For their first professional collaborative residency, American glass artist Beth Lipman and Scandinavian artist Ingalena Klenell, recognized for her kiln-formed clear glass, have been working on and continue building pieces for their future show at the Museum of Glass (MOG) later this fall entitled “Glimmering Gone.” The women will be part of the two-week Visiting Artist Residency program in the Hot Shop from Jan. 20-24 and Jan. 27-31.

Klenell and Lipman have taught and lectured collaboratively in Italy, Sweden and the United States. In 2007 they submitted a proposal to the MOG in pursuit of a Visiting Artist Residency at the museum. Their subsequent exhibition of work started production immediately after and is still in progress, said Melissa Post, curator at MOG.

“(The show’s pieces) will be created both individually, in their respective studios in Sheboygan Falls, Wis. and Sunne, Sweden, and subsequently together in the museum’s Hot Shop in Tacoma. From this, a new body of work will emerge combining kiln-formed, blown and sculpted glass in a sequence of installations, which engage the visitor in most unusual settings.”

The entire exhibition, to be shown later in 2010, is composed of three vignettes entitled “Memento,” “Landscape” and “Artifacts.” According to the exhibition description, “Memento” will feature an assemblage of colorless, cut, polished and fractured “objects of desire,” some seemingly familiar, some abstracted, and all unattainable in their glass encasement. In “Landscape,” a path will meander through sculpted clear glass components that hang from the ceiling and rise up from the floor creating a veritable curtain of glass. It will reference the pioneering writings of British author Simon Schama, “Landscape” and “Momento” in particular, and the paintings of Washingtonian Abby Williams Hill (1861-1943). And in “Artifacts,” light projections will play over a series of 200 sandblasted black and white glass components, which will be fractured and embedded into the walls. In these ways, “Glimmering Gone” will investigate the human connection with nature and collective and personal memory. The exhibition will be housed in the museum’s North Gallery.

This exhibition invites Klenell and Lipman to walk into the unknown, to take risks by relinquishing each individual’s primary working method, and challenges the artists to connect despite, and perhaps in light of, geographical distances and cultural differences.

The concept for the show was initially proposed to MOG three years ago, and Lipman and Klenell visited the museum in 2008 and submitted their final exhibition proposal for consideration. Glass was shipped to each of the artists in late 2008 and they have been working on the project in their own studios ever since.

Both Klenell and Lipman will be present during a Conversation with the Artists during their two-week residency at MOG that will take place on Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. During the talk, the artists will discuss their own work, their Hot Shop collaboration and process and their forthcoming exhibition.

Lipman and Klenell’s two-week residency at the Museum of Glass begins Jan. 20 and ends Jan. 31. The Museum of Glass is located at 1801 Dock St. Museum hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Third Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 12-5 p.m. Admission is free for members, $12 general, $10 seniors, military and students (13 and older with ID), $5 children (6-12) years old, children under 6 are free. Admission is free every Third Thursday of the month from 5-8 p.m. For more information about the Visiting Artist Residency program, the Hot Shop or the Museum of Glass, call (253) 284-4750 or visit www.museumofglass.org.