The Museum of Glass Gets Serious about Collecting

At Tacoma, Washington's "The Museum of Glass" there has been something happening for the last year that we at Nourot think is a great idea: adding works by the contemporary glass masters in America.

Director Tim Close of The Museum of Glass is one year into an ambitious 10-year plan to build up it's fledgling collection, focused on modern glass.

Why is built into the museum’s very mission statement says director Close: to tell the story of glass. This, of course, is what MOG has been doing for its first five years without a collection: hosting Hot Shop artists, mounting traveling shows and occasionally commissioning works. But the museum intends to dig deep into the story of 20th- and 21st-century glass art, and to do that, says Close, it needs a permanent collection.

“Collecting is the DNA of a museum,” Close said. “You come to museums for wonderment, enlightenment.”

While the nearby Tacoma Art Museum will limit it's acquisitions to art that focuses on the Northwest, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma will probably try and cast a wider net to include many of the "end of the century" pioneers of the art glass movement.

It’s an interesting statement that implies that, whatever MOG has been doing until this point, it’s only going to fully achieve museum hood with a collection says the Olympian in a recent article. It's a given that most significant art museums in this country have some sort of permanent collection. In fact, that’s how some museums begin, as a venue to house a big private collection.

The Museum of Glass has held off until now to build its collection, citing changes of direction (from contemporary art to pure glass) and management. In fact, it’s starting early: The Tacoma Art Museum didn’t begin collecting until 1963. That was 30-odd years after it began operations.

Most succinctly, the simple fact is that art costs, and building a museum-standard collection takes either committed donors or a lot of money.

“Eighty percent of museum acquisitions come from donors,” Close said. Stephanie Stebich, Tacoma Art Museum's director agrees with him. Private collectors decide to give to museums, either donating or gifting a work, for many reasons: taxes, prestige, passion for art, civic-mindedness. Both TAM and MOG are currently exhibiting shows taken from their collections; in each, the majority of works display the name of a donor.

Which is why we exhort those of you who have collected important works by the glass pioneers of the last 45 years to donate them while there is a chance they will be preserved and shown in a setting that will leave a legacy for you and your family.

This idea may have merit at MOG, however, TAM’s board has decided to move from being the “passive recipient of the community’s collective generosity to an active leadership role.” In other words, it’s going to decide what it wants to collect.
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For more information of MOG policies please start by calling Mr. Tim Close, Director at 1-866-4MUSEUM.

Anniversary for Nourot Gallery: 34 years in Business

Happy Anniversary Nourot Studio

34 years at the Glory Hole and still taking the heat.

Now that we have stroked the boss and bossette we turn the blog over to Annie for a personal message.

Dear Readers:

If it weren't for all the good old days these days would be even harder to comprehend! On August 1, 1974 Micheal and I took the keys to the first Nourot Studio across the street in the finishing shop of the Old Yuba Manufacturing Plant. He handed me a broom and said, "Go sweep over there." Being as I was it for labor, I swept and swept and swept. I think it was 500ft by 75ft or it just seemed like it. The wharehouse we rented is no longer there. But I sure remember the dirt and the dust "of centuries" we cleared before setting up shop. How fun it was to do everything to set up a business and learn as you go. On Halloween we had our first hot glass melted. It was gettting dark and it was pretty hard to tell the temperature. We had neglected to hang lights above the work area!

Those of you who are gallery owners and corporate clients who are visiting here for the first time, welcome. The August Sale announcement which we sent out, as you can probably tell, was not aimed at you. (All Nourot pieces in the gallery 20% off for the whole month of August) It is my task immediately to begin making relevant changes in how we communicate with all of our collectors, visitors, buyers, and gallery owners.

Soon in this space we will profile some of the places that sell Nourot pieces across the country and beyond so our readers can know where they can go to buy a good selection of our works. If you have useful images, gallery owners, email them to the studio for this profile project please.

We thank each and every one of you for your trust and support and every good wish you have been sending us for our 34th anniversary in business. With the studio's next generation, Nicholas Nourot, our 25 year old son, the legacy that we began long ago in the disco years insures that there will be Nourot Glass made for many, many more years to come. Our kids and grand child are pictured above.

Bye now, Annie