“Glass Artists Who Aren't Household Names” - Daryle Lambert - [ Carlson – LaLonde – Parriott ]

Robert Carlson Glass - Thanks to www.artline.com

What you don't know can often make you the most money. Here is an example of what I am talking about. It was your typical Tuesday night at Direct Auction in Chicago and as I was roaming around I spotted something different. At first I thought that it was a broken bowling trophy. There was a wooden base that had a glass sculpture attached to it but the glass was broken. I pieced it up just to see why anyone would consign a piece like this to auction?

There was a name on the glass, Harvey Littleton, which at the time meant nothing to me. Now I know he is one of the true masters of contemporary glass. If you recall from my past blog he and Dominick Labino fashioned the first small glass melting furnace that made it possible to produce art glass in the smaller studios. There wouldn't be the West Coast glass community if it weren't for the efforts of these two. But on with the story. I asked John at the auction if I might look Mr. Littleton up in one of their books and he gave me his permission. Wow, was that broken piece more interesting to me after I did my research. You see his works usually go from $3000 to $10,000 or more. This piece was hammered at a little over $1000. You see I wasn't the only one that had discovered the value of Mr. Littleton's works.

Over the last few blogs on art glass I have presented the tops in the West Coat community of glass artists but I would like to leave you with three other names, just in case you see their names at a garage or house sale. Even at auctions their names may not be recognized.

First is Robert Carlson who states that his Art in Glass is mystical and if it isn't a part of his life then he has failed. I love his use of colors that are vivid and bright There is hardly anything about his work that is symmetrical and it seems to have a natural flow to it. I found where a 7 X 13 ½ inch piece of his work sold for $2000 and today that might be cheap. I can only imagine what his larger pieces sell for. He has a tape out that you may wish to purchase called “Spirit into Matter. By Robert Carlson.”

Next is Richard LaLonde, who unlike Carlson, likes harmony in his work. The latest method that he uses is to pour crushed glass out in patterns or pictures and then fuse it all together. Here again is an artist who maximizes his use of color and breaks all the rules about what color should be positioned next to another color. As he says it just has to come from the heart.

Last but not least is Charles Parriott who appreciated the true art form that glass can be. He often drew and redrew the plans for his sculptures many times before attempting to complete the real piece. His work is truly original. Please just store these names in your memory because their work is out in the marketplace somewhere and it may just become your next treasure

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