Veruska Vagen

Veruska Vagen Biography

Originally a painter, Veruska Vagen spent years living in the Southwest where she maintained a studio and worked in oil, watercolor and mixed media. The course of Vagen's life changed when her glass enamel work brought her to the renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Vagen moved to Stanwood in 1993 and served 12 years with the William Morris Studio, during which time she developed a unique mosaic technique called dot de verre.

In the rich tradition of ancient mosaics, Vagen's current work focuses on the portrait in a contemporary fused glass format. Inspired by art history, an intriguing visage or compelling character, she sees the individual countenance as offering a timeless form of communication and relationship. Vagen states: "The emotional vocabulary of faces remains unchanging over time, a shared language that gives a gift of enabling us to recognize ourselves in each other."

Vagen's work is found in many notable private collections in the US and abroad. In 2003, a retrospective exhibition of her portraits, "Fabulous Faces," was held at the Century Square in Seattle, Washington.

Veruska Vagen Description

Glass Mosaics

The technique of mosaic was used in the ancient world to illuminate and illustrate, celebrate and commemorate. Gleaming bits of glass embedded in mortar adorned walls, entryways, floors and ceilings. From the gilded expanse of a Ravenna cathedral to the intimacy of a Pompeian portrait, the mosaic tesserae patiently tell their story through and arduous colored glass vocabulary. Veruska Vagen follows this tradition in her work with a technique she calls dot de verre.

"Throughout art history artists have studied the work of the masters who came before. Raphael drew from Michelangelo. Van Gogh painted from Rembrandt and Delacroix. Picasso referenced Rubens and Velasquez. The tradition of paying homage through studies of masterpieces served as a tool not only to honor the original work but to become the student of the master as well. In focusing intently on a revered artwork- perhaps choosing a mere segment to study- one becomes intimately involved, even lost within the piece. The journey of revisiting an image perhaps centuries old and with a different material brings new life to a beloved visage or composition and a fresh way of experiencing it. Exchanging paint with tiny glass dots allows the viewer's eye to become the palette. The visual mixing of colors thus embraces Seurat and the Pointillists in addition to the great artists of other eras to whom I pay tribute and from which my pieces are inspired."

- Veruska Vagen  

Veruska Vagen Statement

Dot de Verre

Honoring the history and tradition of mosaic, the dot de verre technique offers a contemporary interpretation in a fused glass format. Thousands of tiny (3 millimeter) glass dots are placed on a foundation glass tile. Using a water based repositionable adhesive, the glass dots are affixed row by row. Once assembled, the composition is carefully fine-tuned then placed and protected in a kiln. During the course of two slow and precise firing schedules, the adhesive burns off allowing the dots to fuse to the backing tile. Because the glass is held at length at a relatively low temperature, the dots do not melt but soften, tack fuse and fire polish without losing their shape. The result is a gleaming, intricately composed image, an intimate complexity of cells forming a completed visage.

Once fired, the dot de verre mosaic is mounted on a black glass backing and framed in a recessed format. The glass dots used in the dot de verre process are unique and are no longer being made. The small factory that produced these exceptional fusible glass dots closed in 1993, just as their potential had been discovered. Recognizing their special beauty, Veruska acquired every last dot available for which she is profoundly grateful.

Veruska Vagen Resumé

Education
Pilchuck Glass School
Northern Arizona University, BFA
University of Colorado

Selected Exhibitions
2016 Artem Vitro, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2015 Schantz Gallery Collector Tour, Schack Art Center, Everett, WA
2014 Masters of Glass, Napua Gallery, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii
Hot Glass Biennial Exhibition, Toledo Arts Commission, Toledo, OH
Summer Moments, Matzke Fine Art, Camano Island, WA
Bellevue Arts Museum Auction, Bellevue, WA
Glasscentric, Chihuly Collection Exhibition, St. Petersburg, FL
Schantz Gallery Collector Tour, Stanwood, WA
Duncan McClellan Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
2013 From Realism to Abstraction, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2012 Homage, two person exhibition w/ Steve Klein, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
Somewhere in Time, Museum of Northwest Art, Benaroya Gallery, LaConner, WA
2010 Eyes for Glass: The Price Collection, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA
SOFA New York with Duane Reed Gallery, NY
Glass Quake, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2009 Enduring Grace, Solo Exhibition, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland, OR
SOFA Exposition, Duane Reed Gallery, Chicago, IL
Matzke Fine Art, Camano Island, WA
2008 Glorious Glass: Translucent and Opaque, The Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL
2007 Timeless Faces, Solo Exhibition, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland, OR
Behind Glass: Creativity and Collaboration, The Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL
2006 It's All About Beads, Pismo Fine Art, Denver, CO
2005 Multiplicity: Glass in All Its Glory, Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, WA
2004 Pixelated, Heller Gallery, New York, New York
The Havery Collection: International Glass, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AB
2003 Fabulous Faces, Solo Retrospective Exhibition, Century Square, Seattle, WA
2+2=Art: The Art of Mathematics, Arts Council of Snohomish County, Everett, WA
Glorious Glass: Color & Form, Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, WA
2002 Pilchuck Glass School At 30, Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, WA
Venice International Art Biennial, Venice, Italy
2001 Jubilee Christian Art Show, Art & Cultural Center, Falbrook, CA
National Christian Art Exhibition, San Juan College,Farmington, NM (Award)
2000 Spiritual III, International Art Exhibition, Period Gallery, Omaha, NE (Award)
Chaos Theory, Milan Art Center, Milan, Italy
Second International Christian Art Exhibition, Seaside Gallery, Nags Head, NC (Award)
National Christian Art Exhibition, San Juan College, Farmington, NM (Award)
Creativity & Collaboration Pilchuck Exhibition, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA
Railyard Arts District 1613 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 
Glass at the Millennium, Sea-Tac International Airport Seattle, WA
Faces, Verizon Exhibit, Bellevue, WA
1999 2nd Macedonian Visual Poetry Festival, Gallery Marko Cepenkov, Prilep, Macedonia
The End is Near, Charles A. Wustum Museum of Art, Racine, WI
Clearly Magic, Port Angeles Museum of Art, Port Angeles, WA
Pilchuck Exhibition, Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, WA
SOFA Exhibit, Chicago, IL, with Mobilia Gallery
History of the World Gallery, Camano Island, WA
1998 Lost & Found, Port Angeles Museum of Art, Port Angeles, WA
Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
Pilchuck Exhibition, Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, WA
1997 Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
Passion Afire, City Center, Seattle, WA
International Exempla Exhibition, Munich, Germany
1996 Permanent Collection ñ Glass Sphere Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Foster/White Galleries, Seattle and Kirkland, WA
Arts Council of Snohomish County, Everett,WA
1995 Foster/White Gallery, Seattle WA
Heller Gallery, Palm Beach, FL
A Powerful Presence, Pilchuck Exhibition, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA
Sedona Art Center, Sedona, AZ
Hall Barnett Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ
Pilchuck Exhibition, Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, WA
1994 Heller Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida
Pilchuck Exhibition, Sea-Tac International Airport,Seattle, WA
Pilchuck Exhibition, History of the World Gallery, Camano Island, WA
Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff,AZ
1993 Revelations, Solo Exhibition, Art Trek Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ
Pilchuck Glass School Staff Exhibit, Stanwood, WA
1992 Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff,AZ
Galerie International, Dallas, TX
Biennial Crafts 1992, Fuller Lodge Art Center, Los Alamos, NM
Crafts National 26, Penn State University, University Park, PA
Westmoreland Art Nationals, Greensburg, PA (Award)
Pilchuck Glass School Staff Exhibition, Cliff Michel Gallery, Seattle, WA
1991 Artzone Exhibition, Western States Competition, Denver, CO
Goblet Show, Lynn McAllister Gallery, Seattle, WA
Wood, Fiber, Clay, Glass & Metal, Coconino Center for the Arts Flagstaff, AZ
Feet of Glass, National Glass Competition, Baltimore, MD
1990 Exquisite Glass Goblets, Tempe Arts Center, Tempe, AZ
Materials Hard & Soft, Center for the Visual Arts, Denton, TX
Animals ñ Multimedia, Eileen Kremen Gallery, Fullerton, CA
Southwest Glass Invitational, Philabaum Glass Studio, Tucson, AZ
Environmental Glass Associates Invitational Exhibition, Oklahoma City, OK
1989 Blazing Artists, Group Show, Kuitvato Glass Gallery, Sedona, AZ
Animals, Group Show, Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Sedona, AZ
Feet of Glass, National Glass Competition, Baltimore, MD
Southwest Glass Invitational, Philabaum Glass Studio, Tucson, AZ
The Fine Art of Craft, Tohono Chul Exhibition Hall, Tucson, AZ (Award)
Elaine Horwitch Group Show, Casa Grande Museum and Cultural Center, Casa Grande, AZ
1988 Alumni Exhibition 88, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Humor in Art, Tempe Arts Center, Tempe, AZ (Award)
The International Exhibition of Glass 88, Kanazawa, Japan
Fusion 88, National Glass Competition (Award)
Faculty Exhibit, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
1987 S.G.A.A., International Competition and Exhibition Corning Museum of Glass, NY
Contemporary Glass Artists Southwestern, Galeria Mesa, Mesa, AZ (Award)
Contemporary Southwest Glass Artists, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, AZ
1986 The Best Glass of 1986, National Competition (Award)
Northern Arizona University Faculty Exhibit, Flagstaff, AZ
1985 Three-Person Show, Verde Valley School, Sedona, AZ
Arizona Invitational, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, AZ
1984 Politics of Art, Seminar Exhibit, Northern Arizona University Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ
Image, Light and Structure, National Glass Invitational, Oakland County Cultural Center, Pontiac, MI
Mars Hill Visual Arts Consortium Group Exhibit, Verde Valley Art Association, Jerome, AZ
Northern Arizona University Faculty Exhibit, Flagstaff, AZ
1983 Profile 83, Arizona Glass Association Exhibit, Phoenix, AZ
1982 Galerie New Glass Exhibit, Sedona, AZ (Award)
Second Annual Glass Exhibit, Sedona, AZ (Award)
Profile 82, Arizona Glass Association Exhibit, United Bank, Phoenix, AZ
Three-Person Show, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, AZ
1981 Grand Opening Exhibit, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, AZ
Northern Arizona University Faculty Exhibit, Flagstaff, AZ
1980 Northern Arizona Invitational, Verde Valley Arts Association, Sedona, AZ
Flagstaff Festival of the Arts Invitational, Flagstaff, AZ

Awards
2002 Special Recognition Award, Spiritual III International Art Exhibition, Period Gallery, Omaha, NE
2001 Jurors' Award, National Christian Art Exhibition, Farmington, NM
Best of Show, Second International Christian Art Exhibition, Seaside Gallery, Nags Head, NC
2000 People's Choice, Special Group & Jurors' Awards, National Christian Art Exhibition, Farmington, NM
1999 Nomination, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award
1992 Jurors' Award of Merit, Westmoreland Art Nationals, Greensburg, PA
1991 First Place, Feet of Glass, National Competition, Baltimore, MD
1990 Nomination, Saxe Award, Pilchuck Glass School
1989 Jurors' Award, The Fine Art Of Craft, Tohono Chul Exhibition Hall, Tucson, AZ
1988 Jurors' Award, Humor in Art, Tempe Arts Center, Tempe, AZ
Jurors' Award, Fusion í88, National Competition
1987 Critics' Choice Award, Contemporary Glass Artists Southwestern, Galeria Mesa, Mesa, AZ
1986 Special Mention Awards, The Best Glass of 1986, National Competition
1982 Jurors' Award, Second Annual Glass Exhibit, Sedona, AZ

Illustration
Medical Illustrator to Dr. Daniel G. Nehls, Neurosurgeon, Walter Reed Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland
Exploring Oak Creek Canyon and the Sedona Area, by Stewart Aitchison, Utah Geographic Press (Publisher)

Permanent Collection
Sphere and Bead Museum, Tokyo, Japan