to “…represent over one hundred and fifty North American artists. Focusing on small, independent studios and quality craftsmanship each piece is individually created with excellence in mind.”[4]
We visit the Gallery every time we stop in Seaside and it is a wonderful way to spend an hour or so. In 2012 we bought the 15/16”Jody Fine contemporary art glass marble to the right in the photograph and one for Larry’s sister, Lynn G. Howell. Our marble is basically a latticino with both large and small external ribbons and an internal ribbon core swirl. Again, It is neither signed nor dated.
Jim Davis
We bought this striking marble in 2008. It is 1½” and is purple, with “blazes” toward the top and lavender “blazes” on the bottom. It is signed but not dated.
Jim was the patriarch of “the marble family of West Virginia.” He is reported to be the first person in Richie County to make handmade marbles. Davis (1930-2007) worked in the glass industry from the time he was 16. He & Margaret L. Corra Davis had six sons who were all involved in glass making at one time or another. They also made glass toy tops like the ones on display. The sons are Steve, Rick, Michael, John, Joseph, and Mark Davis.
There is a comprehensive write-up about Davis family marbles at The Museum of American Glass in West Virginia website. The museum has marbles made by each member of the family and photographs are included in the online story.[5] We have work created by Jim’s brother Andy and sons Rick and Steve. For many years we would visit with members of the family, especially Rick and Steve, at the Sistersville and Cairo marble shows and festivals.
Jim Davis also made sulfide marbles. In fact, as we note in our eMagazine story Contemporary Figural Marbles, Jim Davis, made a contemporary train sulfide which stretches across four marbles, locomotive to caboose!
Tornado Vortex
We call these newer contemporary marbles vortex or infinity because of the internal swirl patterns which lead your eye deep inside the marble. This type marble is fascinating to look into and the colors and varied intensity of shading is amazing to study. We have no idea how they are made nor how difficult they are to accomplish.
Our nephew and his wife gave us this outstanding marble for Christmas in 2018. They collect minerals and they bought the marble at the 2018 Franklin Gem and Lapidary Wholesalers Show in Franklin, North Carolina.
The marble is 2” and elegant and it was made by Ethan Murray in the Asheville Art District, Asheville, North Carolina. The bottom of the marble has a green on dark vortex as well. The marble is unsigned and undated.
In 2018 we could find none of Murray’s glass online but today he is much more visible.[6] Just search for “Ethan Murray Designs”.
Dichroic & Borosilicate Glass
This marble is a dichroic vortex with a peacock or rainbow effect and it may be made of borosilicate glass. “Dichroic Glass, also known as color effects glass, reflects some colors and allows others to pass through. This unique glass displays two different colors, by changing color depending on certain lighting.”[7]
“Borosilicate glass is a special type of glass made by mixing 70-80% silica sand with boron trioxide. At first glance, you likely wouldn’t be able to tell the two-component materials apart but, when heated, boron trioxide absorbs massive amounts of heat before crystallizing into a glass. Once the two fuses into the glass, boron trioxide slows the annealing process, producing a harder, more durable material.”[8]
Ethan Murray: Revolutionary Flameworker
We recently found this note online about Murray: “Flameworker in Asheville, NC working to make an artistic revolution.” Considering the materials used and the approach to glass exhibited in the marble, we would agree that the marble and the technique are both revolutionary.
As we have illustrated in this story glass art marbles have evolved over time. Art marbles made in the 1970s do not look like those from the 1990s because styles and tastes changed. But exactly how could any artist, such as Ethan Murray, who knows what came before use entirely different glass combinations to create a totally new approach to a glass marble?
Murray ‘s “Artist Biography” online may offer us some clues.[9] We have abridged the story and you might want to go to the website to learn more.
“Ethan has been lampworking glass for over 20 years, beginning with an apprenticeship under Sheri Kilgore as a teenager. Ethan came to Asheville in 1998 and has since spent time developing his skills and living within the heartbeat of the Western North Carolina lampworking scene….”
Much of Murray’s work “… comes forward with undertones of the sacred, often referring to Eastern spirituality. “ Murray himself writes that “my art has developed from a long journey of working with glass. Over the years I have found passion and peace in Eastern philosophy and have begun to explore the artistic and symbolic power of Buddhist and Hindu themes in my glass work.
My goal is to express the all-encompassing nature of Eastern traditions and provide my patrons with art objects that inspire beauty as well as connection to the energetic powers around them.… Much of the imagery I use refers back to Eastern roots, but the intention behind the objects I make is to inspire the spiritual in whomever comes to look. By using glass, my art is in tune with an ancient form of making originating thousands of years ago and seems to provide each piece with a sense of place and longevity, while still being fragile and impermanent. ”
Happy Hunting
We have no other artist represented in our collection with such a singular background and approach to his or her work as Ethan Murray. After we were gifted with the Murray marble we have found other examples of this type work. Each of these art glass marbles is absolutely as unique as the artist who made them.
We have many more works of glass art in our marble collection and this may be a topic we return to in these magazine. We have more marbles made by a number of local and regional glass artists which are very interesting. In the meantime, don’t forget to haunt art galleries, studios, and workshops whenever you find them. You just have no idea what you might find next!
- You can see some of the collection at https://www.phillipscollection.org/html.collect.html (12/23/2022).↑
- https://pbase.com/bkbowden/smsale (12/22/2022). Maslach was born in 1950. “A prominent American glass artist, Steven Maslach was born in San Francisco, California and currently lives and works on Bainbridge Island, Washington. His works have been exhibited widely and are in the collections of several museums including the Chrysler Museum of Art (Norfolk, Virginia), the Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, NY), and the Detroit Institute of Arts (Michigan).” https://www.askart.com/artist/Steven_M_Maslach/11296157/Steven_M_Maslach.aspx (12/24/2022). He still works in glass. “I work directly in molten glass, crucible casting glass into graphite, sand or steel. The artwork I make utilizes the light that falls upon it, filters and reflects the light back to color the piece. The resulting artwork is responsive to the light around it, and to the viewer. The sculpture will change from a colorless piece at a low angle, to an intensely colored form at a high angle of viewing. Only transparent materials transform light or are transformed by light. Color and light flow through thick glass like liquid, collecting in the forms and textures of the artwork. I make sculptures that contain light itself, endlessly variable, a language of color. The Cuneo Furnace has now closed up shop and you can no longer get fresh marbles from there, but I have plenty of gems to offer here. Steven never signed his marbles, so it is difficult to tell what year they were created, but they are distinctive in style, and I can look at some of them and tell you that they were earlier versions from Steven. These are beautiful and affordable gems for the collection in a variety of sizes!” https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-maslach-0019a124?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F 12/24/2022 ↑
- https://www.adammsgallery.com/contact_a/255.htm 12/26/2022 ↑
- https://homeownerscollection.com/things-to-do/shopping/fusion-art-glass-fine-jewelry 12/26/2022 ↑
- http://www.magwv.com/magmarble/artist_contributers/Jim_Davis_and_Sons.html 12/28/2022 ↑
- https://www.instagram.com/ethanmurraydesigns/ (12/27/2022) This site has examples of Murray’s work to include some of the amazing pipes he has made for years. ↑
- https://www.twowaymirrors.com/dichroic-glass/ 12/27/2022 ↑
- https://www.crystaliausa.com/blogs/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-borosilicate-glass 12/27/2022 ↑
- https://www.etsy.com/shop/EthanMurrayDesigns 12/27/2022 ↑
