Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Recent MFA Graduate Michael Hengler has had a prolific Summer

Michael Hengler's 2013 summer begun with a 3-month fellowship from the Creative Glass Center of America at the Wheaton Arts' Cultural Center in Millville, New Jersey. During this time, developed different ideas and experimented with new techniques to make several bodies of work.

Wheaton was followed by an internship at Princeton University to study with internationally known scientific glassblower Mike Souza. Souza specializes in lab glass, a skill that Michael will bring to share with the UH community.

Michael presented “Buoy & Boat” on the Hereford Inlet in Wildwood, New Jersey. “Buoy & Boat” consists of 33 paired buoy and boat sets etched with his website address. Although the ocean tide failed to carry the sets out to sea, an accommodating life guard volunteered to paddle the heavy and cumbersome sets into the rip current on his surfboard, one by one, and left to drift on their own. Two of the sets have been found and both finders contacted Michael. Inspired by the artwork, one of them donated his find to the Mayor of Lower Township, New Jersey. One edition of "Buoy & Boat" is now permanently displayed in their City Hall. The Cape May County Herald wrote about the project.

As if the aforementioned was not enough for a summer's work, Michael also got to intern with Paul Stankard, internationally renowned glass paperweight maker.

As the Summer draws to a close Michael brings all his newly acquired expertise back to UH. After nearly two years of planning, coordinating and heavy lifting, Michael revives UH Manoa's Science Glass Lab and begins to offer scientific glass services to the university and beyond, as well as teach a section of ART 130 through Outreach College. There is still room in the class if you want to sign up!!

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