Looking at Art

If you grew up where there were dandelions, perhaps you remember sitting in the grass collecting the ones going to seed and blowing them apart. The installation of David Willis’ glass dandelions called Here Today should be such a celebrated treat. Willis’ 25 eight-inch flame-worked glass pieces hang from thin filaments and cast lyrical shadows on the wall. For Willis the shadows are as significant as the glass. It is the forms on the wall that are transitory and capture the essence of our experience with the fuzzy seeds. David Willis, who lives in Oregon, has spent his life studying glass and teaching about it at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash. His work is part of an exhibition called Weeds, Seeds and Buds … interpreting Eden that will celebrate Trudy Labell Fine Art gallery’s 30th anniversary. —Mark Ormond