Howard Ben Tré
Encyclopedia
Howard Ben Tré is an American
glass artist. He works with poured glass, creating small sculptures and large scale public artworks
. Glass magazine has called Ben Tré a pioneer in the technique of using hot glass casting in fine art.
for two years and was a political activist . In the 1970s he left New York with his wife, Gay, for Oregon
. At Portland State University
he learned about the university's well-known glass-blowing shop and began studying the creation process, finding influence in religious objects. He would obtain his bachelor's degree
at Portland and move back to the East coast where he would graduate from Rhode Island School of Design
with a Masters of Fine Arts in 1980. He lives and works in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
.
and Japanese
religious icons and figures, he uses his artwork to explore connections between the two.
Ben Tré utilizes his training as an industrial manufacturing master technician to create glass artworks based on traditional methods. His studio space, located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is a former glass product manufacturing plant. He creates fine art castings by pouring molten
glass into sand molds
, applying heat and then cooling them for months. The form is then dug out from the sand mold, sand blasted, cut, ground, and polished. Many of Ben Tré's works involve the use of gold leaf
; by way of wrapping portions of works or installing lead bars within the pieces covered with gold leaf. The glass sculptures are often symmetrical. His wife, Gay, assists in the designing and planning of his large scale works, including the installation of his public art
.
, critic Roberta Carasso described his work as being "part of the glass revolution". The Christian Science Monitor described his poured glass works as timeless, monumental and "hulking, architectural forms he creates...existed before the dawn of recorded history." Arthur Danto
stated in 2000 that Ben Tré's glass works were redefining and powerful, and that he creates "a kind of pleasure that we don't usually associate with art."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
glass artist. He works with poured glass, creating small sculptures and large scale public artworks
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
. Glass magazine has called Ben Tré a pioneer in the technique of using hot glass casting in fine art.
Personal life and education
Howard Ben Tré was born May 13, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1960s he attended Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
for two years and was a political activist . In the 1970s he left New York with his wife, Gay, for Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. At Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
he learned about the university's well-known glass-blowing shop and began studying the creation process, finding influence in religious objects. He would obtain his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
at Portland and move back to the East coast where he would graduate from Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
with a Masters of Fine Arts in 1980. He lives and works in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 71,148 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth largest city in the state.-History:...
.
Artistic career
He started by blowing glass, struggling to succeed at the skill. Through his education at Portland State University, he would discover the process of pouring glass. Pulling inspiration from AfricanReligion in Africa
Religion in Africa is multifaceted. Most Africans adhere to either Christianity or Islam. Many adherents of either religion also practice African traditional religions, with traditions of folk religion or syncretism practised alongside an adherent's Christianity or Islam.Judaism also has roots in...
and Japanese
Religion in Japan
Most Japanese people do not exclusively identify themselves as adherents of a single religion; rather, they incorporate elements of various religions in a syncretic fashion known as . Shinbutsu Shūgō officially ended with the Shinto and Buddhism Separation Order of 1886, but continues in practice...
religious icons and figures, he uses his artwork to explore connections between the two.
Ben Tré utilizes his training as an industrial manufacturing master technician to create glass artworks based on traditional methods. His studio space, located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is a former glass product manufacturing plant. He creates fine art castings by pouring molten
Mölten
Mölten is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 60 km north of Trento and about 12 km northwest of Bolzano .-Geography:...
glass into sand molds
Sand casting
Sand casting, also known as sand molded casting, is a metal casting process characterized by using sand as the mold material.It is relatively cheap and sufficiently refractory even for steel foundry use. A suitable bonding agent is mixed or occurs with the sand...
, applying heat and then cooling them for months. The form is then dug out from the sand mold, sand blasted, cut, ground, and polished. Many of Ben Tré's works involve the use of gold leaf
Gold leaf
right|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...
; by way of wrapping portions of works or installing lead bars within the pieces covered with gold leaf. The glass sculptures are often symmetrical. His wife, Gay, assists in the designing and planning of his large scale works, including the installation of his public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
.
Reception
In lieu of Ben Tré's 2001 exhibition at the Orange County Museum of ArtOrange County Museum of Art
The Orange County Museum of Art is a museum located in Newport Beach, California.The museum's collection comprises more than 3,000 objects, with a concentration on the art of California from the early 20th century to present...
, critic Roberta Carasso described his work as being "part of the glass revolution". The Christian Science Monitor described his poured glass works as timeless, monumental and "hulking, architectural forms he creates...existed before the dawn of recorded history." Arthur Danto
Arthur Danto
Arthur Coleman Danto Arthur Coleman Danto Arthur Coleman Danto (born January 1, 1924 is an American art critic, and professor of philosophy. He is best known as the influential, long-time art critic for The Nation and for his work in philosophical aesthetics and philosophy of history, though he...
stated in 2000 that Ben Tré's glass works were redefining and powerful, and that he creates "a kind of pleasure that we don't usually associate with art."
Notable collections & installations
- Caryatids, 1998, Hunter Museum of American ArtHunter Museum of American ArtThe Hunter Museum of American Art is an art museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The museum's collections include works representing the Hudson River School, 19th century genre painting, American Impressionism, the Ashcan School, early modernism, regionalism, and post World War II modern and...
, Chattanooga, Tennessee - Immanent Circumstance, 1991, Norman Leventhal Park, Boston, Massachusetts
- Kira's Benches, 2007, Hood Museum of ArtHood Museum of ArtThe Hood Museum of Art is a museum in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Dating back to 1772, the museum is owned and operated by Dartmouth College and is connected to the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The current building, designed by Charles Willard Moore and Chad Flloyd, opened in the fall of 1985. It...
, Hanover, New Hampshire - Mantled Figure, 1993, Rhode Island School of Design MuseumRhode Island School of Design MuseumRhode Island School of Design Museum is a prominent art museum in Providence, Rhode Island affiliated with the well-known Rhode Island School of Design...
, Providence, Rhode Island - Siphon, 1989, Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, New York, New York - Untitled, Artery Plaza, Bethesda, MarylandBethesda, MarylandBethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
- Various works; Corning Museum of GlassCorning Museum of GlassThe Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, New York, explores every facet of glass, including art, history, culture, science and technology, craft, and design....
, Corning, New York - Water Forest, Museum of GlassMuseum of GlassThe Museum of Glass is a museum dedicated to the medium of glass art located in Tacoma, Washington. It is not to be confused with the various other Museums of Glass, such as the one in Corning, New York, as the museum focuses on Contemporary and Pacific Northwest glass-art.The museum, the...
, Tacoma, Washington
Notable exhibitions
- Design Visions, 1992, Art Gallery of Western AustraliaArt Gallery of Western AustraliaThe Art Gallery of Western Australia is a public gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth, Western Australia. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia...
, Perth, Australia - Masters of Contemporary Glass, 1997, Indianapolis Museum of ArtIndianapolis Museum of ArtThe Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...
, Indianapolis, Indiana - Interior/Exterior, 2000, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California
- Howard Ben Tré: Sculpting Space in the Public Realm, 2001, Minneapolis Institute of ArtsMinneapolis Institute of ArtsThe Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Solo exhibition; 2002, Charles Cowles GalleryCharles Cowles GalleryCharles Cowles is an American art dealer and a collector of contemporary art. Cowles was also a curator of Fine Art at the Seattle Art Museum from 1975 until 1979....
, New York, New York - Private Visions, Utopian Ideals: The Art of Howard Ben Tré, 2005, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
Further reading
- Calo, Carole Gold. "Public Art / Private Art: Dichotomy or Intersection?." Public Art Review 15.1 (2003): 4-10.
- D.K. "Howard Ben Tre." Artforum International 35.7 (1997): 91.
- Danto, Arthur C., Mary Jane Jacob and Patterson Sims. Howard Ben Tré. Manchester: Hudson Hills Press (1999). ISBN 1555951872
- French, Meghann & Eleanor Heartney. Private Visions, Utopian Ideals: The Art of Howard Ben Tre. Buffalo: University of Buffalo (2005). ISBN 0974893242
- Jepson, Barbara. "The Gallery: Community Through Glass." Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition 18 Oct. 2001: A24.
- Johnson, Linda L. Howard Ben Tre: Contemporary Sculpture. Washington: Phillips Collection (1989). ISBN 0943044146
- Ben Tré, Howard, Diana L. Johnson and Donald B. Kusbit. Howard Ben Tré: New Work. Providence: Brown University (1993). ISBN 0933519265
- Streitfeld, L. P. (Lisa P.), 1958-. "Interior Exterior Vision: A Conversation with Howard Ben Tre." Sculpture (Washington, D.C.) 21.9 (2002): 44-49.
- "Vis Alchemical." Neues Glas 1 (1998): 54.
External links
- Public Art at Wheeler - Howard Ben Tré an interview with Ben Tré from the Wheeler SchoolWheeler SchoolThe Wheeler School is a coeducational independent day school located on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The school serves students from the nursery level through twelfth-grade.- Mary C. Wheeler :...