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PHOTO COURTESY OF MARTIN BLANK STUDIOS

PREVIEW. Martin Blank created this prototype in preparation for the big installation he’s creating for Museum of Glass’ reflecting pool. Blank (inset, wearing face shield) is a pioneer in creating glass art of a very large scale and specializes in capturing the fluidity of glass to reflect the properties of water and steam.

Museum of Glass welcomes master artist for extended residency

Internationally renowned sculptor Martin Blank to create large-scale installation for museum’s reflecting pool

By Matt Nagle

Martin Blank, one of America’s most significant figurative sculptors, has just begun an extended residency at Museum of Glass (MOG) to create components for a work of art that will be installed on the museum’s Main Plaza reflecting pool this fall. His plan, with lots of help from MOG’s hot shop team and some of his own helpers from his Seattle studio, is to use glass as a conduit to capture the emotive nature of water and thus awaken the viewer’s eye to how light, motion, time, fluidity and transparency all work together to capture the brilliant complexities of this essential earthly element.

The installation will be made up of five to seven islands of glass sculpture that work individually as complete forms, yet when viewed as a whole create a compelling visual dialog to engage the viewer’s eye and imagination. While he is at the museum, “my whole focus will be on that project,” he said. “Glass is the only material that can truly convey the brilliant complexities of this simple, life-sustaining substance.”

Museum of Glass Director Timothy Close said Blank’s contribution to MOG fits perfectly with the museum’s commitment to enhancing community spirit through artistic experiences. “Our tradition of providing engaging outdoor art installations has been popular with museum visitors and the residents of Tacoma, and we are delighted to feature Martin Blank’s work in this next iteration of the program.”

Blank has been a figure sculptor since he was 13 years old. “I was very dyslexic and stunk at everything else,” he said. After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design in 1984, Blank began his professional career creating with Dale Chihuly. He earned a place as an integral part of Chihuly’s team for 11 years before opening his own studio.

Using rudimentary tools Blank learned how make glass sculptures on a very large scale, the type that will be the hallmark of his MOG installation.

“This project is an unbelievable experience,” he said. It started about four years ago when Blank was experimenting with making “steam portraits” by which he would dump ladles of molten glass on a marble surface and manipulate it with a big steel rolling pin. “The whole idea was that I wanted to create steam.” Inspired by watching the wisps of steam rising from his hot tea and disappearing into nothingness, questions began rolling through his mind. “How would I sculpt this?” he pondered.

Two years later he made a proposal to the MOG board and he was invited last summer to come out and work on prototypes and develop a series of drawings and other specifications. Upon securing grants and donations, he got the green light from MOG to move forward with his plan for the reflecting pool sculpture.

“I’m the luckiest guy,” said the down-to-earth artist. He sees the finished work as akin to standing by a lake first thing in the morning as the mist rises and gets whisked away by the breeze. But do not let the ephemeral nature of his works fool you. It is exhausting and intense work to create glass sculpture on the scale Blank does. “It’s not like blowing a vase,” he chuckled, when it takes two strong men to handle the weight of the blowpipe. “Some of my figures weigh up to 200 pounds – solid glass at 1,500 degrees.”

He is looking forward to the grand unveiling to the public, which should happen sometime in October if all goes according to plan. “There will be something for everyone in this piece – something to find and look at that they’ll respond to. I’m dealing with an elemental aspect of life from where we’ve evolved and still connect. There’s an incredible, powerful quality to it.”

Blank explained his concept for the installation. As viewers enter MOG’s Main Plaza from the northeast corner they will encounter “Transitions Between Planes,” a 60-foot swell that carves and bisects the main body of the reflecting pool. This will taper into “Wisps,” a large field of hundreds of small glass forms breaching the surface only by inches, creating a plane that honors the intimate space between the actual surface of the water and the air, then transforming into steam that looks as if a breeze has lifted it up to the sky.

Moving toward the museum, the viewer will see a large, open plane of resting water. “Sculpture is as much about the mass as the void,” Blank reminded.

Situated on the southwest corner of the plaza will be “The Cascades.” An arch of glass 15 feet tall, 40 feet long and 20 feet wide will capture the flow of water, an island that gives visitors an opportunity to be enveloped underneath the mist, vapors and surge of a cascading mass.

As the viewer rounds the corner to enter the museum, “Echo,” will greet them, a vibrant and colorful grouping that sprawls across the surface of the pool, resting on the water to create a sort of dance of color, texture and reflective light.

The artist said that it has become clear to him after 25 years of exploration that the idea of “flow” is the underlying thread that binds all of his works. “Great sculpture is like music – all you have to do is feel it.”

Blank will be in the MOG hot shop every Wednesday and Thursday throughout April, May and up until June 5, then June 16, 17, 23 and 24. His team (without Blank) will be there March 28, April 9-11, and April 25. The public is invited to come by and see the artists in action. MOG is located at 1801 Dock St. For more information, call (253) 284-4750 or visit www.museumofglass.org.

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