Flickinger Glassworks Newsletter |
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Our brief newsletter about Red Hook, Brooklyn...
and other people, places & things we think you should know about.
Welcome to the September edition.
This month we give a nod to an artist who inspired Charles Flickinger to launch his bent glass business. We highlight some large glassworks we’re especially proud of. And we issue a reveal on someone who’s been quietly beautifying Red Hook.
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UPCOMING EVENT
Please note that Flickinger Glassworks is participating in this year’s Open House NY tours on October 16 & 17. To register, please go to ohny.org. Charles will be giving 6 shop tours each day.
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Sydney Cash (left); Replication of Flickinger's first 10 brick kiln (right) |
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Charles Flickinger interviewing Sydney Cash |
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Before Charles Flickinger ever bent a panel of glass, he attended a workshop in ’83 with renowned artist Sydney Cash at New York Experimental Glass Workshop (now Urban Glass). Cash showed Flickinger and the others how to build a desktop kiln with 10 fire bricks and nichrome wire, winding the electrical elements on a rod in a variable speed drill. He next taught them to construct a mold out of hardware cloth. Employing that rudimentary mold and tiny kiln, Flickinger bent his first glass piece — a thrilling and career defining moment.
Over the years, Flickinger continued to marvel at Cash’s ongoing artistic experimentations. One body of work, for example, features glass melted onto wire skeletons, thus creating fanciful sculptures that pose the optical illusion — is the glass draped over the wire or is the wire suspended within the glass? You decide by watching these videos shot during a recent studio visit.
Represented by NYC’s Heller Gallery (hellergallery.com) and elsewhere, Cash’s pieces are included in the collections of MOMA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. You can also view his work at the Queensborough Plaza subway station where he created 16 marvelous, ten-foot high, optically kinetic windows. Or how about this fantastic light sculpture in the Marriott Hotel in Grand Rapids, MI?
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Light sculpture in the Marriott Hotel lobby, Grand Rapids, MI. Installed in 2019. |
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To learn more, visit his website: CargoCollective.com/SydneyCash
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Sydney Cash sharing more of his work. |
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Large Works by Flickinger Glassworks |
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Charles Flickinger at the Museum of Natural History |
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You could almost say that Flickinger Glassworks sprang from that small curved glass composition fashioned in Cash’s workshop. However, the shop went on to slump very large pieces of glass. That includes these bent glass sash windows we restored for the corner bays of the American Museum of Natural History (UWS) and the landmarked O’Neill Building (Chelsea). Notice how the curved windows complement the rounded stone turrets they sit in, providing a harmonious finishing touch that flat glass could never achieve.
For the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, our cascade of curved floor-to-ceiling windows above the entranceway creates an arresting architectural focal point. Since we also insulated and double-laminated each panel, they also serve as effective sound barriers.
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American Museum of Natural History
Photo Credit: Randy Duchaine
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The Blossoming Heart of Red Hook |
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Shaquwan Council watering Coffey Park |
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Anyone who passes through Red Hook’s Coffey Park cannot help but notice the beautiful and abundant flower beds lining the pathways. What passersby probably don’t realize is that one person is almost single-handedly responsible for this bewitching display: Namely, chief gardener Shaquwan Council who has been lovingly tending to the park for four years.
The 8-acre site, bounded by Verona, King, Dwight and Richards Streets, serves as Red Hook’s town square, where neighbors come for cookouts, concerts, protests, dog runs, or simply to read a book. It also features 180 trees, many of them planted after Hurricane Sandy brought salt water, heavy winds and an early demise to many of the oldsters. But it’s the gardens — brimming with hope, loveliness and good vibes — that gives us pause and makes us want to give a shout out to Mr. Council, seen above watering on a hot August morning.
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A few end-of-summer blooms photographed by Charles. |
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