Marlene Rose (born December 5, 1967) is an American glass sculptor. She specializes in sandcast glass work, a method inspired by bronze casting, and is a pioneer of the glass art equivalent.
Early life and education Rose graduated from Tulane University, acquiring a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors in Glass. She then acquired a Master of Fine Arts at the California College of Arts and Crafts. She also studied at the Pilchuck Glass School founded by Dale Chihuly and Anne Gould Hauberg.
As she was starting her glass artistry, Rose recalls seeing many functional pieces, such as kitchenware, made from glass and thinking, “There wasn’t a statement. There wasn’t an expression, a communication, with this shape.” This helped further actualize her eventual predilection toward glass sculpture. Rose is among the first artists to use traditional bronze casting methods with glass, having used and developed such practices since the 1980s.
Career In 2007, Rose was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
In 2016, Rose opened the Marlene Rose Gallery in Clearwater, Florida, which is the first gallery created for the sole purpose of exhibiting her artwork.
On September 29, 2019, Rose was featured on a segment of CBS News Sunday Morning titled "Glass Cast in Sand", where she was interviewed by Lee Cowan.
Technique Rose's usual glass-making technique is inspired by bronze casting. Rose pours molten glass – which she refers to as "lava" – into a sand mold, then waits upwards of six days for her pieces to cool in the oven before removing the piece from the mold.
Rose is strongly inspired by artistic traditions and past civilizations of African and Asian origin. Frequent motifs in her sculptures include Buddha heads and butterflies.
Personal She currently resides in Clearwater, Florida, where her gallery is based.
She is married to architect Thomas Coates.
Selected works 2008: "Crimson Door": cast glass and wrought iron 2011: "Buddha Wall": glass, steel, and copper 2011: "Merlot Compass Rose Butterfly": sandcast glass, steel, copper 2014: "Electric Blue Lady Cecile": sandcast steel, copper 2015: "Polka Dot Buddha": sandcast glass, steel 2016: "Bearded Boy": sandcast glass, steel 2016: "Large Festival Mask": sandcast glass, steel 2016: "Merlot Bell with Torii": sandcast glass, steel 2016: "Rose Cherry Blossom": sandcast glass, steel 2017: "Fountain Buddha": sandcast glass 2020: "Air to Water Buddha": sandcast glass, steel 2020: "Aqua O With Roofing Nails": sandcast glass 2020: "Double Pointy Bell Tower": sandcast glass, steel
Exhibitions
January 10 to February 23, 2014: Morean Arts Center, "Keep It Glassy, St. Pete!: Glass in the Sunshine City", Tampa, Florida 2015: Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, "Fired: Glass", Arvada, Colorado 2019: Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Marlene Rose: Cultural Blueprints, Fort Wayne, Indiana National Gallery of Foreign Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
References
External links Official Website Marlene Rose at Facebook Marlene Rose at Instagram