"Eden Revisited", Pensacola Museum of Art in Florida, solo show March 22 - May 19 www.pensacolamuseumofart.org

"Liberty in Bloom", glass flower show at National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia
March 4 - April 29 
www.libertymuseum.org

I am excited to announce the call for artists for the Bay Area Glass Institute’s Great Glass Auction Gala 2012.  The auction will take place on March 24, 2012 in Palo Alto, California, and attract many of the leading collectors in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.  Please click on this link to let us know if you can participate.

A big thank you to the artists who donated glass pumpkins for the Ronald McDonald House.  Kathleen Campana, Karin Ericsson and Joan Phillips took the donations to Palo Alto at the end of October to give them to the kids. They loved it and it felt good to see their faces light up.

Artist Anna Sew Hoy worked with a team at Bay Area Glass Institute and her exhibit is opening this weekend.  She made custom glass vessels for her new installation at the SJMA's Beta Space ... please go by and take a look.

Great support for local artists from the Arts Council Silicon Valley. Its new Artist Laureate program will recognize artists with $4,000 cash awards in five categories that cover the visual, literary and performing arts.

Applications for the 2012 program are due Nov. 14, and the laureates will be in announced next March.  Learn more at the ACSV website.

Hi everyone,

It has been an amazing two years for me!  I think this is the best way I can sum up the experience, "A lot of huge highs and deep lows".  I felt that I had a huge learning curve in a very different than what I was used to when I worked in Information Technology.  At the same time, I applied much of what I knew to grow BAGI by using technology to create more outreach into the community.  My vision to connect with the community and the organization has been worth every bit of time and effort.  In the past 2 years, we have re-established old friends and created many, many new ones. There are so many successes that I can't list them all in the message: new classes for kids, new ways to get the word out to the local community, new events and new Visiting Artists have been the highlights of the past 2 years.  BAGI's outreach and collaborative vision has opened up possibilities of new projects in the community. The future is certainly looking bright for BAGI.  

In mid-July, I will step away as BAGI's Executive Director and take on an assignment with a private-sector technology company.  It is a bittersweet choice I have made but this decision will help take care of a situation very important in my personal life.  I will be part of the interview team for the next Executive Director and will continue to help BAGI with events, studio repairs and as "an Artist", rent blow time at BAGI on a regular basis.  The next Executive Director will have a chance to work with some great people and an organization that is truly something very special in the South Bay.  However, continuing the vision for BAGI will not be a "walk in a park".   As with all non-profits, we must continue to re-invent ourselves and evolve, as demonstrated by the changes since I enrolled in my first class at BAGI in 2003.  Creating sustainable economic models is critical for arts organizations like BAGI and for artists.  You and so many others have helped BAGI through some very, very tough times.   Please continue the fight to make BAGI a "treasure" in San Jose, the Bay Area and the arts community.

Mark

The Board of Directors of the Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) has announced that Mark Murai will be leaving his position as Executive Director to return to the technology sector.  The organization appreciates the work he has done over the past two years as our leader and as a staff member since 2006.  Under Mark’s leadership, BAGI has grown its impact by expanding class offerings, adding programs for kids, bringing in thousands of new students of all ages, while continuing to be a resource for local artists to work and learn.

Mark said, “It is a bittersweet choice I have made but this decision will help take care of a situation very important in my personal life.  I will be part of the interview team for the next Executive Director and will continue to help BAGI with events, studio repairs and as "an Artist" rent blow time on a regular basis.  The next Executive Director will have a chance to work with some great people and an organization that is truly something very special in the South Bay.”  You can read more of his note to the BAGI community here.

“Mark brought a great spirit of entrepreneurship to his role,” said Steven Aldrich, BAGI Board Chair. “His energy and passion to expand our outreach has grown the organization in the past two year through challenging economic times.  Mark has had a tremendous impact and opened a number of doors by building relationships in the local community.”

BAGI’s Board has started the search for a new Executive Director and multiple Board members are working to ensure a smooth transition when Mark leaves in mid-July.  Tom Upchurch, Board member and BAGI’s Executive Director before Mark, will serve as Interim Executive Director during the search.

We just uncovered a great blog post from the Washington Glass School about Michael Janis visit to BAGI last fall.  It talks about what Michael taught, the students in the class and Michael's takeaway from the experience.  Read the post here.

Get ready to race through the downtown area as theGreat Urban Race (GUR)comes to the streets of  San Jose this Saturday, April 30th. Teams of two run through a downtown course solving clues, puzzles and physical challenges along the way! All participants are encouraged to sign up to become St. Jude Heroes and help raise funds in support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. From the Great Urban Race’s website:

Great Urban Race takes pride in supporting charities and the work they do for our communities. We have selected St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® as our national charity and we encourage you to participate in their Heroes program. This program raises money to help children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Great Urban Race wants you to be Heroes to these kids so much, we’ll even give $10 to St. Jude for each of you that fundraise!

We wanted to say thank you to the many artists, patrons and volunteers who made the 10th Great Glass Auction a great success from many perspectives.

The event took on a life of its own with a ton of positive energy from artists and patrons.  Over 130 people attended, and many people commented on the high quality of the art which is the key to success.  The silent auction raised over 80% of stated value, our best result in the 10 years of the event.  And the live auction achieved 77% of stated value of the pieces sold.  There was a good spirited bidding war when the Hanks family and Kip Toner called an audible, adding Theoren Hanks' custom glass experiences to the event.  That helped bring thousands of incremental dollars from two enthusiastic bidders (one of pieces will be created as a wedding gift for the patron's son).

Artists were recognized for donating outstanding works to this year's event.  The Saxe Fellowship was awarded to Cassandra Straubing, the People's Choice Award went to Shaun Griffiths, who also won a Jurors' Choice Award, and Elizabeth Ryland Mears was recognized with a Jurors' Choice award.

From a financial perspective, the event raised 30% more than last year, our best result since before the recession.  The funds raised will support our Visiting Artist series and build a reserve.


If you were there, thank you.  If you could not attend, we will soon post the event date for next year so you can hold the date in your calendar.  And if you're an artist, we'll be asking for your participation to make next year's event even stronger.