foundational shifts…
April 4, 2020
The foundational shift is felt in everyone’s daily lives. We have been shaken up, and now take stock and feel great gratitude for the connections we have and value. Concerns, worries and grief have deepened the need to work in our gardens and studios to turn this omnipresent anxiety into a creative source. Garden beds, studio improvements, drawings, videos, exploring materials and culinary adventures have new life and have added much meaning to our time as we navigate through these unexplored regions and our habitation bubble. We are grateful for the connection of Schantz Galleries and grateful to have you visit us here. We will stay afloat. You are all with us in thoughts and in our hearts.
Wishing you all a very special, very safe Spring and to our paths crossing again.
Best of health,
Rik and Shelley
SHELLY MUZYLOWSKI ALLEN
Shelley Muzylowski Allen in a film produced by Schantz Galleries during June Collectors weekend 2015.
Shelley Muzylowski Allen was born in Manitoba, Canada, and has a B.F.A. in Painting and Intaglio from the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design (Vancouver, B.C.). In 1998, Shelley worked with the William Morris sculpture team in Washington State as a glass-sculpting assistant through 2004.
In 2005, Shelley established a glass and sculpture studio with her husband, artist Rik Allen at their property in Skagit County, Washington. In addition to being an artists, Shelley and Rik and have taught internationally at the Toyama Institute of Glass in Japan, Nuutajarvii Lasikyla, Finland and the International Glass Festival in Stourbridge, England. They have also taught nationally, including the Penland School of Craft, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and at Pilchuck.
Shelley has been awarded Provincial and Canada Council grants, and her work is held nationally and internationally in public institutions and private collections. In 2008, Shelley had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington, titled Modern Menagerie. Other selected shows include The San Juan Museum of Art, Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe and Scottsdale; Habatat Galleries, Michigan; Traver Gallery, Seattle; and Schantz Galleries, Massachusetts. In 2012, Shelley was a guest artist at Studio Salvadore in Murano, Italy, where she collaborated with Davide Salvadore on a series of large-scale sculptures.
RIK ALLEN
Meet Rik Allen in this video made during his Museum of Glass Visiting Artist Residency from June 17-21, 2009
Rik Allen was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and has a B.A. in Anthropology from Franklin Pierce University (NH). In 1995, Rik came to the Northwest to work at Pilchuck Glass School, and also become a member of the William Morris sculpture team, specializing in engraving, cutting, and finishing glass sculpture for 12 years.
In 2005, Rik established a glass and sculpture studio with his wife, artist Shelley Muzylowski Allen at their property in Skagit County, Washington. In addition to being an artists, Rik and Shelley have taught internationally at the Toyama Institute of Glass in Toyama, Japan, and the International Glass Festival in Stourbridge, England. They have also taught nationally, including the Penland School of Craft, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and at Pilchuck.
Rik has had solo exhibitions of his sculptural work and installations throughout the country, including Seeker at the Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, Washington, Innersphere at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, and at Blue Rain Gallery, Traver Gallery, and Thomas Riley Galleries. His current series of work has been in the form of spacecraft, rockets, and scientific apparatus. While many of Rik’s pieces have a reference to his curiosity for science, they also convey humor, simple narratives, and a lightheartedness that is embodied in much of science fiction’s antiquated vision of the future.
His work has been featured and reviewed in American Craft Magazine, American Art Collector, Glass Art Magazine, and Launch Magazine, and is held in national and international private collections.