CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Orgain Gallery of the Customs House Museum features the bold and delicate glass of artist Thomas Spake through the remainder of 2015.
Fragile Illumination showcases Spake’s ability to bring hand-blown glass to life with rich textures and pattern. It is easy to see the influences of earth, air, and water in Spake’s orbs and vessels. The Customs House plays up the vivid colors within the art through moody lighting throughout the gallery.
The effect is a dancing of colors upon the darkened walls. The adjacent Bruner Gallery allows the viewer a look into Thomas Spake’s studio and process.
Spake started working with glass in 1994, under artist Stephen Powell, while attending Centre College in Kentucky. He then became an artist in residence at the Appalachian Center for Crafts, and later worked as head glassblower at the River Gallery Glass Studio in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thomas opened his own studio in 2002.
His works can be found in galleries and collections across the United States, including the U.S. Senator Bob Corker’s office in Washington, D.C.; the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville; Brown-Foreman Corporation in Louisville, Ky.; Centre College in Danville; Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga; and the Office of the President at the University of Georgia.
Along with the exhibit, Thomas Spake will be speaking at the museum’s Art & Lunch event on December 8th at 12:15 pm. This event is free and open to the general public. Spake’s exhibit and talk is funded in part by an NEA grant the Customs House received for the second consecutive year. The museum was selected by the NEA because of the consistency of quality art exhibitions and art programming it offers to the community.
Fragile Illumination will be on exhibit through January 4th. Located at the corner of Second and Commerce Streets, the Customs House Museum is the second largest general museum in Tennessee. For more information on above events contact Terri Jordan, Exhibits Curator, at 931-648-5780 or terri@customshousemuseum.org.