STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.- The Schantz Galleries introduces the Berkshires to the artist Nancy Callan, of Seattle. Originally from Peabody, MA, Callan is a glass artist who possesses a great technical proficiency with her medium, as well as a colorful and fun loving personality. Callan will be visiting the gallery on Friday and Saturday July 18 and 19.

Working with glass for more than 18 years, Callan represents a generation of glass artists that have come from the hot shops and classrooms of the pioneers of the studio glass movement, she herself studying with, and assisting such prominent artists as Lino Tagliapietra, Ginny Ruffner, and Josiah McElheny.

Recognized for her virtuosity with creating textile- like patterning with glass, as well as for her sense of adventure, Callan has always been intrigued by a relationship between textiles and glass, and has explored the potential of Venetian techniques to create complex patterns. To achieve her patterns, rods of glass (canes) are fused together before being rolled around a globe of transparent glass. Callan begins with canes of varied widths and may employ several layers of canes to arrive at the desired effect. While her work exemplifies the skill and finesse of the Venetian tradition in glass, Callan exhibits the witty humor and aesthetic sensibility of a contemporary artist who loves pop culture, fashion and design.

Nancy Callan draws her inspiration from childhood memories of Marvel comic books, Saturday morning cartoons, fashion and toys like the old fashioned spinning tops. Callan's whimsical, oversize Tops are richly elegant and offer a form that viewers can identify and relate to. The Stinger series are big, bold and solid, iconic in colors and inspired by the costumes of comic characters such as Captain America, Cat Woman, and the super heroine, Storm, in her black and gold cape.

Nancy Callan has an extensive gallery exhibition record and recent museum exhibitions include the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Arizona, a solo exhibition at the Museum of glass in Tacoma, WA, Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA and the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY.