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Contemporary glass sculpture -a global venue
The Foundation
Chappell Gallery is built on a strong foundation of education, the fuel
that has driven the art glass movement to its current heights. Over the
past fifty years, students have been introduced to the medium of glass
in art schools worldwide, where previously it had not been a part of the
curriculum. Many of these students have chosen to continue working in
glass. With new talent and new ideas have come increasing breadth, exploration
and refinement of glass as a provocative sculptural and artistic medium.
A Global Movement
Glass art is a global movement; it is far-reaching and speaks many languages.
In addition to representing artists from the United States, Chappell Gallery's
founder, Alice Chappell, has sought out artists from around the world
including Japan, Australia, Canada, Denmark, and the Czech Republic.
The Founder
Alice Chappell received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in art history and worked
in art education at the Albright Knox Art Gallery and the National Gallery
of Art before becoming Director of the Ferdinand Roten Original Print
Gallery in Baltimore. After she received her MBA from Columbia University,
she joined Steuben Glass in 1977 where she became Vice-President, Sales.
From 1985- 95, she was President of Hoya Crystal USA a branch of Japan's
Hoya Corporation. During these years her frequent travels to Japan furthered
her understanding of the stunning breadth of contemporary glass sculpture.
Chappell Gallery Boston (1997-2004)
The 1997 opening of Chappell Gallery in Boston coincided with the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts Glass Today, a major exhibition of American Studio
Glass artists that proved to be among the most popular shows in the United
States that year! Chappell Gallery was able to supplement this exhibit
by exhibiting current work of those artists who were represented in the
Museum's exhibition and other leading American artists working in glass,
followed by exhibits of leading artists of Japan, the Czech Republic and
Canada, to provide the Boston art community with a sense of the international
breadth of the glass art movement.
A Growing World
It was the January, 1998 exhibition of glass by students and faculty of
Boston's MassArt Glass Department that convinced Chappell Gallery of the
dynamic voice of emerging talent. Subsequent student/teaching artist shows
from the Canberra School of Art in Australia, the Sheridan College of
Art in Ontario Canada and Alfred University in New York State proved equally
inspirational.
Exhibitions
Chappell Gallery has mounted several solo and group shows each year, and
has been the first to have solo exhibitions in the United States of major
international and U.S. artists: Toshio Iezumi, Yoshihiko Takahashi, Gizela
Šabóková, Anna Matoušková, Naomi Shioya,
Preston Singletary and Shinji Yonehara. Accompanying solo and group artist
and themed exhibitions is the Emerging Artist program, inspired by the
Student exhibits. Among those who have been part of this program are Takeshi
and Youko Sano, Alex Gabriel Bernstein, and Ethan Stern.
New York (2000-)
Chappell Gallery New York opened in October 2000 in far West Chelsea,
a once industrial district that has, in the past few years, grown into
what is probably the world's largest gallery neighborhood.
New Space
Please note that Chappell Gallery has a new space in the same building: - #306 - that is open by appointment.
Catalogs
In 2002, Chappell Gallery published its first catalog on the work of Toshio
Iezumi. Since then we have published 12 additional catalogs, on the work
of Toshio Iezumi, Alex Gabriel Bernstein, Kait Rhoads, Anna Matoušková,
Ethan Stern, Naomi Shioya, Takeshi and Youko Sano, Etsuko Nishi and Kazumi
Ikemoto.
Art Fairs
Chappell Gallery participates in numerous off-site art fairs throughout
the year, namely SOFA (Sculptural Objects and Functional Art) in Chicago
and New York, and Collectors’ Weekend at the Wheaton Arts Center,
New Jersey.