Happy Holidays!
Warmest holiday wishes to our friends, clients, and collaborators from everyone at Bullseye Studio. In celebration of 2019, we have compiled a showcase of the year’s project highlights.
Thanks to each and every one of you. And a special thanks to all of the artists we had the great honor to work with this year. Here is to a future of outstanding projects and possibilities!
Subtle, Simple, and Intriguing with Brent Buck Architects
A simple form becomes an intriguing architectural feature with the right material and craft. Brent Buck Architects capitalized on this design possibility in their request for a feature that would boast bubbles of random size and placement. Polished on all sides to a high glossy finish, this slab of Crystal Clear cullet is an example of how kilnformed glass can highlight an intersection of space, lighting, and structure.
ANSI Impact Testing for Spencer Finch’s Installation at The Corning Museum of Glass
In pursuit of safety glazing certification for Spencer Finch’s installation at The Corning Museum of Glass, we subjected four panels of the artwork to ANSI testing. This required swinging a 100 lb wrecking ball into each panel at an officially-prescribed speed. By measuring how the glass and its laminate layer withstood the carefully calculated force of impact, we were able to ensure that each panel meets the highest industry safety standards. Even though expertise, experience, (and math) keeps us fully confident of success in these situations, smashing a wrecking ball into an amazing work of glass art always makes for a dramatic day. Needless to say, the panels passed the test.
A First with Larry Kirkland: The Pensacola Pendants
Revered public artist Larry Kirkland is currently creating 9’ tall lighting pendants for the entrance to the Federal Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida, as part of the General Services Administration, Art in Architecture Program. We were honored to prepare components for this project—cutting, laminating, and sandblasting blue streaky glasses before shipping them to Florida. The project represents our first time working with Larry Kirkland.
Fabrication Complete for Lynn Basa’s Courthouse Artwork
One of our biggest stories in 2019 involved fabricating 120 kilnformed glass panels for Lynn Basa’s untitled artwork destined for the new Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Oregon. After finishing fabrication ahead of schedule, we move toward 2020 hard at work on applying backers and cleats to the panels so that the monumental artwork can be installed in its high-profile public setting.
Tables, Tables, Tables!
Whether for artists and designers like Wayne Design Group, Amses Cosma, or Robert Marsh Design, thick slab tables provide a bespoke elegance that is always arresting. Handmade to realize a designer’s vision, these tables can be textured or smooth, with large or small bubbles, and can range widely in size, transparency, and color. Here are some of 2019’s standouts:
Wayne Design Group: Kilnformed tables made of sheets of glass. Custom sizes.
Amses Cosma: Kilnformed tables using colored glass billets. Custom sizes.
Introducing Kilnformed Glass Processes to Artist Kate Newby
Kate Newby, a visual artist from New Zealand who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, visited Bullseye Studio for a numberof sessions during 2019. During those sessions we helped familiarize her with kilnformed glass. One mutual goal was to test how glass could translate Newby’s ideas into new forms; another was to prepare Newby for using glass to provoke new ideas. These sessions resulted in a year-long, evolving installation at The Lumber Room, Sarah Miller Meigs’ space for contemporary art in Portland, Oregon. It was a pleasure to work with Newby and an honor to play a part in her evolving work.
Detail photos of [LEFT] no ends to the sands I’ve been trying to cross, 2019; and [RIGHT] I screamed “i was there!!”, 2019.
John Kenneth Clark’s Pipes in Stripes
What does bagpipe music look like when rendered in kilnformed glass? John Kenneth Clark, a Scottish glass artist based in Germany, showed us. Having developed a notation that matches sound waves to lightwaves and then transcribes individual notes into individual colors, Clark made it possible for us to fabricate a window that expresses in colored glass the musical patterns of four traditional bagpipe songs. The window, a commission for a private residence in Scotland, provides what Clark calls “music frozen in time.” With the musical notation indistinguishable from the window, its colors and composition change with the moving lights of time and context in a seasonal symphony. According to Clark, the bagpipe window is just the beginning of expressing music in fused Bullseye glass. His next ambition is to see translations of songs that require distinct colors for every note on a piano keyboard.
John Kenneth Clark’s Pipes in Stripes installation at Latheron House, Caithness, Scotland, 2019. Photo by Angus Mackay.
A Majestic Kilncarved Element for Artist Ben Joyce
And finally, a blue, trapezoidal slab with cast channels for Spokane artist Ben Joyce. Needed for a large outdoor sculpture that combines kilnformed glass with metal, this slab is 60″ long and measures 42″ wide at the base, 30″ wide at the top, and is 1.5” thick. Fulfilling these kinds of orders for sculptural work is a delight on two levels: first, we get to contribute to an artist’s vision and see incredible projects come to life through the properties of the glass; second, we get to experience afresh the natural power of the material, connecting firsthand with its color, depth, texture, and interactions with light.
2019’s Memorable Events Sparked Excitement for 2020
This year sparkled with events both memorable and promising. From Design Week Portland and launching our Concept Library, to our experiences at several public art conferences, we have been left feeling deeply inspired with possibilities for the future of the field and the opportunities it holds for artists working with kilnformed glass.
For those planning to attend any of these events in 2020, we hope to see you there! Please feel free to contact us so we can schedule to meet. Until then, we wish you all the very best in the new year!
