Dan Dailey (glass artist)

Dan Owen Dailey (born February 4, 1947)[1][2] is an American artist and educator, known for his sculpture. With the support of a team of artists and crafts people, he creates sculptures and functional objects in glass and metal. He has taught at many glass programs and is professor emeritus at the Massachusetts College of Art, where he founded the glass program.[3]

Dan Owen Dailey
Born (1947-02-04) February 4, 1947 (age 77)
Alma materUniversity of the Arts,
Rhode Island School of Design
Known forGlass sculpture
MovementModernism,
Materialism
SpouseLinda MacNeil
Children2
Websitewww.dandailey.com

Emerging from the studio glass movement initiated by Harvey Littleton, Dailey's work has branched out from the mainstream by the incorporation of metal into many of the sculptures. Additionally, he has worked with several glass companies, for more than twenty years. Since 1971, Dailey's work has been featured in more than 150 exhibitions and included in over 350 juried or invitational group shows.

Early life and education

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Dan Dailey was born on February 4, 1947, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3][4]

Dailey attended the Philadelphia College of Art (now called the University of the Arts, BFA 1969) and Rhode Island School of Design (MFA 1972).[4][5] Dailey studied with Dale Chihuly at RISD,[6] and was Chihuly’s first graduate student.[citation needed] In 1972 to 1973, he was awarded the Fulbright Fellowship to study glass at the Venini Factory in Murano, Italy.

He is married to Linda MacNeil, an artist also working with glass and metal, primarily in the studio or art jewelry field.[7][8]

Career

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1970s

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Series from the 1970s[9]
Title Dates No. of pieces
Engraved 1972–75 24
“M” 1975–76 3
Nail Vases 1976 12
“Skagit” 1977 11
Wire Glass 1978 9
City Vases 1979 14
Oceanic Vases 1979 12
Scenic Vases 1979–80 22
Distorted Vessels 1979–82 19
Vitrolite Wall Reliefs 1979–90 30

Dailey worked at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston from 1973 until 1985; where he was the founder of the glass department. Additionally he taught in 1975 at Pilchuck Glass School[10] in Stanwood, Washington. In the 1970s, Dailey continued to create illuminated sculpture and vase forms, and began to develop Vitrolite wall reliefs.

In 1975, Dailey received a fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Advanced Visual Studies in Cambridge where he co-taught the class Glass, Gas and Electricity with German artist Otto Piene. This experimental sculpture class emphasized and explored the phenomenon of illumination. In conjunction with the MIT Research Lab for Electronics, Dailey further studied the qualities of light and glass.

From in 1978 to 2003, Dailey created 7 editions of pâte de verre works with Cristallerie Daum, a French decorative glass studio. Dailey's editions of work with studio Daum include, Les Danseurs, Le Vent, Le Joyeau, L’Eau, Le Vin, Le Soleil, and La Dame.[11]

In 1979, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship–Glass award.

1980s

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During 1980, Dailey was awarded the Massachusetts Council on the Arts Fellowship–Glass.

From 1984 until 1985, he worked as an independent designer and artist with Steuben Glass Works in Corning, New York. At the request of Steuben, Dailey produced sports-themed designs to be produced on vases, with one design, Ice Dancers, being produced.

Additionally from 1984 to 1985, he worked as an independent designer and artist at Fenton Art Glass Company, in Williamstown, West Virginia. Together with Fenton Art Glass Company, Dailey worked on producing cast glass components of a low-relief mural. Over a period of 20 years, Dailey made 26 large scale murals, one of which was 16 feet (4.9 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m), weighing over 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg). With numerous assistants, Dailey also blew glass to create various works, notably, the mural Science Fiction Series (created 1985 to 1986).

Series from the 1980s[9]
Title Dates No. of pieces
Head Vases 1980 21
Tripod Vessels 1980–81 23
People & Animal Vases 1981–82 11
Fish Vases 1981 24
Bird Vases 1982 28
Travel Vases 1982 9
Constructed Heads & Busts 1982–87 20
Automobile Vases 1983 20
People Holding Animals 1983 3
Constructed Animals 1983–95 16
Science Fiction Vases 1984–85 24
Portrait Vases 1986 18
Character Heads 1988–89 20
Nature Vases 1988 10
Face Vases 1988–97 196
Dailey/Tagliapietra Vases 1989–90 54
Mythology Head Vases 1989–90 22
Male/Female Figurative Vases 1989–94 38
In 1987 Henry Geldzahler, Milton Glaser, and Hugh Hardy selected Dailey to make a cast glass relief mural titled Orbit, for the Rainbow Room at the Rockefeller Center. The mural is a 15-foot (4.6 m) by 8-foot (2.4 m) abstract representation of orbiting planets and artistic debris, illuminated from behind with changing colors coordinated with the mood lighting of the dining/dancing space. In 2018 Orbit was removed and donated to the Toledo Museum of Art. Dailey also created wall sconces for various locations around the Rainbow Room complex. These works were later removed and their location is unknown.
Henry Geldzahler wrote an essay for the catalog, in which he noted, "Dan Dailey's achievement is in the seamless marriage he effects in his work in every medium between the idiosyncratic convolutions of his inner landscape and the classic harmony and lucidity of the great tradition in glass, of whom Daum, Nancy and Lalique are giants. Dailey's work joins in that tradition, but with a contemporary spin that causes the viewer to smile in complicity."[12]
The exhibition, curated by Eleni Cocordas, consisted of fifty works, including illuminated sculpture, Vitrolite wall reliefs, vases, and pastel drawings.
  • 1989 Masters Fellowship, Creative Glass Center of America

1990s

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Dailey work titled The Doctor from 1988 is accepted into their permanent collection.
  • 1994 commission: Boca Palms
26 special edition vases commissioned by the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida.
Dailey was invited to work as an independent artist by Waterford Crystal, Kilbarry, Ireland, in 1998. Dailey visited three times between 1998-1999 to create chandeliers, wall sconces, and seven engraved vases, using particular processes unique to the history and specialty of Waterford Crystal.
  • 1998 awards
    • Fellow of the American Craft Council, ACC College of Fellows
    • Outstanding Achievement in Glass, UrbanGlass
    • Honorary Lifetime Membership Award, Glass Arts Society
Series from the 1990s[9]
Title Dates No. of pieces
Characters from Literature 1990 2
Mask Vases 1990 5
Abstract Head Vases 1990–94 80
Figurative Lamps 1990–ongoing 111
Dailey/Tagliapietra Vases 1992–93 53
Animal Vessels 1992–98 50
Boca Palm Vases 1993 26
Skyscraper New York Vases 1993–94 10
Art Deco Building Vases 1995 5
Circus Vases 1995–ongoing 162

2000s

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The Toledo Museum of Art, a museum whose major focus is on glass, asked Dailey to create a children's book explaining and illustrating the process of glassblowing. Dailey collaborated with Allison Dailey, who developed the characters and executed all of the final watercolor drawings for the book. The book is based on the making of a particular vase titled Alligator, from Dailey's Animal Vase series begun in 1992.
  • 2007 publication: Dan Dailey,[9] a 384-page volume on Dailey's work, published by Harry N. Abrams.
The book, a comprehensive view of Dailey's work from 1968 to 2007, includes 460 illustrations and 400 full-color images, and was designed and edited by Joe Rapone. Writing and essays are by Milton Glaser, Tina Oldknow, and William Warmus.
Dailey was asked to be a part of the G.A.P.P. The focus of the residency was to study and respond to the museum's collection, with a focus on landscape and paintings. Dailey's glass mural project for the museum was begun in 2008 and is now in progress.
Dailey conducted a series of artist interviews, in collaboration with Joe Rapone, which explore the notion of "Materialism", a term that includes a rethinking of movements of the 1970s, specifically the Studio Craft Movement.
Series from the 2000s[9]
Title Dates No. of pieces
Fabricated Music 2001- ongoing
Individuals 2004–ongoing 15
Scenes 2012–ongoing 15

2010 and onward

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Dailey named Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
Distinguished Educator Award, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Lifetime Achievement Award, Glass Art Society

Public museum collections

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United States

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Europe

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Other locations

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Pistachio Lamp 1972
Private collection
Stars and Skyline 1980
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY
Anguish 1983
Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee, WI
Romance1987
Huntington Museum of Art
Huntington, WV
     
Hawk & Dove Man 1995
Currier Museum of Art
Manchester, NH
The Doctor 1988
Louvre Museum
Paris, France
Fantasy 1988
LA County Museum of Art
Los Angeles, CA
Opaque 1991
Royal Ontario Museum
Toronto, OB, Canada
Jest 1992
Dailey Archive
Alligator 1995
Corning Museum of Glass
Corning, NY
Gray Mandril 1993
Dayton Art Institute
Dayton, OH
Le Soleil 2003
Cristallerie Daum
Edition
Dance of Light 1999
Private Collection
Tribute 2003
Providence Performing Arts
Center Providence, RI
Splendid 2006
Private Collection
Swiveler 2009
Edition 3/7

References

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  1. ^ Chambers, Karen S.; Oldknow, Tina (1999). Clearly Inspired: Contemporary Glass and Its Origins (art exhibition). Tampa Museum of Art, Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Pomegranate. p. 58. ISBN 9780764909320.
  2. ^ "Dan Dailey - Biography". Askart.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  3. ^ a b Hampson, Ferdinand (1984). Glass, State of the Art 1984. E. Johnston Publishers. ISBN 978-99992-22-86-0.
  4. ^ a b Sculptural Glass: Tucson Museum of Art, February 13-April 3, 1983 : Traveling to Owens-Illinois, World Headquarters Building, One Seagate, Toledo, Ohio, May 15-June 30, 1983. Tucson Museum of Art. Tucson Museum of Art. 1983. ISBN 978-0-911611-04-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ Fike, Bonita (1998). A Passion for Glass: The Aviva and Jack A. Robinson Studio Glass Collection. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit Institute of Arts. ISBN 978-0-89558-150-1.
  6. ^ American Studio Glass, 1960-1990. Hudson Hills. 2004. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-55595-239-6.
  7. ^ Solondz, Simone (2017-05-31). "News and Events: Body Language". Rhode Island School of Design. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  8. ^ Klein, Dan (1989). Glass: A Contemporary Art. Random House Incorporated. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-8478-1081-9.
  9. ^ a b c d e [Dan Dailey by William Warmus, Milton Glaser, Tina Oldknow Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (March 1, 2007) ISBN 978-0-8109-9319-8]
  10. ^ Oldknow, Tina. Pilchuck: A Glass School (1996) ISBN 978-0-295-97559-7
  11. ^ Kohler, Lucartha. Glass: An Artist's Medium (1998) ISBN 978-0-87341-604-7
  12. ^ 1987 exhibition catalogue titled Dan Dailey: Simple Complexities in Drawings and Glass 1972-1987. Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
  13. ^ "Dan Dailey". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  14. ^ "Dan Dailey". FAMSF Search the Collections. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  15. ^ "Birds in Pursuit of Food". Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). Archived from the original on 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  16. ^ "Collection". Imagine Museum. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22.
  17. ^ "Works – Glass Art – Collections – eMuseum". barryart.emuseum.com. Retrieved 2021-12-15.