Sutton artist is a unique glass sculptor
David James is not a typical glass artist. The Sutton resident prefers to work with cast glass rather than blown glass.
The Musée des beaux-arts in Sherbrooke has opened an exhibition by James in celebration of its 35th anniversary. The exhibit is called, Luminosité et opacité.
“It is wonderful that the exhibition gives people the chance to see art glass created by casting glass,” James said in an email. “It is gratifying to receive local recognition while my works have found themselves into collections in the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and United States and Canada.”
This is the first time the museum has devoted an exhibition to a sculptor who works in glass, according to Director Cécile Gélinas. It opened on June 3 and will continue until October 9. The museum is also undertaking a fundraising campaign to finance an expansion.
Most people think of glass art as blown glass, and cast glass sculptors are rare. Fewer than 10 per cent of glass artists worldwide are cast glass sculptors, James says.
“Assuredly, James’ work comprises a duality — between transparency and opacity, between strength and fragility, between density and lightness,” Gélinas wrote for the catalogue of James’ work published by the museum.
He was interested in sculpture early in life. At age 8 he carved a squirrel out of a piece of pine that was destined for the wood stove, he wrote for the catalogue. He still has it today.
But growing up in Cumberland, Ontario James wanted to be a broadcast journalist. He took history and politics at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. From there he entered journalism at the University of Western Ontario, following which he became a researcher for CBC Radio in Ottawa.
Love took him to Montreal, where he transferred, and he married his wife Lili in 1974.
James moved to Paris in 1980 as a CBC Radio correspondent for a year. Amid impending CBC cutbacks he decided to make a change, and went back to school for an MBA and began a second career as a management consultant. He also became interested in glass art.
While working in London, England James attended an arts camp where he was introduced to the basics of stained glass engraving, lost wax casting, and glass blowing. In 1995 he went to a national glass school in Sweden where, at