Wheaton Conversations: Alison Ruzsa with Jere Gibber & J.G. Harrington

Wheaton Conversations:
Alison Ruzsa with Jere Gibber & J.G. Harrington

Watch the Nov. 17, 2022 recording above

Join us as our guests, glass artist Alison Ruzsa and collectors Jere Gibber and J.G. Harrington, explore the vital and often inspiring relationships that develop between collectors, artists, and museums. After their first encounter at SOFA in 2004, Gibber and Harrington developed a close friendship with Ruzsa as they repeatedly met her at glass events and acquired her work for their collection. Hear their delightful personal stories and how they fulfilled a WheatonArts’ wish as you view Ruzsa’s enticing inner worlds. The artist will discuss her work and share video demonstrations of the painting and layering techniques used to create the intricate scenes in her glass paperweights and sculptures.

This event is part of “Wheaton Conversations,” a virtual series highlighting select artists with ties to WheatonArts!
To see the full schedule of conversations, Click Here. 
Thank you to our sponsors, PNC Arts Alive!, the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass,
and the United Nations International Year of Glass.

Alison Ruzsa, a middle-aged woman in a red long-sleeve shirt and safety goggles, is smiling at the camera while holding glass with a rod in a furnace. There is another furnace behind her.

Alison Ruzsa began working in glass in 1991 at a small glass school in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. She moved to New York shortly thereafter to pursue a career at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop, where she became fascinated by techniques incorporating painted inclusions in glass. Since 1995, Ruzsa has been working at Pier Glass in Brooklyn, New York, with Kevin and Mary Ellen Buxton Kutch. Working in a small studio with good friends has been essential in the progress of her current work. While continuing her endeavors in Brooklyn, Ruzsa has studied and taught with various artists in New York, Seattle, Venice, Milano, Balzano, and Monico, Italy.

“I enjoy the idea of creating a painting which can be looked at from more than one point of view. I want to create a world with many perspectives, a painting that can be seen from many angles. With each turn, one discovers a different aspect of the picture. This reminds me that there is always more than one way to look at life.”

A medium close up from the arms up of Jere Gibber. Gibber is wearing a blue scarf and a grey long-sleeve shirt. The subject is surrounded by a lot of sticks creating a frame.
A closeup of JG Harrington from the shoulders up. Her is wearing a purrple collared shirt, glass, and has short grey hair. There is a blue square art piece behind him.

Jere Gibber and J.G. Harrington have been collecting contemporary glass together for more than 25 years. Jere manages the National Preservation Institute, a nonprofit organization that offers training in historic preservation, and J.G. is a lawyer specializing in communications law at Cooley, LLP. They have both served on the board of the James Renwick Alliance for Craft in Washington, D.C. Currently, Jere is co-president of the MD-DC-VA Paperweight Collectors Association, and J.G. is on the board of WheatonArts. Together, they run a one-day craft show, JRA Day, that benefits the Renwick Alliance.