In Cahoots: A Collaborative Exhibition

Wimberley Glassworks: Hill Country’s finest glassblowing studio, is proud to announce our upcoming event; In Cahoots, an exhibition featuring the collaborative efforts by Tim de Jong and other artists whom the Glassworks have partnered with over a twenty year span.  Exhibit runs May 25th – June 1st.   Please join us May 25^th from 5 to 7pm at the gallery for this insightful occasion along with an exclusive treat featuring beers crafted by local brewing sensation Middleton Brewing.  After 7pm, the event will mosey on over to the Middleton microbrewery down the road for the after party and more hand crafted brews… see ya then.

Continually exploring the boundaries between form and function, the studio entertains a variety of interior designs.  For twenty years the Glasswork’s reputation has been founded upon creating the best, hand blown glass in Texas.  The studio’s business model hasn’t changed much since its inception in 1992.

Tim DeJong was born out of the wilds of Saskatchewan, Canada sometime in the mid 20^th century.   Like others at the Glassworks, Tim began his studies at Alfred University in upstate New York where his fascination with glass began to take hold.  He continued his academic career at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, where he continued his studies that inevitably led to a bachelor’s degree in glassblowing.  Utilizing the medium as a vehicle for artistic exploration and with visits to such countries as Europe and China, Tim DeJong has since traveled the world in efforts to obtain as much experience with glass as possible.

It wasn’t until 1998, combined with the serendipitous collaboration with local art fixture Jimmy Harwell, that the Wimberley Glassworks began to really make strides within the region.  A native Texan, Jimmy Harwell embodies the best of the spirit of the old west.  Born in 1946, he was raised on a ranch near Wimberley where his great, great grandfather, William Henry Harrison helped settle Alpine, Texas after the Civil War.  Jimmy Harwell sculpture range from public pieces to those residing in numerous private collections.

As I heat, bend and work steel, or pour bronze, I try to create something that goes to the core of who and what we are… All the work I do comes from my head, my heart and my hands.

-  J. Harwell

Harwell’s work evokes a time in blacksmithing when hands on craftsmanship was the measure of quality and technique.., not the type of machinery they use.  Whether private or commercial, Jimmy Harwell fundamentally approaches each project with the same philosophy.  It was just a matter of time before his and Tim’s way of thinking would converge and foster a prolific collaborative partnership that is still working to this day.

Kirk Tunningley grew up in western New York where he received a BFA in Sculpture from Alfred University in 1981.  It was at Alfred University where he was first introduced to neon, fabricating, and three-dimensional neon sculptures.  It was after he graduated when the artist moved to Austin, Texas, in 1981 and learned neon sign bending.  He started his own neon business and studio with a classmate in 1983 and after spending a decade in Hawaii he restarted his operation back in Lockhart, Texas where he continues to work today.

My sculptures are representational of objects familiar to children.  A dog, a guitar or a boat:  images that are easily recognizable or accessible.  The color flow of the glowing tubing is rather whimsical and makes the images fun and dreamlike in nature.

-  K. Tunningley

Currently, Kirk Tunningley fabricates neon for several artists in central Texas.  Art as a reflection of its surroundings is nothing new, but such communicated through the use neon glass is something else entirely, if not novel.

Wes Sweetser started working with glass in the fall of 2000 at Alfred University in upstate New York.  It was there where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Glass Art and Printmaking.  In 2004 he captured the attention of the studio and the powers that be and before he knew it, he was Wimberley bound. Wes’s work typically extrapolates off of the mundane.  Pushing the proverbial envelope is what most artists aspire to, Wes in no different.  Taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary is a feat few have the luxury of doing but for this artist it comes naturally.

I like making stuff…

-  Wes Sweetser

Never at a loss for words, Wes Sweetser has worked his way up over the years and is now an integral part of the studio.  For eight years now, Wes Sweetser and Tim DeJong have shared a somewhat symbiotic relationship and their current efforts in the studio are a testament to that.  Technically they collaborate more together than any other on account of Wes’s direct affiliation with the company.  His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout New York, Massachusetts, Colorado and Texas.

Last but by no means least; Geoffrey Koslow has burst on the scene with vigor reminiscent to that of a racehorse starting out of the gate.  As with most freshly minted graduates, Geoffrey Koslow’s ideas and aesthetics lend a contemporary lens to the studio’s endeavors.  Like Kirk and Wes before him, he earned his BFA from Alfred University in 2010.  He currently lives amongst the Texas hills where he works as a glassblower and production manager for the studio.

My work is greatly influenced by materials.  Glass is a traditionally utilitarian material originating for the necessity of consumption… Capitalizing off traditional techniques I push my work into a post modern context with meticulous care and intention in every aspect of my work.

-  Geoffrey Koslow

In several ways, Koslow’s work is something more reminiscent to that of sculpture.  Riding that fine line between form and function, his vases, bowls and other shapes evoke tangible, utilitarian characteristics while provoking the eye in discerning something to the contrary.  Whichever the outcome, his glasswork challenges initial thoughts and perceptions regarding glass and inevitably invigorates new ways in which we view the medium.

In the fruitful years succeeding 2009, the studio has experienced numerous commission based projects that have fostered global interests and national recognition.  In the coming years, Wimberley Glassworks anticipates an exciting future with promising collaborations, dynamic installations and artist based designs therein.  Reinforcing previous efforts in the business, the Glassworks aspires to maintaining a standard recognized for the highest quality craftsmanship in glass, client services and of course collaborative efforts.