Creativity was fostered in Dan Friday by his family from an early age. Growing up immersed in the rich cultural heritage of the Lummi Nation meant that making things with his hands was a regular activity. Typically working with simple themes and forms, the artist often employs subtle silhouettes when making his glass totems. His more narrative work reflects a personal expression or means of processing a life event, often with an underlying statement. His latest works will be on view at the Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, Washington, in Future Artifacts, on view July 3 – October 10, 2021.
Friday says: “As the recipient of the Bill Holm Grant from the Burke Museum, with my sister I have been studying Coast Salish artifacts in their archives. It is a surreal experience to hold items of your oldest known family members, even see their handwriting on treasured belongings. With all of the information, images, and data I have already catalogued, I hope to make inspired pieces of glass: the Skexe (Coast Salish wooly Dog) Blanket Panels, and The Sxwo’le (Reef Net) projects, to mention a few. It will be my way to document not only my family’s history, but the artwork of the Coast Salish people. Glass is a medium that will survive millennia, and a great way to tell a story to future generations. It is, metaphorically, a contemporary painting on the cave wall.”
He continues: “The preparation for this show at MoNA has already given me great satisfaction, not just the physical act of producing these works, but the connections I have made within the beautiful and resilient Coast Salish community.”
https://www.monamuseum.org/future-artifacts
A lifelong resident of Washington State’s Puget Sound region, Friday maintains an independent glass studio in Seattle. He has worked for Dale Chihuly at the Boathouse Studio since 2000 as a glass blower collaborating with other studio staff on Chilhuly glass designs. This experience helped Friday expand and perfect technical skills in glass working and increased his insight into the relationship and interaction between artist and the public. Working at Pilchuck Glass School since 2006 as a teacher, gaffer, and coordinator for the hot shop and wood and metals departments, Friday has fabricated and facilitated works for international artists. He has also assisted James Mongrain since 2009 on various glass blowing projects, domestically and abroad.
Working at Tacoma Glass Museum since 2004, Friday is part of a specialized team of glass sculptors, demonstrating a variety of methods to educate the public about the medium of glass. He has also collaborated and assisted prominent artists in the creation of major glass art commissions and installations, including James Drake, Nicolas Africano, Wendy Maruyama, and Charles Ledray, to name a few. As personal assistant for Paul Marioni, Friday cast and cold worked glass tiles for a large-scale installation.
Friday has taught at the University of Washington, Pilchuck Glass School, and the Haystack Craft Center. He has been awarded residencies at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, the Burke Museum in Seattle, the Corning Museum in New York, and the Dream Community in Tai Pei, Taiwan. He is the recipient of the Bill Holm Grant, the People’s choice award from the Bellevue Art Museum, and the Discovery Fellowship through the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts.
Represented by Blue Rain Gallery (Santa Fe), Stonington Gallery (Seattle), Ainsley Gallery (Toronto), Habatat (West Palm, Florida), and Schantz (Stockbridge, Massachusetts), Friday’s work in glass is contemporary in format while maintaining Native American qualities. Cultivating his artistic vision with strong influence from his indigenous roots in the Pacific Northwest, the artist allows craft, form and idea to drive his work from conception to object.
Many teachings describe sacred geometry as the blueprint of creation and the origin of all form. This ancient science explores and explains the energy patterns that create and unify all things, and reveals the precise way that the energy of creation organizes itself. It is said that every natural pattern of growth or movement comes back to one or more geometric shapes. Ian Chadwick expresses his homage to sacred geometry by kilnforming colored glass strips that are deconstructed and reconstructed into symmetrical patterns similar to those seen in the rose windows of cathedrals and mandalas.
Chadwick says: “The inspiration behind my glass work comes from a love of optical art, traditional pattern-forming and an interest in sacred geometry – in particular the meditation symbols known as mandalas. Mandalas contain many of the principles important in the esoteric practice of geometry, utilized by craftsmen for centuries in the design of cathedrals and stained glass windows. In my most recent work, I am embodying the essence of mandalas into the patterns present within each individual hand-made piece of glassware. The techniques I use are similar to mosaic work, each individual point of color is an individual piece of glass arranged in a manner which produces a kaleidoscopic, op-art effect. The combination of colors, which I carefully choose, are designed to complement the pattern formed within the glass.”
Born on the Isle of Wight and after moving to a few locations, Chadwick finished his schooling in Banchory near Aberdeen, Scotland. He graduated from Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, in 1994 with an honors degree in Fine Art specializing in sculpture. Final artworks produced for his degree show in 1994 utilized glass and plastics to create sculpture which had op-art qualities and were deeply concerned with geometry and symmetry – artistic interests that continue today. In 1996 the artist pursued his interest in glass and worked for a number of years at a stained glass studio in Scotland, eventually working as a freelance window designer and traditional glass painter.
In 2001, Chadwick moved to Timperley in Cheshire, where over the next two years he taught himself glass fusing and kiln-forming techniques. In 2003, the artist established a business producing traditional glass craft and kiln-formed glass art. Since then, he has developed an extensive portfolio of contemporary glassware, including items such as kaleidoscopes, glass bowls, glass platters, wall art, glass vases and other glass interior home wares. To survive lockdown, Chadwick launched a collection of smaller, more affordable bowls on his Instagram page. Initially planning to number each bowl CVD-1, CVD-2, up to CVD-19, the demand was so high that he is now working on CVD-72 and has a waiting list of over 50 people.
An internationally recognized kiln-formed glass artist and instructor, Chadwick is the winner of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers Award at the British Glass Biennale in 2019. He recently released a 30-minute YouTube tutorial, which attracted more than 10,000 views in 2 weeks. No longer viewable online, it is in the final stages of production and will be released by Bullseye Glass Co. later this year as part of the company’s new online teaching program. Attracting a loyal following among the US kiln-forming scene, Chadwick also has a strong collector base in the US boro glass scene with pieces of his work in the collections of well-known functional glass artists including Eusheen, Kaj Beck, Marcel Braun, Adam Reetz and Calmbo.
Chadwick’s ritualized process of making is employed to bring the essence of mandalas into the symmetrical glass patterns, which have become his unique aesthetic signature. As his work progresses, he continues to investigate different pattern forming techniques and new ways to engage with the viewer. He says: “The production of the patterns requires a high level of accuracy and patience. Once formed, they are fired in the kiln up to three times in total and go through extensive cold-working using diamond abrasives to ensure the best quality finish. Each piece of glass I manufacture is a unique work of glass art.”
Menacing monkeys. Peeled bananas. Bad-tempered bears. Uniquely original Munnies. Daniel S. Coyle’s whimsical, toy-inspired aesthetic in concert with mind-blowing skills on the torch have earned the artist a hefty 116K following on Instagram. The artist recently celebrated 10 years of being a full-time pipe maker with an exhibition at Ziggy’s in Huntington Beach, California. Decade Arcadia featured new work, collabs and early pieces from Coyle’s personal collection.
He says: “Often my work is playful in nature and can remind you of toys. I guess I like to bring the viewer (or user) back to their childhood and also remind them to not take life so seriously. Why pipes? Making an object into a pipe will allow someone to bond with that object. They will have experiences with it, develop a relationship with it, and in time it will become more than a piece in their collection—it will become sentimental.”
Coyle began blowing glass in 2003 while taking a workshop with artist Jerry Kelly. As his interest in the craft developed, he pursued education in glass working techniques at Salem Community College, the only school in the US with a program dedicated to scientific glassblowing. Graduating in 2006, the artist began his career as a laboratory glassblower for a chemical company, leaving after five years to pursue his artistic vision in glass pipes. Coyle’s work has been displayed in galleries around the world, and has been seen in print and web publications including Vice, Huffington Post, NY Times, and in the books This Is A Pipe and his self-published Munny Project book. Now residing in Western Massachusetts, he works alongside some of the state’s top pipe makers.
In March 2021, Coyle participated in a virtual seminar sponsored by Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, New Jersey. Pipe Art: Understudied Glass considered the glass pipe as a fluid work of art fundamental to the art history of glass. Sometimes demoted by law or public opinion to the category of “paraphernalia,” the artwork of the pipe nonetheless defies its sometimes categorization as sub-sculpture. Celebrated artists Kim Thomas and Coyle, whose works were featured in the accompanying exhibition, and Luken Sheafe, whose artist name is SALT, presented their pipes. Joined by Susie J. Silbert, curator at the Corning Museum of Glass, the artists further contextualized their work within the field of pipe-making.
Post Covid, 2021 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Coyle, including a residence at Pilchuck in July. In September, you’ll find the artist at Molten Art Classic, Southern California’s premiere glass flameworking event. Team leader, Adam Whobrey, also known as Hoobs, handpicks some of the top borosilicate glass artists in the world to create an exquisite one-of-a-kind piece together at Classic 33 Studios in Huntington Beach. It is the largest collaborative art event to unify top borosilicate glass artists from around the world, all adding their respective influences and unique flair to the collective piece.