VERUSKA VAGEN
"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."
Originally trained as a painter, Veruska Vagen spent years living in the Southwest where she maintained a studio and became accomplished in oil, watercolor and mixed media. Her work with glass enameling brought Vagen to the renowned Pilchuck School in Stanwood, Washington, which changed the course of her life. 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 human countenance as offering a timeless form of communication and relationship.
Honoring the history and tradition of mosaic, the dot de verre technique offers a contemporary interpretation in a kiln-fired 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, fuse and fire polish without losing their inherent shape. The result is a gleaming, intricately composed image -an intimate complexity of cells- forming a completed visage. The kiln fired mosaic tile is then mounted on black glass and once framed becomes a 4-layered glass composition.
Vagen’s work is found in many notable private collections in the US and abroad. Public collections include the Sphere and Bead Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Museum of Northwest Art, LaConner, WA; and the Waldorf Astoria Hotels
EDUCATION
Pilchuck Glass School
Northern Arizona University, BFA
University of Colorado
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
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2008 Glorious Glass: Translucent and Opaque, The Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL
2007 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 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, Fallbrook, 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
National Christian Art Exhibition, San Juan College, Farmington, NM (Award)
Creativity & Collaboration Pilchuck Exhibition, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA
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
History of the World Gallery, Camano Island, WA
1998 Lost & Found, Port Angeles Museum of Art, Port Angeles, WA
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
Arts Council of Snohomish County, Everett, WA
1995 A Powerful Presence, Pilchuck Exhibition, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA
Sedona Art Center, Sedona, AZ
Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ
Pilchuck Exhibition, Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, WA
1994 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 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)