Project Ten Ten Ten History
To celebrate the October 2010 grand opening of the Mint Museum Uptown, the Mint Craft + Design launched Project Ten Ten Ten. The Museum has commissioned 10 of the world's most innovative craft and design artists to create works especially for the new facility. When the doors opened on 10-10-10, visitors saw spectacular examples of glass, jewelry, furniture, and fiber art installed in the Craft + Design galleries.
Danny Lane (b. 1955) has worked in London since 1975. Lane's work combines a monumental, and, at times, brutal physicality, stacked and fractured glass, twisted or rusted steel, with his strong belief in the metaphysical and transcendental qualities of art. He seeks not to represent the individual ego, but aims at a spiritual dimension through an immersion in the material (glass). The artist exploits the strength of glass under compression, and combines feats of engineering and design to create work that is breathtaking in its apparent simplicity. Producing some of the world's largest glass sculptures, the commission for Project Ten Ten Ten will be inspired by and redefine the gallery's architectural setting, enthralling the viewer through the manipulation of light and space.
Ted Noten (b. 1956), Dutch artist, is best known for his conceptual jewelry that reflects his humor, rebellious nature, and his interest in contemporary philosophical, social, and stylistic issues. Noten, who is constantly experimenting with a variety of materials and techniques, has helped broaden the parameters of studio jewelry today. In November 2008, he received the prestigious Francoise van den Bosch Award. This biannual award recognizes an international jeweler whose work embodies exceptional quality and innovation.
Joseph Walsh (b. 1980) was born in County Cork, Ireland, where he has maintained a studio since 1999. He is a self-taught designer-maker who specializes in studio furniture and art installations. Walsh sees his work as transcending design and art, guided only by the sensitive use of materials, excellence in making, and purity in structure and form. Taking care to use wood that has been responsibly harvested, often from local sources, he uses as much of the tree as possible, from bark to groin.
Hildur Bjarnadottir (b. 1969) learned crochet, knitting, and embroidery from her mother as a child, and came of age during the flowering of fiber art in Europe. In her native Iceland, she saw museum exhibitions of contemporary textiles, and assumed the medium was exalted in the art world. Learning that this was not the predominant view, her work has been a reaction to that commonplace negative comparison of textiles to "fine art." Affixed to a wall or on a pedestal, her needlework creations tell stories of women's work with a cutting edge, even macabre twist.
Kawana Tetsunori (b. 1945) is a Japanese ikebana master. He has taught ikebana at seminars, demonstrations, and major conventions throughout the world for thirty years. At the same time, he is celebrated for his bamboo art installations, having carried out site-specific commissions in Japan, Russia, and the United States, including the New York Botanical Garden. For Project Ten Ten Ten, Kawana worked with members of the Charlotte community to prepare bamboo grown in nearby Georgia, and constructed a large-scale woven sculpture.
Cristina Cordova (b. 1977), a Puerto Rico native, makes figurative ceramic sculptures of profound pathos. The intensity of the gaze of the predominantly female characters expresses a perplexed sense of being, like that of captured souls in fragmented bodies. Infused with a subtle pessimism and melancholic lyricism, her work incorporates multiple cultural references such as Hispanic religious imagery, ancient classical sculpture, the commedia dell'arte, and surrealism.
Kate Malone (b.1959), a Barcelona based artist, has been acclaimed as one of the most fearless innovators in the field of international studio ceramics. She brings to her work a maverick sensibility, outrageous sense of humor, formidable dexterity, and a penchant for exploring the boundaries between high and low culture. Drawing her inspiration from nature, she crafts functional and sculptural objects, with exuberant glazes. Her outdoor fountains and public art are crowd pleasers.
Tom Joyce (b. 1956), who lives in Sante Fe, New Mexico, has been a blacksmith for thirty-seven years. Defying stereotype, his forged sculpture, architectural ironwork and folded bowls, combines traditional blacksmithing with an innovative contemporary sensibility. His straightforward forms have a powerful presence and encourage contemplation. In 2003, Joyce was honored with the prestigious John D. and Catharine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Grant.
Susan Point (b. 1952) is a Coast Salish artist who lives on the Musqueam First Nation Reservation in Vancouver, British Columbia. She began her artistic journey making jewelry featuring engraved Coast Salish motifs. In the 1990's, Susan began creating three-dimensional work in materials such as bronze, concrete, polymer, glass and wood. Recognized for their bold and colorful power, her large wood sculptures feature animals from Salish cosmology yet tell universal parables.
Ayala Serfaty (b. 1962), an Israeli designer, has received international acclaim for her innovative lighting, furniture and interior design projects. The majority of her work is inspired by sea life. These organic forms, assembled with rich materials like silks and velvets, play with movement, light and color. In 1994, Ayala co-founded the design firm, Aqua Creations, with her husband Albi. Aqua Creations has offices in New York and Holland as well as a host of showrooms across the world.
