mobile NGG

Not grandmas glass

Habatat Detroit Fine Art

2024 & Beyond (EST 2021)
A year-long competition and exhibition

what is NGG?

Habatat is honored to continue the innovative Not Grandma’s Glass (NGG) presentation into its fourth year. NGG has been paving the way for the future of the medium. Last year, we celebrated the work of 12 incredible innovative and talented artists from around the world. Congratulations to each of the participants and you are invited to view the past 2021, 2022, and 2023 presentations on the NGG archive button above.

Four winners have been selected to participate once again in 2023. These winners are artists Kimberly Thomas, Sadhbh Mowlds, Geoffrey Botwon, and Krista Israel.

In 2024 Habatat will once again promote a year-long glass competition featuring 8 new artists and the 4 past winners who have pushed beyond the norm of the contemporary art world. All 12 have impressive talent and creative vision and are expected to be driving forces in the future. Each artist has chosen a single month of the year during 2024 to create an online presence. Habatat has asked each of them to create on such a level that the body of work could be displayed at their dream museum. They will create and share their presentations that will offer unique experiences into that artists’ worlds. This will be done completely at the artist’s discretion and offer both a glimpse into each artist’s message and work for purchase as well.

#ngg 2024

This is where the fun starts. Habatat plans to continue this exhibition in 2025 and to do that the NGG presentation will be a competition. Of the 12 artists in the competition, only 4 will be selected to participate the following year.

With a title like this, Habatat plans to create awareness in those who hear about it. This exhibition and competition drive focus to the work of these 12 important artists and, more importantly, visitors will expect to see work that grandma does not have in her glass collection…Yet! A bit of shock and awe that the contemporary glass art world needs. The art world is ever-changing and Habatat is personally responsible to represent and promote artists who are pushing glass beyond traditional craft.

The story goes when I (Aaron Schey) started my career at Habatat Galleries the topic of a client’s collection would often arise. When the topic of “family” was brought up the collectors would mention that the artwork in their home was referred to by the next generation as “Oh that’s just grandma’s glass.” The historic collections that many of our collectors are not understood by the children of collectors. The article posted here even helps define how future art collectors will collect. The title of this exhibition plays on the phrase above. The artists participating in this innovative exhibition/competition create in such a new manner focused on the younger generation and what the next generation is likely to collect. The work in this online competition and exhibition will be celebrated for all generations that push far beyond the norm. #NGG artists are extremely innovative and I propose that they will all be important in the future of the glass medium.

Starting in January 2024, the first presentation will be hosted via Habatat-Zoom and shared on Facebook. After, the presentation will be posted on www.NotGrandmasGlass.com and continue monthly throughout the year. Winners will be chosen in December of 2025 and receive the NGG Award to celebrate their victory before going back to the studio for their 2025 presentations.

Habatat would like to congratulate and welcome the artists invited for 2024. Each artist selected their month and we are excited to announce the new roster for the NGG exhibition and competition: Austin Norvell, Kwun Lan Wong, Christopher Day, Maria Koshenkova, Sara Brown, Igor Frolov, Draper Matthews, Elanea Esposito, Kimberly Thomas, Sadhbh Mowlds, Geoffrey Bowton, and Krista Israel.

Near the first of every month in 2024, a link will be posted under the artist’s name below sharing their NGG presentation as well as their artist talk.

In the time that one knows Christopher Day, one learns how beauty and horror in his practice exists, it borrows the seductive qualities of glass to make work that comments on issues of race with narratives that range from complex inquiries to unflinching social vignettes. Day makes objects that are more than racially defined, reflecting multiple dimensions of identity and experience.

Day is a mixed race artist who uses his craft to navigate what it means to be black in the UK. And also, white. While he might be both, he sometimes feels like he is not enough of either. His new work, deeply personal in exploration, are often self-portraits that explore what it means to be biracial in the UK by playing on stereotypes and aspects of generalisations. Constantly aware of the complexity of race, his solo show, 'Blown, Bound and Bold' deals with the complexities of internalised racism as well as the difficulty of establishing an identity that isn't just stratified but overlooked by linear definitions of race and heritage.

Bringing together a very personal selection of work, the exhibition aims to create a sense of community and encourage discussion. Every detail including the unwieldy lines, the ensnared glass bubbles, copper cages and the visual weight of material is so imperfect, restrictive, distorted, a conscious acknowledgement of confronting the subject matter visually. An exhibition such as this is, as much as anything, an exhortation to face history and explore the present - as the Black Lives Matter movement actively reshaped our view of our recent past and future contingencies.

Day's professional engagement with art began quite late, but his past has always been enamoured with the expressive power of working with his hands (as a plumber).

With the artist there is insistent questioning on the history of the slave trade in the Eighteenth Century, reactive almost twitter-like in brevity the finished glass-blown pieces are acutely patient in awaiting response.

Traditions of art and history, Day's work exemplifies this immersion of personal preoccupation, a unique compositional line of enquiry and an emotive invitation to viewers to engage with that enquiry. The resulting observances confront viewers with a synthesis of new and often shocking realities.

Day's work is created in response to his own conflicting feelings of belonging as a man of mixed-race, which are compounded by the limited representation of diverse narratives by and of people of colour in art history and popular culture.

Day's practice investigates complex topics and social tensions through the use of the personal; often creating works that hold colour and light and the potential of how these incredible objects reflect the subtle and not-so- subtle integrations of ideas into individual lives and identities.

February February

My works are about the insecure feeling I have when interacting with people based on everyday anecdotes. I share intimate emotions through the narratives of my glass sculptures. Using life-sized glass characters, my work manifests the anxiety generated by the fragility of trust and intimacy in human relationships. The medium of glass allows me to demonstrate the interdependent relationship of life. The nature of glassblowing requires close teamwork. Based on the logic of human coexistence, the further we are away from our community, the harder it is for us to feel peace and satisfaction. With the help and trust of other glassblowers, I create characters expressing my inner self in this safe community. The form and gestures of the characters evoke the audience's empathy.

Our impression and interaction with an object determine our perception and how we associate with the world, which influences me when deciding the character's form, gesture, and color. The character is usually in children's size, a metaphor for our inner child. The body gesture and actions of the character express certain emotions with subtle details. The clear part of the character represents our consciousness. The color part brings in emotion and guides the audience's focus when looking at the work.

I am a custodian of stuff, preserving its heritage and safeguarding its legacy.

As such, I spend a lot of time wandering through flea markets, thrift stores and my personal storage units, looking at seemingly unimportant objects and wondering what past experiences these objects have endured. The stories these objects could tell. I wonder why people hold on to certain things. Is it nostalgia of the past or were they simply utilitarian?

This series of sculptures deals with nostalgia in objects. Each of the parts I used as models were found in a variety of places; each having its own inherent history. Through a lost-wax casting process, I transfer the seemingly insignificant objects into delicate crystal keepsakes. Each vintage truck, serving as a vessel, hopefully delivers a different thought on the subject of nostalgia in objects, through color, form and the contents of the truck.

Coming soon

Want to see more NGG artists? Check out the artists from previous years