Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of GlassCurrent & Coming Exhibits

Staff Picks: Selections from the Museum’s Permanent Collection

August 4, 2023 – April 28, 2024

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass is home to more than 5,000 works of art in glass. This exhibition features works hand-curated by fourteen members of the museum’s staff. Highlighting works from each of our four major collections, including Victorian Art Glass baskets, Germanic glass, Studio glass, and paperweights, there’s sure to be something to catch your fancy. On exhibit in the museum’s Mabel R. McClanahan Memorial Study Gallery.

Cheers! Remarkable Goblets from the Boroff Collection

April 19, 2024 – July 28, 2024

Join us as we celebrate the recent acquisition of twelve glass goblets from the collection of Alan and Barbara Boroff. Showcasing exqusite melding of form and artistic attention, these goblets were collected over the past fifty years and were recently donated to the permanent collection of Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass. Artists represented include Fritz Dreisbach, Claire Kelly, Anthony Schafermeyer, Ruth Siegel, Rita Revere, George Ponzini, Cody Nicely, Minh Douglas Martin, Shane Fero, Michael Egan, Robert Mickelson, Charles Savoie, and George Thiewes.

Shane Fero (American, b.1953). Goblet, 2009.

“My feeling about goblets? They’re like potato chips. Seriously. I feel that if you start somebody with a goblet, it’s very easy to buy another one.”

– Barbara Boroff

Language of Light: Stephanie Sara Lifshutz

April 26 – October 13, 2024

Stephanie Sara Lifshutz is an artist and educator residing in Brooklyn, New York. She began working with glass while studying at the University of Wisconsin – Madison as a graduate student. As an undergraduate, she attended Franklin & Marshall College, where she studied photography and printmaking. Stephanie’s work is currently part of the traveling group exhibition, She Bends. A solo exhibition of her work, no time at all, was exhibited at Var Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2022. Other solo exhibitions include but i don’t mind, UrbanGlass, 2020 and PLEASE GO AWAY, Rare Air, Governor’s Island, New York. She was the recipient of a 2016 professional development grant from the University of Wisconsin. She currently teaches at Tyler School of Art & Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia.

“I often think about our private spaces and the different ways we present ourselves depending on who we interact with, including the rawemotion in the everyday routine that often gets overlooked, or hidden purposely. My latest body of work has been about turning the viewership onto myself, and the emotions I now run through with recent experiences of loss and grief. Through the use of sculpture and performance I am addressing universal experiences people share, even though my work is generated out of a very personal place. We are often conditioned to hide our emotions from others unless they are positive – and also to dismiss the ordinary unless it be considered extraordinary. I prefer to meditate on the seemingly insignificant repetitions of everyday routines and to appreciate them for what they are, the truest experiences of our lives without premeditation for presentation. Through the use of neon and text I communicate “suggested commands” playing off the history of signage as a direct instruction to the viewer, inviting those who read my signs to act of their own volition. The work is directly related to my identity as a feminist Jewish woman and the verbiage I have been conditioned and often expected to use as a form of politeness in order to phrase questions and appeals as nonthreatening requests.”

Feathered Friends: Birds in glass

APRIL 26, 2024 – september 8, 2024

Celebrating our feathered friends, this exhibition features artistic representations in glass of birds from across the world. From Antarctic Penguins to Baltimore Orioles, birds have providedinspiration for artists throughout history. Did you know that some of the earliest-cave drawings feature depictions of birds? Join us as we dive into the amazing world of birds in glass, with sculpture and paperweights from contemporary artists such as Renee Lalique, Marc Petrovic, Robin Grebe, Stephen Hodder, Rick Ayotte, and Shane Fero. On display in the Kimberly-Clark Gallery beginning this Spring!

Danny Salazar (American, b.1958) Double Crane Magnum Paperweight, 2008.

One-of-a-Kind: unique perthshire paperweights

may 24, 2024 – January 26, 2025

Perhaps no name is more synonymous with contemporary Scottish glass than that of Perthshire Paperweights. Founded in 1968 by Stuart Drysdale,Perthshire Paperweights was borne out of a desire to preserve the classic designs of antique millefiori paperweights produced by the French factories of Baccarat, Clichy and St. Louis. In fact, it was an article and accompanying photographs featuring the collection of the Bergstrom Art Center
in the July, 1965 issue of Woman’s Day magazine that piqued Drysdale’s interest of creating paperweights in the style and artistry of the old masters.

This exhibition features one-of-a-kind examples of Perthshire paperweights and related items. Some of the examples served as prototypes for
later designs, while others were created to commemorate an event or memorialize and individual. On exhibit in the Mabel R. McClanahan Memorial Study Gallery.

Perthshire Paperweights, Inc. Spaced Millefiori, ca.1980

Molten: 30 years of american glass

MAY 31, 2024 – august 11, 2024

From seemingly traditional to wildly abstract, glass artwork from the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum collection highlights the range of studio glass experimentation from the 1970s through the 1990s. The Studio Glass movement – with origins in Wisconsin, its spread to the East and West Coasts through a student-teacher network led by glass artist Harvey K. Littleton, and international reverberations – ushered in a new approach. In a radical departure from glass manufactured in factories, studio glass was designed and created by the same person – the artist. From initial studio glass experimentation to more technical subsequent methods, Molten showcases the possibilities unlocked by this new and ever-exploratory artistic approach.

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass is grateful to the Lee Yawkey Woodson Museum of Art for their loan of Molten. On exhibit in the Mahler Gallery.

Harvey Littleton (American, 1922-2013). Double Downthrust, 1976. From the Collection of Lee Yawkey Woodson Art Museum

Farm to Flame: Gene Koss

September 20, 2024 – February 9, 2025

After obtaining his Master of Fine Arts degree at Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Gene Koss started the Tulane University glass program and brought the movement of glass art to New Orleans. He uses steel and glass to create monumental works. Working with serial cast glass parts to enlarge scale and combining these elements with iron and neon, he has raised glass sculpture to the realm of public art. Koss’s work has had a profound impact on American artists working in both steel and glass media.

Koss is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Endowment for the Arts; the New Orleans Community Arts Award; and Pace-Willson Art Foundation grants. His work is included in numerous private collections and has been displayed in museums and galleries throughout the United States and abroad, including the International Biennale for Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy, and has been featured in International Glass Art, Contemporary Glass-Color, Light & Form and Glass Art from Urban Glass publications. Koss is represented by Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, LA.

In 2019 Gene Koss Sculpture was published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany, and released internationally. The monograph features Koss’ most important artistic achievements created during his 45-year career, and, through insightful essays by well recognized critics and curators, places his sculptures in historic perspective.