Press Releases 2006

Meet Our New Fellows

CONTACT: Janet Peterson, Marketing and Public Relations Director
TEL: (856) 825-6800, Ext. 108
FAX: (856) 825-2410
E-MAIL: jpeterson@wheatonvillage.org

THE CREATIVE GLASS CENTER OF AMERICA
AT WHEATON VILLAGE WELCOMES
NEW WINTER SESSION FELLOWS

MILLVILLE, NJ – The first group of Creative Glass Center of America Fellows for 2006 arrived January 16. Each artist will spend the next three months developing and refining techniques towards new or expanded work. They will have unrestricted access to the Glass Studio in the T. C. Wheaton Glass Factory and materials for creating blown, cast and kiln-formed glass.

After working in glass for ten years, John Choi began working independently in various studios and producing functional work and glass sculpture. He has gaffed for several artists, including Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Megan Stevens, Joel Philip Myers, David Leppla and Melanie Guernsey. He has attended glassblowing classes around the world and learned his craft from Pino Signoretto, Karen Willenbrink-Johnson, William Morris, Elio Qualisa, Josiah McElhenny, Lino Tagliapietra, Dick Marquis, and Katherine Gray. Choi was also a teaching assistant for renowned artists such as Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Karen Willenbrink-Johnson and José Chardiet. He has taught classes at Hot Soup Glass Studio in Philadelphia and was a visiting artist at the University for the Arts. He has received scholarships to attend Haystack Mountain School, Penland School of Crafts, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, and a grant from Contemporary Glass Philadelphia. His exhibition list includes work at the American Craft Council Show, in Baltimore, MD, Snyderman Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, UrbanGlass, in Brooklyn, NY, Noyes Museum of Art, in Oceanville, NJ, and the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, PA.

Isabel De Obaldia studied architecture at the University of Panama and drawing at the École de Beaux Arts in Paris. She received a BFA in Graphic Design and Cinematography from the Rhode Island School of Design and continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York. She has been going to Pilchuck Glass School since 1987, where she has studied with such masters as Jiri Harcuba and Bertil Vallien, and, in 1990, received the John Hauberg Fellowship. She has often been invited to participate in glass symposia in the Czech Republic. In 2002, Obaldia taught kilncasting at the Real Fabrica de Cristales de La Granja in San Idelfonso, Spain. De Obaldia returned to La Granja as an artist-in-residence in and had a solo exhibition at the Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon in Madrid in December 2003. Once a well known painter representing her country in international exhibitions and biennials, De Obaldia is currently forging a strong reputation as a glass sculptor. She is represented in the U.S. by New York based gallery, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art.

Mark Ferguson is primarily involved with cast sculpture. He studied with Dan Dailey and Alan Klein at the Massachusetts College of Art and received a Teaching Graduate Scholarship from Rhode Island School of Design and a masters degree. Following graduation, he was engaged in a one-year assistantship with sculptor Howard Ben Tré. Over the past 13 years, he has taught a variety of classes for UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY, and became a member of their Board of Directors. In that time, he has also maintained an exhibition schedule featuring such highlights at SOFA Chicago, Silverstein Gallery, NY, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, and Carla Koch Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, and the Ebeltoft Glasmusuem, Denmark.

Gregory Nangle attended the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and the University of Hartford Art School in Hartford, CT. He is the owner and operator of Outcast Studios, a bronze and glass casting studio in Philadelphia, PA. Prior to starting his business, he worked in the glass studios of Simon Pearce and Steve Tobin. He has participated in several important gallery and museum exhibitions, including exhibitions at the Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village in 2005, the National Liberty Museum in 2005, SOFA NY (represented by Wexler Gallery) in 2001 and 2002, and Wheaton Village’s GlassWeekend (represented by Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery) in 2003 and 2005. Nangle also has work in the collection of the Glass Musée Ebeltoft in Denmark and several private collections. His publications include Glass Magazine in 2001 and 2003 and International Glass Art, published by Schiffer Books in 2003.

The Fellows will present a slide show of their work followed by a demonstration in the Glass Studio, February 3 at 7 p.m. Admission is free for the general public. Light refreshments will be available.

The CGCA has serviced glass artists and the arts community since 1983. Over 225 professional and emerging artists have been recipients of a CGCA fellowship, 185 from the U.S. and over 15 foreign countries.

For more information, call the Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Village at 800-998-4552 or 856-825-6800, ext.106. Web site: www.wheatonvillage.org.

Wheaton Village strives to ensure the accessibility of its exhibitions, events and programs to all persons with disabilities. Provide two weeks notice for special accommodations.

Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Wheaton Village received a general operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of Cultural Affairs in the Department of State.

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