Barbara Busche, “Park City Autumn #2″

Every year, the Glass Art Guild of Utah mounts a comprehensive exhibition of local glass arts at Red Butte Garden that is exhaustive in more than one sense of the word. All media, from the smallest ornaments and tiny, colorful objects to large functional and decorative creations, are included. Meanwhile, those who may yearn for a less overwhelming display of beautiful, enjoyable, and accessible works might like to visit the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, where a handful of works by each of 22 professional members of GAGU make up A Glass Menagerie, where objects on display are in a gallery setting that gives each room for individual contemplation.

A paradox emerges from a framed rectangle of simulated brick in Greg Schlesinger’s lamp-worked sculpture titled “One Drop.” The represented faucet, properly a “hose bib,” is made of glass as clear as the water one would expect from such a utility, while the titlular drop that hangs from it is solid black. Philosophical thoughts are par for the course when an artist deals with solid rock that is transparent, revealing a completely inaccessible but visibly present interior. In “Splash,” meanwhile, Schlesinger offers a provocative variation on a familiar carnival trick: another hose bib stands unattached to any pipe, yet the water flows freely from it and “seems” to support it.

Landscapes are the most popular subject in Utah, but they take on new dimensions in glass. Though it’s not easy to see in a photograph, the actual sculptural depth inside the glass brings Barbara Busche’s forest scene, “Park City Autumn #2,” irresistibly to life. Another visual illusion makes Laura Call’s “Salt Flats’ Floating Mountain” accessible anywhere and at any time.

Whether it’s Tara Foster’s close-up of Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” or Margy Campbell’s “Little Giant,” Utah’s artists are breaking new ground in the expressive power of glass. Abstraction in glass may convince the viewer that it’s something the material excels at. Dan Cummings’ “I’ll Never Forget the Sweet Taste of Your Kiss” and Lori Scharf’s essence of Southwestern design, “Introspective,” foreground the range from fluid action to complex geometry. And Sheena Wolfe’s “Dreamscape,” which could be a tile or a stand-alone work, seems to have some of the most inexhaustible tactile and visible qualities to be seen.

Of course this is but a small sample. Even with only a fraction of the Glass Art Guild’s possibilities present, it’s still a lot to take in. Enough that no one should have to leave the Pilar Pobil Gallery unsatisfied.

A Glass Menagerie, Utah Cultural Celebration Center, West Valley City, through Mar. 18

Geoff Wichert

Geoff Wichert objects to the term critic. He would rather be thought of as a advocate on behalf of those he writes about.