The Avelino
Bernard Katz

A guest post from Artful Home glass merchant Kathi Collins

It’s not so easy for an artist to get recognition for his or her work. Selling is one way. Exhibiting is another way. Being recognized through a prestigious award is yet another. We are atwitter at Artful Home as 30 of our artists, including glass artist Bernard Katz, have been nominated for a 2009 NICHE Award! This is a really big deal, as only 151 entrants out of 1,000 have been tapped as finalists! Katz’s nominated work, “The Avelino“, is characteristic of his sculptural glass forms. At 27″ long and 13″ high, this piece uses positive and negative space to create a sense of graceful movement. The sandblasted surface diffuses light and creates a soft glow about the sculpture, while revealing a contrasting layer of color at the base. Some compare his forms to Arp and Brancusi, but I find his approach to be, in fact, his own – organic, graceful and dynamic. And so, obviously, did the NICHE judges. You can see his exploration of glass art forms on the Bernard Katz artist page on the Artful Home website.

The NICHE Awards originated in 1990 as a means of recognizing the achievements of North American artists. The criteria for selection are: technical excellence, market viability and exceptional creativity. Awards will be presented in a ceremony on February 15, 2009, at the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market of American Craft. In the meantime, I will continue to post about many more of these exceptional artists who are among the 2009 finalists.