INDIANAPOLIS, IND.- The Indianapolis Museum of Art has announced a new installation, Masters of Contemporary Glass: Highlights from the Marilyn and Eugene Glick Collection. The installation is set to open on May 13, 2014 at the Museum’s 130th Annual Meeting, taking place from 5:30 – 9:00 p.m. Presenting 60 highlights from the IMA’s Glick Glass Collection, Masters of Contemporary Glass will trace the rise of the American Studio Glass movement – presenting works by artists such as Harvey Littleton, Dominick Labino, and Dale Chihuly, as well as select examples by European and Asian glass artists.

“Marilyn and Gene Glick created a very strong collection of contemporary glass that they generously began gifting to the IMA in the early 1990s. With the passing of both Mr. and Mrs. Glick recently, the entire collection now resides at the IMA. The new installation will present the finest pieces from the nearly 250 works in the collection and will be in a gallery featuring natural light. Glass loves light and I think the public will love seeing these wonderful pieces glistening at the IMA,” stated Dr. Charles L. Venable, the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. “It is because of the Glick’s extraordinary generosity that the IMA now boasts one of the largest collections of contemporary glass in the United States. We are delighted to be able to share these important works with the public.”

Notable pieces on display will include:

 Exotic Bird by Toots Zynsky – Created by pulling hot glass rods (canes) into thin threads of glass, Exotic Bird is an example of the filet de verre technique developed in 1982 by Toots Zynsky. Zynsky then layers these threads to create a pattern and bonds them into a single sheet using the high heat of a kiln. The sheet is then heated over a mold to melt it into to the unique flowing shapes typical of Zynsky’s work.

 Head I by Jaroslava Brychtová and Stanislav Libensky – Chunk casting involves placing rough hunks of glass into a mold then heating them in a kiln until the glass softens and begins to flow downward, gradually filling the mold. The end product depicts the swirls and bubbles of gases that were released during the heating process. Brychtová and Libensky were masters of this technique and used it in their creation of Head I.

 Marquiscarpa #23 by Richard Marquis – Marquis created this work using various glass techniques, the most significant of which is known as murine. By Slicing multicolor rods of glass (canes) discs, arranging them in a pattern then fusing said discs together, Marquis forms sheets that show the various colors the original rods were composed of. These sheets are then shaped and manipulated into forms using many other glass techniques.

Located in the North Gallery, which neighbors Star Studio and the Museum’s American galleries on Floor 2, the IMA’s new glass installation reflects the 40-year development of the American Studio Glass movement from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Along with early masters of the movement, like Littleton, Labino, and Chihuly, this installation includes exceptional examples from Howard Ben Tré, Dan Dailey, Richard Jolley, Kreg Kallenberger, Marvin Lipofsky, Richard Marquis, Joel Philip Myers, Tom Patti, Mark Peiser, Paul Stankard, Therman Statom, and Toots Zynsky, as well as important contemporary European and Asian masters like Jaroslava Brychtová & Stanislav Libenský, Erwin Eisch, Kyohei Fujita, Klaus Moje, and František Vizner.