Fire - The Crucible...2 The Crucible’s Fire & Light Soirée Dear Friends, We are delighted to welcome you to The Crucible’s 15th Anniversary Fire & Light Soirée, the hottest evening

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Celebrating our 15th Anniversary Saturday, April 26th, 2014 · 6–11 pm

Fire& Light

The CruCible’s

Soirée 2014

2 The Crucible’s Fire & Light Soirée

Dear Friends, We are delighted to welcome you to The Crucible’s 15th Anniversary Fire & Light Soirée, the hottest evening of the year!

Tonight we are proud to honor The Crucible’s founder and first executive director, Michael Sturtz. Michael established The Crucible in 1999 as a venue to teach industrial arts in a truly creative and non-competitive learning environment. During our first twelve years, Michael nurtured what began as an idea and $1,750 seed grant into the largest nonprofit industrial arts educational facility in the nation.

Michael retired from The Crucible in January 2011 to seek out new creative challenges. He has since found them in many places, especially at Stanford University, where he has a teaching appointment in the Mechanical Engineering Design Group. Michael is also the Director of the ReDesigning Theater at Stanford’s d.school, where he has been applying the design thinking process to spearhead a new artistic genre of live performance that integrates technologies, social media, and immersive and interactive experiences.

Ever ambitious, Michael now has his sights on revolutionizing the educational environment at Stanford by launching the SBL: Stanford Build Lab, which promises to unite design thinking, engineering, creative arts, and sciences with emerging technologies, creating a new bridge from ideation to rapid prototype realization.

We are equally proud to celebrate our Youth Program, represented tonight by our intern and guest, Jazmine Schwinges-Williams, who has been a student and youth instructor at The Crucible since 2008. Jazzy is among twelve interns in The Crucible’s three-year summer internship program, which, along with our other youth and adult programs, is supported by generous grants and gifts, and by your vigorous participation in tonight’s event.

For 15 years, The Crucible has been a home for art and artists who extend the boundaries of their respective forms. Thank you for honoring us with your presence, your generous support, and your enthusiastic participation. Proceeds from the art you take home tonight—contributed by artists at the top of their fields—stoke our fires for the rest of the year.

Thank you, and happy anniversary!

Charles OlsonChair, Board of Directors

3Saturday, April 26, 2014

The Crucible extends sincere appreciation to this evening's Sponsors and Host Committee

GoldChristopher Bently

silverAB&I FoundryLapis Group, Inc. Elizabeth MeierRenée Ventimiglia

bronzeLauren and Steve AdamsWarren Breslau and Frances HellmanCASS, Inc. Bill and Matt CiaschiniJeremy CrandellLori and Skip FogartyHondoman & The PhoenixNetTempo, Inc. Charles Olson and Yoko WatanabeOne PacificCoast Bank, FSBJohn A. SamuelsSchnitzer SteelDavid ShulmanThe Tagami Family, CCIG, and Oakland Global Rail EnterprisePasha and Laney Thornton


The CruCible Thanks ChrisTopher benTly for his sTeadfasT supporT and premier sponsorship of The fire & lighT soirée for Three ConseCuTive years!


Theatrically directed by Michael sturtz

Featuring Performances by: AzizBen BurkeBrendan BarthelDanielle O’DeaDwoira Galilea SchefferDavid GlowackiHerringbone OrchestraJanine FondillerKinetic Arts CenterStanford Aerial ArtsThe Von Stilt FamilyLes AeiriellesWomack and BowmanSuperstars of The Crucible faculty

stage-managed by:Jay Kravitz

Fire and video sculptures by: Peter KropfMichael ChristianDavid Glowacki...and more

dinner by:Grace Street Catering

Cocktail wines courtesy of:Spicy Vines

Wines by:Urban Legend Cellars

beer courtesy of:Linden Street Brewery.

lighting and audio by:GotLight

Welcometo the 15th Anniversary Fire & Light Soirée


About theEvening6:00 pm Hors d’oeuvres and Wine Silent Auction and Live Auction preview

7:15 pm Dinner is served Welcome — Kristy Alfieri, The Crucible’s Director of Education

8:00 pm 15th Anniversary Video Honoree Presentation — The Crucible’s Board Chair, Charles Olson 15th Anniversary centrifugal bronze and glass casting: Michael Sturtz, in collaboration with Kier Lugo and Nick DiPhillippo

8:45 pm Live Auction Youth Program Presentation – Jazmine Schwinges-Williams

10:15 pm 15th anniversary Finale Performance Check-out


Dinner MenuSpring Vegetable Salad

Baby carrots, artichoke, fennel, spring onion, fava beans, peas, and burrata, with mâche pesto

******

Miso-Glazed Onowith Forbidden rice, gazpacho, cilantro- and chili oils, spicy cucumber,

shiitakes and bonito flakes

- or -

Soba Noodle BowlBuckwheat soba noodles, ginger-roasted squash, scallions, shiitakes,

Hodo tofu in miso broth

******Artisan breads, served with sweet butter

******

Strawberry-Orange, Mascarpone Cream, Vanilla Cakewith strawberry sauce

******Fair-trade, organic coffees and organic, flowering teas, served with

miniature after-dinner sweets


Tonight’s festivities raise vital funds for The Crucible’s year-round programming, including cutting-edge industrial arts education for youth and adults, innovative performances, collaborations with other organizations, and community activities. Your generosity will help keep our fires burning throughout the year.

Fire& Light

The CruCible’s

Soirée 2014


About the AuctionEd Gold, Auctioneer, Reynolds-BuckleyDaniel Stauber, CuratorPhotos by Evan Shamar, Daniel Stauber, Carolina Baldwin, and Ed Kirshner

Accomplished and generous artists working in metal, glass, stone, ceramics, leather, wood, textiles, concrete, and mixed media have contributed their work to the live and silent auctions tonight. Purchased work will be packaged and available to take home with successful bidders tonight.

Sales Tax and Tax-DeductibilityCalifornia law requires that all sales, even those at non-profit fundraising events, include sales tax. Your final purchase cost in the live and silent auctions will include Alameda County’s 9% sales tax added to the gavel price of the work. Auction purchases are not tax-deductible.

Your Fund-a-Need donation to The Crucible’s Youth program is 100% tax-deductible, and you will receive a receipt for your gift.


1 Silhouette Dragon Sculpture Bottle, 2012Flame-worked glass

Suellen Fowler has blown and sculpted glass for more than 40 years. She is the foremost practitioner of a method of flameworking characterized by working off the end of a glass blowpipe. Building layers of clear and colored glass, her finished vessels are rich in color and intricate design. She displayed a passion for color, drawing and sculpting at an early age. Encouraged by her parents to develop these talents she was enrolled at the age of nine, and took art classes for several years, at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. In the summer of 1969 she enrolled in the Glass Workshop at Pepperdine College in Los Angeles. The program was directed by John Burton and taught by his first apprentice, Margaret Youd. Fowler’s work, collected worldwide, was on exhibit at the Museum of American Glass in Wheaton Village, New Jersey, in a 1998 show curated by Paul Stankard, and selected by the director of the Corning Museum of Glass for inclusion in its permanent collection.

Opening Bid: $100Suellen Fowler

Live AuCTiOn

2 Indian Chief, 2013Mild steel

With a BFA in Inter-arts that included theatre, dance and sculpture, Rob Nehring is the sole proprietor of Rusty Noodle Studios. Driven by the definition of sculpture as “something you back into when looking at a painting,” he tries to engage his audience with humor found in the personality of ordinary objects. An accomplished artist, Rob’s sculptures are in galleries and private collections throughout the U.S. The characters featured in Rusty Noodle Studios are created from 99% recycled materials. Through found scrap materials, Rob lets the materials dictate what they will become. Rob is also The Crucible’s Adult Program Director.

Opening Bid: $300 Rob Nehring


Live AuCTiOn

3 Fractured, 2012Recycled steel with LeD lights

Kristen Hoard’s journey with metal sculpture began in 1999 when a friend suggested that she take metal sculpture classes. Having always loved metal sculpture, she enrolled in her first class at The Crucible, and has been hooked ever since. Hoard quickly discovered that using a 40-foot extension cord to work on the patio of her Bay Area condo was not the ideal metal sculpture studio setup; she soon migrated 120 miles northeast to midtown Sacramento where she found a house with a two-and-a-half car garage for her studio space. She regularly participates in art festivals throughout Northern California, including the Palo Alto Fine Art Festival and the Crocker Art Museum Holiday show. Kristen’s work is often featured at local galleries like the Kennedy Gallery, The Artisan Gallery, 2110 Gallery, and Patris S12.

Opening Bid: $400

Kristen Hoard

4 Untitled, 2014Forged, recycled copper

Michael Bondi Metal Design specializes in architectural and interior wrought metal, creating contemporary and classic designs in copper, bronze, monel, stainless steel, aluminum and iron. The studio works collaboratively or independently to develop unique solutions for architects, designers or individuals. Commissions are undertaken worldwide for clients including Disney World, Disneyland, Euro Disney, Grand Hyatt Wailea, Donald Trump, Hendrix and Allardyce, Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio Restaurant, and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse. Michael Bondi Metal Designs has been honored with awards for excellence in design, technical detail and finish. The studio takes pride in thorough attention to detail, from the design phase through installation of the project. Michael Bondi has been a blacksmith for 38 years.

Opening Bid: $600

Michael Bondi


Live AuCTiOn

5 Small Reliquary in White, 2013Blown and sandblasted glass

Michelle Knox is a New Jersey native. She relocated in 1997 to the San Francisco Bay Area where she attended and graduated from the California College of the Arts in 2000 with a BFA with an emphasis in glass.For more than 15 years, she has studied glass-making at internationally recognized glass institutes such as Public Glass, Urban Glass, Bullseye Resource Center, Penland School of Crafts and Pilchuck Glass School, under respected artists like Clifford Rainey, Pamina Traylor, Therman Statom, Deb Cerzedsco, Silvia Levenson and most recently Gene Koss at Tulane University, where she received her MFA on full scholarship in 2011. Her work has recently been seen at the Oakland Museum of California, the Museum of Craft and Design, and the National Liberty Museum, along with many other fine art galleries.

Opening Bid: $600

Michelle Knox

6 Éire Spirit Dancer, 2014Glass, plasma, electronics

Ed Kirshner was born in New York in 1940. He studied architecture and sculpture at Cornell University, UC Berkeley and the Oskar Kokoschka School in Austria. After 30 years of developing and financing affordable housing, he returned to study art at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland as well as at Pilchuck, Corning and Northlands, in Scotland. His glass and plasma sculptures have been exhibited throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. His work is represented in Corning’s “25 Years of New Glass Review.” His sculptures are in such permanent collections as the diRosa Fine Arts Preserve in Napa, and the Swiss National Science Center, near Zurich. Ed Kirshner has taught in the US, Europe and Asia, is on The Crucible’s faculty and holds a Fulbright international teaching fellowship. He served as a trustee and the treasurer of the Museum of Neon Art for several years and currently is on the board of the Glass Art Society, and is its treasurer.

Opening Bid: $1,200Ed Kirshner


Live AuCTiOn

7 Offspring IV, 2006Cast bronze

Bruce Beasley is one of the United States’ most prominent sculptors. In 1962 The Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired one of Beasley’s sculptures, making him the youngest artist ever to be included in their permanent collection. In 1963, Beasley won the purchase prize in the Paris Biennale, the world’s most prestigious international exhibition.

His work is included in the permanent collections of 32 art museums around the world. He has had 55 solo exhibitions in museums and galleries in the U.S. and abroad, and has been included in hundreds of important group exhibitions. He has represented the United States in numerous international Biennale exhibitions and world fairs, and has completed 37 monumental sculpture commissions throughout the world.

Opening Bid: $1,500

8 Fund-a-NeedThe Crucible isn’t just for adults. Every year, nearly 3,000 young people come here to explore their creativity in classes, camps, workshops, internships, and field trips. Our unique, hands-on educational opportunities are a great way to fire up young imaginations and open new doors to personal growth and delight. Your completely tax-deductible bid on this most important lot fuels discovery, exploration and skill-building for kids from eight through 17 years old.

Bruce Beasley


Live AuCTiOn

9 Wood Section, 2011Cast bronze

Ruben Guzman holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Academy of Art University and a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City. Guzman had the privilege to learn Cartonería under the tutelage of the world-renowned Linares family.

Guzman’s work has been exhibited nationally and abroad. Many local institutions have shown his work, including the Oakland Museum of California, Palo Alto Arts Center, Sonoma County Museum, Mexican Museum and Richmond Arts Center.Guzman’s sculptures are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution and Sonoma County Museum.

Opening Bid: $2,000

Ruben Guzman

10 17” Bell, 1994Bronze, redwood

Nick DiPhillipo is the Foundry department head at The Crucible, as well as Casting Director at Artworks Foundry in Berkeley. After first being introduced to metal casting at Paolo Soleri’s Wind Chime Foundry in Arcosanti, Arizona, he has spent the last 35+ years casting objects of his own design. These designs include oil lamps, censers, vessels, sculptures, and bells, as well as whatever else he finds interesting. He also does various pyrotechnics at the slightest excuse.

Opening Bid: $1,600

Nick DiPhillipo


Live AuCTiOn

11 Swan, 2012Lavender marble, steel

William Rose began creating art more than 35 years ago, designing and building custom homes while travelling to many locations throughout the US creating sand sculpture. In searching for a more permanent medium, Rose joined The Crucible six years ago and began stone-carving under the guidance of Instructor and master sculptor Barry Baldwin. Rose’s focus has recently expanded to include welded sculpture.

Opening Bid: $900

William Rose

12 Copper Candlesticks, 2004-2014Copper

A Wisconsinite by birth, metalsmith Greg Hessel works his magic on hammer-forged copper in the San Rafael-based Hessel Studios, which produces more than 60 different hammer-forged copper candlestick designs. Each design has its own distinctive personality, and each is given a mythical or romantic name, like Callisto or Flirtation, which is engraved on the underside of the base. The polished surface can be maintained, though some prefer to keep the surface unpolished, so that over time it develops a rich, warm color, reminiscent of a fine antique.

Opening Bid: $800

Greg Hessel


Live AuCTiOn

13 The Twins, 2013Glass

Winner of the 2005 and 2008 Niche Magazine awards for blown glass, Randy Strong, artist and designer in hot glass for 44 years, has worked continuously throughout his career to produce innovative designs that continually influence the ever-changing and growing community of studio glass artists.His studies began in 1969 at the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he studied ceramics with the renowned ceramicist Peter Voulkus as his mentor. His studies of ceramics led him into the (at that time) largely unknown frontier of studio hot glass. In 1970, he was with Dale Chihuly when he and the Haubergs selected the location for the now-renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, Washington.

For many years Randy has helped to lead the new art glass movement. His work, ranging from his distinctive crystal and gold goblets to his imposing cast sculptures, has been acquired by collectors internationally and is included in collections ranging from the Corning Museum in New York, to the Louvre in Paris. In 1970, he established his own studio and gallery in Northern California, where he continues to create, design and teach.

Opening Bid: $800Randy Strong

14 Post Trio Las Vegas, 2001Blown glass, tooled brass

Since 1989, Christina Spann has taken glass, metal and electricity to create decorative lighting luminaires.

She attended Arizona State University for the Fine Arts and studied Painting/Drawing and University of California, Santa Barbara for Masters work in printmaking before studying glass arts in San Francisco. She uses all the fine arts techniques along with glass, which she finds incorporates light, color, and form to captivate all the senses. The company she founded, Lightspann, creates award-winning lighting solutions and has gained an international reputation. The work is collected by film stars, seen in casinos and restaurants and adorns many Bay Area residences.

Opening Bid: $800

Christina Spann


Randy Strong

Live AuCTiOn

15 Black and Orange Frit Bowl, 2013Cast glass and glass frit

As a graduate student in architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, John Lewis was introduced to blown glass by professor Marvin Lipofsky. Lewis founded the first private hot glass studio in California before receiving his MA in design in 1970. His early work in blown glass led to an interest in glass-casting. With the help of an NEA grant, he built an experimental facility to explore the possibilities of cast glass. At his state-of-the-art casting studio in Oakland, Lewis designs and produces cast glass sculpture, tables, vessels and site-specific architectural projects. He has completed numerous commissions for private and corporate clients and is represented internationally by galleries. www.Johnlewisglass.com

Opening Bid: $700

John Lewis

16 New Horizons, 2014Glass, copper

Jeremy Scidmore earned a BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and later returned there to study arts administration and policy. While in Chicago, he owned and managed a public glass-arts resource center, Chicago Hot Glass, collaborated with youth arts educators, completed private and public sculptural and architectural art commissions, and taught glassblowing and kilnforming. Scidmore later joined Bullseye Resource Center Bay Area. After leaving Bullseye in 2014, Jeremy opened IV Designs, specializing in private and public commissioned architectural glass projects, with artist Carrie Iverson.

Opening Bid: $600

Jeremy Scidmore


Live AuCTiOn

17 Eternal Crucible, 2014Centrifugal bronze and glass casting

Michael Sturtz found early success as a sculptor, architectural metalworker, and product designer, earning his BFA from Alfred University School of Art and Design and his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Additionally, he studied stone-carving at Studio de Sem Ghelardini in Pietrasanta, Italy. His sculptures address both concept and form through intriguing kinetic machines and strong material contrasts that include creative mixtures of stone, cast and fabricated metals, glass, kinetics, light, fire, liquid and video, often blending mechanical and biological forms.

Opening Bid: $1,500

This one-of-a-kind piece will be cast live

at the Soirée

Michael Sturtz, in collaboration with Nick DiPhillipo and Kier Lugo

PReMieR AuCTiOn

101 Window of Possibility, 2014Kiln-formed glass, microprocessor-programmed and -controlled light

Pam Morris is an artist recognized at the leading edge of glass and light design. She has maintained a glass studio for more than 30 years and has completed commissions for Sugar Ray Leonard, the Hong Kong Regent Hotel, Wolfgang Puck, and Michael Dell, among other high-profile clients. She has distinguished herself as an innovator, using formed and cast metal with slumped and cast glass, to create highly original and evocative lit sculptures. Morris has recently become interested in large kiln formed glass interplaying with light produced from video projection and light-emitting diodes orchestrated thru microprocessors.

Opening Bid: $2,500

Pam Morris


PReMieR AuCTiOn

102 Unfolding Lotus, 2014Clay, concrete

Damien Jones began an exploration into the unknown when he took a pottery class after college, in 1990. He quickly found access to unique, beautiful expressions in working with slabs – cutting out 2-D shapes, then curving and connecting them to make 3-D forms. In designing these pieces he gained access to a mental toolbox that had rarely been utilized. In April of 2007 he began making monumental sculptural pieces. He has since created dozens of major pieces, including several public installations.

Opening Bid: $1,250

Damien Jones

103 Burnt Panel No. 73, 2011Glass-burned Mississippi gum wood

Artist Jonah Ward was born on August 31, 1984 atop Foster Mountain in Willits, California. There he was raised on an historic homestead at the end of a red dirt road and educated in a one-room schoolhouse until attending Willits high school. Jonah was accepted to the California College of the Arts in 2002 and graduated from the glass department in the fall of 2006. He now splits his time between his art studio at his home in Oakland and his family’s property in Willits, where he is continuously inspired to create new artwork from the natural materials that surround him there.

Opening Bid: $300

Jonah Ward


PReMieR AuCTiOn

104 Either/Or, 2014Stainless steel, copper

Jonathan Hyman studied fine art at the College of Marin and has been an industrial artist since 1971. Known as “The Tigster,” he is certified in titanium, nickel, and stainless steel, MIG and TIG welding and is classified as a welder/fabricator. His sculptures are featured in private collections throughout the US. Jonathan recently collaborated in the production of the West Berkeley Gateway over I-80, providing specialized welding fabrication for the stainless steel elements in the monumental sculptures that symbolize the city, its people and its activities. He can be found at The Crucible on Wednesday evenings, teaching his popular class, Sculpting with TIG, where those with previous experience with TIG welding learn the finer details and special techniques of TIG welding.

Opening Bid: $1,050

Jonathan Hyman

105 Night Blossoms, 2014Steel, glass

Celeste Flores has devoted her life to creating art. Her education as a sculptor led her into the field of blacksmithing, where she discovered that it is possible to use a hammer and anvil to create graceful forms out of steel, sculpting the hard metal as if it were clay. She draws upon time-honored techniques and biological forms for inspiration.

Lancelot S. Fraser grew up in the small mountain community of Idyllwild, California. At the age of 15, he learned the craft of pottery, and decided that he wanted to be an artist. Directly after high school, he moved to San Diego and began blowing glass at Palomar College in 2002. He received two associate degrees, then spent several years as a nomad, traveling the country and blowing glass. In 2008, he was accepted to California College of the Arts, where he received his BFA in glass in 2010. He has attended workshops at the Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School for Crafts, Eugene Glass School, and the Appalachian Center for Crafts. He currently lives, works and teaches in Oakland.

Opening Bid: $475 Celeste Flores and Lancelot S. Fraser


PReMieR AuCTiOn

106 Quercus Luminosum, 2014Bronze lamp, blown glass

An inventive sculptor and engineer of many media, Alex Smith has taught bronze casting at The Crucible for 14 years. After attending a glass-blowing class here, he was illuminated by the possibilities of blending the two materials, which inspired the creation and contribution of a special lamp for this year’s 15th anniversary celebration. The piece’s design is based on the acorn of a Coast Live Oak, the grand tree for which Oakland is named. alexanderthesmith.com

Opening Bid: $550 Alex Smith

107 Black Bird Bowl, 2013 Glass

Barbara Barnett’s work reflects the natural world she sees around her, combining her love of nature with her passion for glass art. Creating a glass bowl or sculpture starts with a clay or wax model and is always a journey of discovery. Her geeky side loves the physics of glass, the problem-solving, and the complexity of the process. Her emotional side loves the observation and discovery of the form, her surprise at the outcome, and discovering new aspects of herself through the creative process.

Opening Bid: $225

Barbara Barnett


SiLenT AuCTiOn

201 Wiggle Room, 2014Steel, bronze

Chris Niemer, The Crucible’s blacksmithing area head, was born with metal in his blood: both his father and grandfather were machinists. For Niemer, metalsmithing is a form of alchemy, forging the past into the future, using the tools that are present.

Daniel Yasmin is a musician/sculptor/teacher who uses resonance to explore the influence that space and time can have on matter. His work fuses the detail of machine technology with the fervor of musical experimentation to create unique instruments and sound sculptures. He cultivates his aesthetic through collaboration and performance, both as an instrumentalist with and an instructor at The Crucible.

Opening Bid: $750

Chris Niemer & Daniel Yasmin

202 Mama’s Infinity Triangle, 2003Glass

Dana Zed’s work is in the collections of the Corn-ing Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, PG&E’s executive offices, the Harvard Law School and the Seattle Art Museum. She has been offered full scholarships five times to Pilchuck Glass School. In 2012 she was artist-in-residence at the de Young Museum. She teaches at Pixar, the Esalen Institute and a variety of other places. She has completed countless private architectural commissions nation-wide and one permanent public commission for the San Francisco Public Library. She writes three blogs and is the mother of two kids. Dana Zed works in several media and lives in Oakland. Danazed.com

Opening Bid: $1,850

Dana Zed


SiLenT AuCTiOn

204 Visionary, 2009Kiln-fired sintered glass

Lynne-Rachel Altman considers her works to be healing gestures, and calls herself a “709.2 artist,” after the Dewey decimal classification for artists who cannot be classified. Her work has been shown at venues including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, DiRosa Preserve, Tacoma Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design. She had a 2013 solo exhibition (on sugar consumption and diabetes) at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary and has been an artist-in-residence at the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, the Arad Arts Project, Pilchuck Glass School, and Foundry Nights. Her public art includes murals, mosaics and street pavers and she was lead artist on a multidisciplinary team creating an interactive musical environment at Children’s Fairyland. Altman has taught at California College of Art, Public Glass, and Studio One and holds an MFA in sculpture and glass (with distinction) from California College of Arts and Crafts. She is currently working on a mural project with elementary school and college students and re-launching her Project ReCAP, which employs art to restore bicycle parking to decapitated meter poles.

Opening Bid: $600

Lynne-Rachel Altman

203 ServingScape, 2013Fused and slumped glass, silver foil

The luminescence of light and color that is inherent in glass art is a point of departure for Janet Hiebert’s work in kiln-fired glass. The color and intensity of glass enticed her first to design and fabricate stained glass, and eventually to experiment with fused and kiln cast glass. Her recent work combines earlier studies in painting and drawing with the glass media. Graphic images are drawn on individual layers of glass with vitreous powders creating an illusion that is only complete when the layers are fused together in the kiln. The depth and detail revealed in the final combination of the layers forms an elusive moment in time.

Opening Bid: $1,750 Janet Hiebert


SiLenT AuCTiOn

205 Redemption Tales, 2010Wood

Ruben Guzman holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Academy of Art University and a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City. Guzman had the privilege to learn Cartonería under the tutelage of the world-renowned Linares family.

Guzman’s work has been exhibited nationally and abroad. Many local institutions have shown his work, including the Oakland Museum of California, Palo Alto Arts Center, Sonoma County Museum, Mexican Museum and Richmond Arts Center.

Guzman’s sculptures are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution and Sonoma County Museum.

Opening Bid: $2,000

Ruben Guzman

206 Two Sides of Mind #3, 2014Glass, steel

Daniel Stauber studied and now teaches glass at The Crucible. His work strives to both attract and repel, to reflect the polarities of life, and attempts to combine opposition to create emotionally stirring work. Daniel draws for inspiration on the unconscious, and views art as the most sincere human endeavor.

Opening Bid: $600

Daniel Stauber


208 Visitation, 2010Mahogany

Joey Gottbrath was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his BA in functional design from Murray State University, where he studied with Kentucky furniture maker Paul Sasso. Gottbrath received his MFA in sculpture from Arizona State University in 2002, studying with woodworker Tom Eckert and sculptor Mary Bates Neubauer. In 2004 Gottbrath was one of five recipients of the Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Project Grant. He has also been the recipient of scholarships from Arizona State University, the Furniture Society, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland Craft School, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. His work, which has been seen at Mesa Museum for Youth, Tryptich Gallery, Andorra Gallery, Gallery Materia, Boxheart Gallery, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Diablo Valley College Art Gallery, Oakland International Airport, and the de Young Museum, combines traditional furniture and woodworking forms with contemporary narrative elements.

Opening Bid: $400

Joey Gottbrath

SiLenT AuCTiOn

207 Portrait of a Shrub Scrubber, 2012Resin, stainless steel

Billy Hiebert received his MFA for sculpture in 1965 from CCAC, now CCA. After a few years of sculpting with metal, carving marble, and teaching sculpture and design, he was attracted to industrial processes involving molding and casting. This soon led to a full-time business that offered model making, molding and casting to both artists and industrial clients from 1966 to the present. His exposure to new methods and materials led to a different direction in his sculpture. Billy Hiebert left behind welded steel and carved marble and embraced a world of molding and casting. Most of his current sculpture is expressed through molded plastic resin using both modern and traditional techniques. He has lived in the Bay Area since 1961 and run Hiebert Sculpture Works in Oakland since 1966. www.BillyHiebert.com

Opening Bid: $1,300 Billy Hiebert


SiLenT AuCTiOn

209 How to be a Tiger, 2011Terracotta

Susannah Israel’s seminal work is widely shown and appears in private and public collections around the world, including the American Ceramics Collection, Mint Museum, the Archie Bray Foundation, Mission Clay, and the Toki collection. Israel has received a Virginia A. Groot Foundation grant, an NCECA Resident Scholarship to Archie Bray, and a Distinguished Faculty Service Award for curriculum, among many honors. Recent work with colorful theatrical costumes can be seen in the Yinge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan. She is the only artist from the US ever to win the Fletcher Challenge Premier Award for her dynamic piece, Lobo California, now in a permanent collection in New Zealand. As a working artist in an urban setting, Israel engages the viewer in her gritty yet passionate view of humanity. Humor and struggle are always part of the message. Technically, she is known for her expressive working methods with clay, and signature glaze color and texture. Israel holds an MFA in Ceramics from San Francisco State University and currently teaches for Peralta Colleges in Oakland.

Opening Bid: $450Susannah Israel

210 Light Portal, 2004Sand-cast glass, neon, electronics

Ed Kirshner was born in New York in 1940. He studied architecture and sculpture at Cornell University, UC Berkeley and the Oskar Kokoschka School in Austria. After 30 years of developing and financing affordable housing, he returned to study art at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland as well as at Pilchuck, Corning and Northlands, in Scotland. His glass and plasma sculptures have been exhibited throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. His work is represented in Corning’s “25 Years of New Glass Review.” His sculptures are in such permanent collections as the diRosa Fine Arts Preserve in Napa and the Swiss National Science Center, near Zurich. Ed Kirshner has taught in the US, Europe and Asia, is on The Crucible’s faculty and holds a Fulbright international teaching fellowship. He served as a trustee and the treasurer of the Museum of Neon Art for several years and currently is on the board of the Glass Art Society, and is its treasurer.

Opening Bid: $375 Ed Kirshner


SiLenT AuCTiOn

211 Crawling Chaos, 2009-2012Stainless steel

Elise Youssoufian is a welding instructor at The Crucible, where she received her training in metalwork. Her sculptural pieces consist primarily of intricately TIG-welded stainless steel, and she weaves copper and silver to create chainmail jewelry. In addition to her metalwork, she restores art-level antique Persian carpets and tribal rugs. She also sings Eastern European folk songs, performing as a soprano soloist and in a choral ensemble. She lives in Oakland, with her tools, books, records, and two feline familiars.

Opening Bid: $350

Elise Youssoufian

212 Untitled, 2013Leaded glass

In 1964, Peter Mollica apprenticed to Chris Rufo in Somerville, Massachusetts, to learn all phases of stained glass. In 1968, he came to California and had a studio in Berkeley until 1979, when he moved his studio to Oakland. He makes windows for homes, libraries, churches, a synagogue and other public buildings, and has always made free-hanging panels for himself and a few discriminating collectors.

Opening Bid: $300

Peter Mollica


213 Evolution, 2013Recycled steel, sterno

Kristen Hoard’s journey with metal sculpture began in 1999 when a friend suggested that she take metal sculpture classes. Having always loved metal sculpture, she enrolled in her first class at The Crucible and has been hooked ever since. Hoard quickly discovered that using a 40-foot extension cord to work on the patio of her Bay Area condo was not the ideal metal sculpture studio setup; she soon migrated 120 miles northeast to midtown Sacramento where she found a house with a two-and-a-half-car garage for her studio space. She regularly participates in art festivals throughout Northern California, including the Palo Alto Fine Art Festival and the Crocker Art Museum Holiday show. Kristen’s work is often featured at local galleries like the Kennedy Gallery, The Artisan Gallery, 2110 Gallery, and Patris S12.

Opening Bid: $300Kristen Hoard

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214 Rootbeer Vase, 2013Blown glass

Gregory B. Tomb grew up in the northeast. As a child in upstate New York, his family often used Corning as a fun and educational break from their road trips. These brief visits to the Corning Museum of Glass sparked Greg’s interest in glass from a young age. He studied at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. As an art major, Greg focused on sculpture and glass, graduating in 2000. Tomb has worked as an assistant and studio rental artist at Urban Glass in Brooklyn and Goggle in Reading, Pennsylvania. He worked as a production glassblower for Simon Pearce from 2002-2004. Moving to California in 2006, he participated in the Palo Alto and Marin County Glass Pumpkin Patches in 2007. Nationally, he has displayed and sold his glass and photography in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and California. He now lives in Santa Cruz, where he creates decorative and functional art glass and glass lighting. He also teaches glass-blowing and fusing classes at the Bay Area Glass Institute.

Opening Bid: $300 Gregory B. Tomb

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215 Lampwork glass beaded necklace, 2013Soda lime glass

While working as a corporate trainer, JC Herrell began to teach herself lampworking in 2000. In January 2005, addicted to melting glass and having established the roots of her current business, she began making beads full time. After exploring and learning to work enamels on lampwork beads, Herrell began teaching enamel workshops and classes in 2007. Her fondness for enamel was quickly surpassed by a desire to control stringers and create designs with fine, straight lines, inspired by a long history of architectural interest. In 2010 Herrell began sharing her stringer skills in the form of workshops and the online tutorial project, “The Joy of Stringer.” She currently works from a home studio on the Mendocino.

Opening Bid: $275

JC Herrell

216 Intrigue, 2014Leather

Sophia Constance has been creating artwork with the intention of “living the art,” whether through physical theater performance, circus arts, or costuming and mask-making. The creation of her costumes is dedicated to bringing the magic of imagination embodied to you.

Opening Bid: $250

Sophia Constance

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218 Meat, 2009Clay, enamel paint

Cathy Lu’s art practice is interdisciplinary, ranging from painting to sculpture and installation. Her work is an exploration of the liminal spaces of Asian American identity, culture, and gender. She received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a BFA+BA from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at Johansson Projects, Berkeley Art Center, and Jingdezhen, P.R.C. She has been resident artist at Mudflat Pottery, Vermont Studio Center, and Root Division in San Francisco. She teaches Ceramics at The Crucible, and currently lives and works in San Francisco.

Opening Bid: $250

Cathy Lu

217 Leather Case No. 3, 2014Leather

Sam Waller has been working with leather in the Bay Area for nine years. He has taught his trade at The Crucible since 2011 and continues to be an active participant in multiple schools, studios and groups. Most recently his work was featured at The Crucible’s Hot Couture fashion event, where his models cut their way across the stage in fantastic leather costumes.

Opening Bid: $250

Sam Waller

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219 Encolmo Folkie, 2011Blown glass

Zach Rudolf is dedicated to the age-old traditions and techniques of glass-working. Presently living in Santa Cruz, Rudolf produces custom blown glass, manufactures limited editions, and creates one-of-a-kind glass art. He worked for Dale Chihuly from 1999-2000 and attended The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass in 2002 and Pilchuck Glass School in 2011. Rudolf has studied with Richard Royal, Preston Singletary, Boyd Sugiki and Lisa Zerkowski. He has taught glass blowing at San Jose State University and works for the Bay Area Glass Institute.

Opening Bid: $175

Zach Rudolph

220 Edgey Trophy Bowl, 2012Slumped glass, 24K gold

Ann Morhauser, founder of Annieglass, fell in love with glass at 19 years old when she saw someone blowing glass on a California beach and was completely hypnotized by the undulating half-liquid, half-solid material. After graduating from California College of the Arts, she decided to create a spoof of traditional fine china with thick glass with widely painted rims of pure, 24K gold, inspired by the Italian relics she studied in museums. Today, her “Roman Antique” collection is an industry icon. Annie largely paved the way for other glass tableware artisans to enter the luxury market. Annie uses a unique slumping process that creates extremely durable, chip-resistant glass by grinding edges round, allowing a very slow annealing time, and using window glass, which is much more durable than traditional lead crystal. In 2006, the Smithsonian American Art Museum selected Annieglass pieces Tiburon and Coquina, two distinctive designs from the Shell series, as part of its permanent collection in the Luce Center, which displays more than 3,000 artworks from the Smithsonian. www.annieglass.com

Opening Bid: $150

Ann Morhauser


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221 Fire & Light, 2014Fused glass

After more than 40 years in social services and the business world, on her 60th birthday Lee Granberg decided to change direction. She happened upon The Crucible and enrolled in beginning fused glass with Mary White and Janet Hiebert. She has been working with glass (fusing, kiln casting, and flame working) ever since and has discovered her passions: creating glass art, teaching glass art at the Crucible’s Youth Camps, and supporting art education for youth. She loves the challenge and the infinite potential in glass. It enables her to be creative in ways unlike any other medium (she has dabbled in painting and welding). Granberg’s inspirations are her life experiences, family, friends, and humankind in general.

Opening Bid: $150 Lee Granberg

222 Flame Petal Necklace, 2014Flame-worked glass and beads with commercial beads and chain

Tansy Brooks earned a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, majoring in sculpture because it allowed her to use the widest range of materials. Some of her endeavors include making architectural ornaments, working on the Gumby television show, producing graphics for an assortment of software titles, and making the eyes for the Serpent Twins art cars. She started volunteering at The Crucible in 2003, and became enthralled with glass while watching Jay Bridgland. She signed up for the class, continued to be enthralled, and is now teaching in the glass flameworking department.

Opening Bid: $125

Tansy Brooks


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223 Steel Journal, 2011Steel, leather, paper

Carla Hall is a professional metalworker and arts educator with a background in blacksmithing, welding and metal fabrication. Her utilitarian work merges Japanese and Arts and Crafts styles with creative joinery and visible connections. She enjoys designing and creating architectural and garden structures, furniture and sculpture. Her work has been commissioned by architects, interior and landscape designers and many individuals throughout the Bay Area.

Carla has a deep investment in the education of metalworking and the industrial arts, promoting the continuation of technical skills as well as design and building. She has taught metalworking workshops at the Evergreen State College, the Mendocino Arts Center, and blacksmithing and welding classes at The Crucible in Oakland. She currently works as the youth program director at The Crucible and runs Carla Hall Metal Design.

Opening Bid: $125

Carla Hall

224 Kachiro Party (necklace), 2014italian effetre glass, silver, seed beads

Lauren Ekman lives, plays and makes glass beads in her California studio. She has been an educator, including a school principal, for decades. She has been making glass treasures since 2000. Her passion is working on the torch and seeing the “redredmelt” of the glass as it turns into a bead. Her creations lean toward abstract color combinations that stir up happiness and reflect a modern garden. She continues to travel the country to learn from other flameworkers and teaches at The Crucible and Public Glass. The Kachiro Beads are a cross between Hopi Kachinas and Robots, and are inspired to bring you creativity.

Opening Bid: $100

Lauren Ekman


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225 Entwined, 2014Fused glass, fine silver

Arlene Mornick’s work blends dissimilar elements and materials into detailed, flowing and harmonious articles and jewelry meant to be worn, admired and cherished. Her current focus includes fused glass set in silver clay, mixed metal clay, and enameling on copper and silver, though her range of interests and thirst for new techniques has also driven her to incorporate Argentium, sterling and wood into her repertoire.

She is a master instructor for Art Clay World and teaches metal clay in several locations in the Bay Area as well as at festivals throughout the country, including Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada and Bead & Button in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her step-by-step project articles appear frequently in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine.

Opening Bid: $100 Arlene Mornick

226 Drop Vessel, 2014 Glass, electroplated copper, quartz

Ralph McCaskey, laboring away in his subterranean studio (three-and-a-half stories deep beneath downtown California) in the dead of night, has been creating glass objects since 1999. He loves to teach and is particularly delighted to witness his students’ joy in creating glass art.

Opening Bid: $50

Ralph McCaskey


THE CRUCIBLE’SBoard of DirectorsCharles Olson, PresidentGreg Hansen, Vice PresidentRenée Ventimiglia, TreasurerLeslie Pritchett, SecretaryLauren Brown AdamsWarren BreslauLoretta ClarkeJeremy CrandellLori FogartyTim IrvinEdward B. Kangeter IVDavid Shulman

Advisory CouncilJacinda AbcarianRoger AbrahamMelissa AlexanderDennis BartelsRandolph BelleChris BentlyJoe BrennanLisa BurgerKaren CusolitoTanya HollandKai LarsonElizabeth MeierBrad PeikJennifer RaiserAnat SapanChristopher SchardtTodd SeaboldAnn Wettrich


The Crucible · 1260 7th Street, Oakland, CA 94607(510) 444-0919 · theCrucible.org

Special Thanks to: Stephen BissingerCASS, Inc. Lauren EkmanNick FynnJoey GottbrathGraham HackettCarla HallPeter KropfLinden Street BreweryKier Lugo Jen McKayRob NehringIsmael PlasenciaThomas RockwellJill SkinnerUrban Legend Cellars

…and The Crucible’s faculty and staff, and the many, many volunteers who made tonight’s event possible

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Fire - The Crucible...2 The Crucible’s Fire & Light Soirée Dear Friends, We are delighted to welcome you to The Crucible’s 15th Anniversary Fire & Light Soirée, the hottest evening