(Excerpt)
It seems fitting Bullseye Glass Co. would show an exhibit in Toledo, where the American studio glass movement began 50 years ago.
The company, based in Portland, Ore., is “one of the biggest glass art product suppliers and well-known companies in the glass art community,” said David Saygers, artistic director for Toledo School for the Arts (TSA).
Bullseye’s exhibit is titled “Import” because the work features a cross-pollination of ideas and influences from other countries, said Michael Endo, assistant curator at Bullseye Gallery.
“The exhibit will display work being made in other places and include a crossover of information and materials,” Endo said. “It will feature a wide range of work, from famous artists like Klaus Moje to emerging artists.”
Bullseye, along with Moje, was instrumental in developing kiln-formed glass, as opposed to the hot glass or blown glass, which is produced in a furnace, Endo said.
“People had kiln-formed glass for a long time, … but if you took different colored glass, especially contrasting colors, and tried to fuse them together, they would break apart,” Endo said. “One of Bullseye’s founders saw [Moje] in a lecture in 1979 and they talked about creating this (kiln-formed glass). Two years later … Bullseye created the first palette so that you could fuse different colors and it was guaranteed to work.”
Endo said he is extremely excited to present the “other aspect of the glass movement that people don’t talk about.”
“We will be showing artists in the beginning of that movement,” Endo said. “It’s a young movement, medium and technique. We’re promoting artists on the cutting edge of this new technique.”
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