To celebrate its 50th anniversary and its glass collections, the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum is displaying “The Italian Influence in Glass” through Feb. 21.
“The museum’s had an association with glass since its beginning and now has four glass collections,” executive director Jan Smith said.
The museum’s new exhibit visually traces the evolution of glass art from its beginnings in the Roman Empire to the artistry of contemporary Venetian glass workers and work by Wisconsin artists.
In one display are fragments of floral-patterned Roman mosaic work from around the first and second centuries. Another display showcases a 15th-century glass medallion.
Mick Meilahn of Pickett, Wis., who used to travel with a portable furnace and conduct his own glass-blowing demonstrations, uses traditional techniques to create contemporary art.
His 29-inch-tall glass goblet exhibit piece, “Receiving Orange,” is a modern-day play on the glass vessel concept.
“It’s got a foot, a stem and a bowl,” Meilahn said. “The bowl looks very much like a satellite receiver. The bowl is tilted. It’s about our age, our time.”
The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum has a history of bringing in smaller-scale glass demonstrations, but glass making hasn’t been seen on site in more than a decade, Smith said.
“It provides us an opportunity to showcase what we do best as well as bringing people from the outside in,” she said.
