Sean Hennessey: 41st Annual International Glass Invitational & EXPOSE

I have a very exciting exhibit coming up and I wanted to share the details and a little story of how it came to be. plus a bit of my trip getting the work there.

Expose

41st Annual International Glass Invitational & EXPOSE

Radar
by Sean Hennessey and Tim Tate
photo by Pete Duvall
More Info on this piece HERE

Saturday, April 27, 2013 to Saturday, May 25, 2013
Reception: 8:00 pm Saturday, April 27th 2013

Featuring : The most exciting artists working in glass 2013

Over 90 of the finest artists from 18 different countries exhibiting 2 sculptures each during Habatat Galleries 41st International Glass Invitational Award Exhibition. Also on display is for the first time "eXpose" displaying works of 25+ artist never seen before at Habatat!

I have been creating collaborative works with my studio mate and Director of the Washington Glass School, Tim Tate.

Habatat Gallery

4400 Fernlee Ave
Royal Oak, MI

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I first learned of Habatat Gallery when my wife and I visited SOFA Chicago back in 2009. We were trying to scope out galleries and get a handle on the fine craft world. Habatat Gallery had some of the most interesting glass work and commanded an absolutely huge amount of space at the show. It definitely seemed a gallery to be reckoned with. One far out of my league. I began taking my work in glass more seriously and dedicated myself to working very hard and creating compelling pieces. I wanted to find a home in the gallery setting. My first real gallery breakthrough came with an invitation to participate in "Glass Secessionism" an exhibit at one of my favorite galleries in one of my favorite towns. Blue Spiral Gallery in Asheville, NC. The exhibit places me next to some fantastic artists. It was definitely a high moment for me and I'm very proud to have work there. A real breakthrough in my work came when i started using light and video. This lead me to get to know a lot of collectors, an invitation to be on the board of the James Renwick Alliance, an opportunity to exhibit with Maurine Littleton Gallery at the Washington Craft Show, and to show my work through the Alida Anderson Project in Aqua Art Miami. All absolutely huge things for me.

Then my good friend and studio mate Tim Tate, pitched an idea to Habatat Gallery that he and I collaborate on a few pieces in hopes of being in their annual international glass show. They liked the idea and we were invited to submit work.

We created the works and I took a road trip with a neighbor of mine to deliver the pieces. It was actually a super fun trip. We stayed a few nights in Pittsburg, a night in Royal Oak, Michigan, and a great 24 hours in Cleveland. Some of the things we saw and places we went.

A brewery in a church

A beautiful old train station

The Warhol Museum

Primanti's: A fantastic sandwich shop that puts fries on everything.

Saw the beautiful skyline of Pittsburgh at night

A bunch of Michigan Brew Pubs

Great Lakes Brewery

Great Lakes Beer

I learned about and saw the Guardians of Transportation

Visited the Best Urban Market ever

Saw The Christmas Story House

Visited my friend Graham Fox at his new job as a Stained Glass Artist in a freaking awesome Stained Glass Shop

So anyway, enough of the travelogue, back to my experience with Habatat Gallery, the reason for the trip!

I was more than excited to be having the collaborative pieces in the show, but my hope was to show them a few more pieces in person, since they hadn't ever seen my own work beyond a jpg yet. And glass is very hard to photograph. When i got to the gallery, the y were just installing a solo show of Martin Janecky's work. FANTASTIC stuff!

I got to meet the staff of the gallery and they agreed to see more work. They gave me positive feedback on the work and invited me to show the additional pieces in the exhibit! I'm absolutely thrilled to be exhibiting in this huge glass exhibit with some of the huge names in the medium. Since so many of you won't be able to make it to Royal Oak Michigan to see the exhibit, these, in addition to the one above are the pieces I'll be exhibiting