David Goldhagen’s sculptural forms and massive handblown glass platters are distinguished by his unique style. His painterly approach to art glass marries bold colors to brilliant, clear crystal in a clean, modern style.
Using traditional glassblowing methods thousands of years old, David Goldhagen creates each piece individually, working with molten glass at temperatures in excess of 2000°F. His pieces capture a palette that moves from subtle to bold by the incorporation of bits of colored glass made from various...
David Goldhagen’s sculptural forms and massive handblown glass platters are distinguished by his unique style. His painterly approach to art glass marries bold colors to brilliant, clear crystal in a clean, modern style.
Using traditional glassblowing methods thousands of years old, David Goldhagen creates each piece individually, working with molten glass at temperatures in excess of 2000°F. His pieces capture a palette that moves from subtle to bold by the incorporation of bits of colored glass made from various mixtures of metallic oxides and rare earth elements, such as silver, cobalt, gold, copper, dichroics and others.
Each piece begins as a gathering of molten clear glass on the end of a five foot blowpipe. Colors are then meticulously layered and manipulated on the surface, creating intricate patterns and movement within the sculpture. The design is then encased in another layers of crystal. Each piece is then either mouth blown or hand sculpted.
His asymmetrical pods require unusual strength and mastery of technique, harnessing the fiery momentum, climaxing as the piece opens and spins out in one continuous movement. Some of these extraordinary pieces are in excess of 40” in diameter. Each sculpture up on completion is then annealed (a gradual cooling process), and hand polished. After a careful final inspection, the artist signs and dates his work.
His images are viewed as being organic, sensual, fluid and energetic. He draws his inspiration from his surroundings, and captures, on a platter, the glory of a sunrise over the placid lake, or the blooming of an iris, deep within a sculpture; the movement in each piece mirroring the graceful turn of a dancer...the luminous curves of a seashell...the exaltation of the human spirit.
David Goldhagen earned a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and enrolled in advanced glass studies at Penland School, and the Pilchuck School. He is a member of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, the Carolina Designer Craftsmen, and the Glass Art Society.
His work may be found in the permanent collections of numerous corporations, museums and foundations, including the following: Coca-Cola, Merrill Lynch, The Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Walt Disney, The North Carolina Museum of History, NC State University, City of Winter Park Public Library, Asheville Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Albany Museum of Art, Philips Arena, Atlanta.
His works have been included in exhibitions at: The American Craft Museum, NY, The Jewish Museum of Philadelphia, Ft Lauderdale Museum of Art, FL and the Fayetteville Museum of Art, NC, as well as numerous group and one man shows at galleries throughout the country.
David Goldhagen creates from large to small scale sculptural art glass as well as other functional pieces, including tables, candlesticks, perfume bottles, menorahs, and ornaments.
Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated. Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience. By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.
Artist Leo Rijn, the inaugural sculptor for the Dr. Seuss Tribute Collection I, was selected to launch this project due to his prized work with some of today’s top talent in the world of film, entertainment and the visual arts (including Tim Burton, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg). Rijn has been identified as one of today’s brightest sculpting talents because of his ability to breathe life into the written word and successfully transform two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional works of art. Universal Studios commissioned Leo to develop and oversee the creation of numerous maquette scale models for the Monumental Dr. Seuss Sculptures at Seuss Landing in Orlando, Florida. Leo was instrumental in the art direction for many of the sculpted characters and buildings now on display at this permanent Seuss attraction. His strikingly accurate Seuss works embody a masterful and intuitive Seussian sensibility, establishing him as a leading talent in interpretive sculpting.
Seuss embarked on an ingenious project in the early 1930s as he evolved from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional sculptures. What was most unusual for these mixed-media sculptures was the use of real animal parts including beaks, antlers and horns from deceased Forest Park Zoo animals where Seuss’s father was superintendent. Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy was born in a cramped New York apartment and included a menagerie of inventive creatures with names like the “Two Horned Drouberhannis,” “Andulovian Grackler,” and “Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn.” Shortly after Seuss created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Seuss’s Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multi-dimensional creativity.
Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Seuss created a body of irrepressible work that redefines this American icon as an iconographic American artist. Yet, the Secret Art often shows a side of the artist that most readers, familiar with him through his classic children’s books, have never seen. This collection, created over a period of more than 60 years, encompasses the entirety of Seuss’s multi-dimensional talent. The artistic golden thread highlighted throughout this collection is apparent in each wildly imaginative and surreal Secret Art image. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss is an inimitable collection of artworks created at night for his own personal enjoyment. These works were rarely, if ever, exhibited during his lifetime and provide a deeper glimpse into the art and life of this celebrated American Icon.
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