Monday, February 6, 2012

1.Dear Alan,

You might like to know that we’ve just installed a new exhibit in the back of the Carder Gallery. The two cases there are changed about once a year, and I’ve just put in several dozen examples of Carder’s goblet #3551, from the collection of Edward Bush. They are all in a variety of colors and decorative techniques and there are also about a dozen pieces in other sizes which match the 3551 goblets.

The variety in this single shape is quite amazing!

Best,

Jane

Jane Shadel Spillman

Curator of American Glass

The Corning Museum of Glass

Opinions on expanding the Club’s mission keep coming in. It’s obvious that our members have varying feelings about adding Modern Steuben Collectors to the Club. We continue to share your responses and welcome more. So, the Gazette will continue publishing the many comments we’ve received as long as they keep coming in.

2. Someday sooner than each of us would like to think modern will be old and collectible and maybe even antique and valuable. Being part of a group of this type should be about sharing and increasing knowledge so that each of us are able to increase our connections to learn more about what we are collecting. Inclusion rather than exclusion will always bring more connections and knowledge and, if you are lucky, more friends!

Helaine Fendelman, New York City

3.On the subject of whether to include “post-Carder” or “modern” Steuben in our club’s mission:

I’m generally a fairly opinionated person, but so far I have sat out this discussion, mainly to hear and consider the varying opinions, and people’s rationales for their “vote,” either way, before weighing in.

I tend to be a “purist” type, so my first reaction was, “Naaaah, let’s keep our group devoted solely to Carder Steuben.” But after reading others’ opinions, I think that there is a stronger argument for broadening our mission to include modern Steuben. Some of my reasons for feeling this way echo the thoughts of Charles Sweigart, Lisa Ackerman, and Larry Baker, but I also share some of the caveats that they, and others, have expressed.

Though I did not begin my collecting as a collector of art glass, I have been collecting glass for 35 years. I started young – age 14. My interest has never waned – only expanded – in those years. The people I’ve met along the way whom I hold in the highest regard are those who unselfishly shared their knowledge, particularly those collectors and dealers who were patient with a young man who was not in a financial position to be spending “big bucks” on glass. I feel obligated to share the knowledge that was so freely shared with me, in the same unstinting fashion.

Also, I now feel that after collecting for so long, I have had the opportunity to watch “collecting generations” change. By this I mean, both particular kinds of glass falling in and out of favor (and rising and falling in value accordingly), as well as seeing collector friends pass away. I recently had the displeasure of trying to assist a longtime friend’s family liquidate a collection of thousands of pieces of a kind of glass that, while once eagerly collected, has now seen its popularity wane (and values fall precipitously). I attribute that to the national collector’s organization for that type of glass failing to recognize that you can’t just “preach to the choir.” If a collector’s organization is not devoting a significant amount of time to “preaching the good news” (to continue with a religious analogy) and getting new “converts”, the organization will eventually crumble, and the next generation will have no idea why objects that were once so venerated should have any significance.

And while most sane people collect for artistic appreciation and not merely as investment, I think very few of us would say that we don’t care one way or the other whether our collections will have any value, in terms of dollars or appreciation, in the future. The reasons why certain books, poems, art, and films remain in the public consciousness is because connoisseurs recognize their beauty, and keep them “circulating,” lending them a longer life than they might otherwise have had.

While I am generally not attracted to modern Steuben glass, if I really stop and look at it, I can see the artistry in some types of it. Perhaps if I were to read some informative articles by collectors of modern Steuben, I might more readily see its beauty and begin to appreciate it more.

And remember, based on our current format for sharing, if you were to receive a Gazelle Gazette that featured an article about modern Steuben, you could always skim it to see whether it was of interest to you, and hit the Delete key if not.

What I am wondering (and I am not in the position to assess this), is, are there devotees of modern Steuben glass who are at the (dare I say this?) same “geek” level that many of us are? By this, I mean people equipped to talk about how it is made, the designers, etc. Also, are there any existing modern Steuben collector organizations that could, if not actually “merge” with us, at least have its members be invited to join us? Or do the existing modern Steuben “clubs” merely comprise folks who buy the Christmas ornaments that came out each successive year?

I think that expanding our mission could make us stronger, if we can recruit enough “modern Steuben folks” who are as devoted as we are. And if we were to expand the club’s mission, and later determine that it wasn’t working, we are free to change it back, now, aren’t we?

We can’t know exactly where the club would go if we broaden the mission, but I think that we can predict pretty well where it might go if we don’t maintain our numbers, our enthusiasm, and our level of individual participation.

I apologize for the length of these ramblings.

Michael “too much coffee this morning” Krumme

Los Angeles

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www.cardersteubenclub.org

Any opinions expressed by participants to the Gazette e-mail newsletters are the opinions of the authors and are not endorsed by or the opinions of the Carder Steuben Club.

2012 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 20-22, 2012.