At the Duncan McClellan Gallery we pride ourselves on featuring an incredibly diverse range of glass artists and artistic styles. As a premier artistic destination in the thriving St. Petersburg Warehouse Arts District, we feature nationally and internationally renowned artists from all over the world, showcasing works of more than eighty artists.
Our upcoming fall exhibit will showcase the works of two incredibly talented glass artists: Claire Kelly and Jen Violette.
Claire Kelly began her career as a glass artists after graduating from Alfred University in 1996 with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. She has has taught at numerous schools including the Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and the Centro Fundacion del Vidrio in Spain. Claire has held Artist in Residence positions at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Salem State University, and was granted the three year EnergyXchange fellowship in Burnsville, North Carolina.
From 2000 to 2008 Claire was part of Schafermeyer/Kelly Glass, a collaborative project with Anthony Schafermeyer. In 2008 she moved to Providence, Rhode Island, to work with renowned artist Toots Zynsky and further develop her body of work. She was featured as demonstrating artist at the Glass Art Society Conference in Murano, Italy in May of this year, where she presented a hot glass demonstration focused on Effetre glass.
Claire’s work fuses traditional Venetian glassblowing with various cold working processes, drawing inspiration from the unconventional forms and patterning of twentieth century masters such as Carlo Scarpa and Napoleone Martinuzzi, as well as contemporary masters such as Toots Zynsky and Dick Marquis. Her pieces explore themes of connection between human and animals, and the place these relationships hold in the environment and world.
“My works are a gentle mirror allowing us to examine our contradictory world. I’m curious about what we see in my toy-like animals and what they see when they look back. Much of my recent work centers on elephants because of their unique role as beloved childhood toy, popular decorative figure with a strong history in glassmaking, and a perilously threatened species.”
Our fall exhibition featuring Claire’s works will run from October 12th through December 9th. As always, there is no admission fee to visit the gallery, but donations benefiting the DMG School Project are accepted.
