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Studio Newsletter
02/22/2013
02/22/2013
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Josh and his brother Kim are going to be in Baltimore, Maryland for the American Craft Council Show one last time. Josh is bringing a collection of glass he's made during the past year hoping that someone will want to buy and take them home. Please stop by to say hello, Exhibit Space #2600, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Friday, Feb. 22: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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12/12/2012
12/12/2012
 | | Photo: Pat Piasecki |
The world is going to end 9 days from now because as you have probably heard, the Mayan Calendar does not continue after December 21, 2012
Today, 12/12/12, is a day to do something constructive and good. Today is "ValleyGives" day when the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts awards prizes and incentives to various non-profits (like Snow Farm the New England Craft Program).
Josh has been involved with Snow Farm since the early 1980's when he donated the furnaces, tools and equipment to start a glass program. Since that time Snow Farm has offered a two or four week residential program exclusively for high school students - not just in glass but also in a variety of craft disciplines.
Would you be willing to chip in and make a small (even $10) contribution to Snow Farm right now? Valley Gives Snow Farm
Every single donation made today helps Snow Farm be eligible for an assortment of additional cash prizes that will be awarded by the Community Foundation. Money raised during Valley Gives will be split between Snow Farm's scholarship fund for high school students and studio or dorm improvements. It's a good cause and with the world ending, you may never have another chance! 
12/07/2012
12/07/2012
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| Holiday Greetings from Josh Simpson |
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Is it Science or is it Art?
Facts, Fair and Balanced, you decide...
Scientific American online featured Josh in an article last week: Artist Josh Simpson Makes Giant, Fiery Glass Planets, Coronas and Meteorites. Science and a furnace turn glass and metallic oxides into fantastic worlds. By Mark Fischetti
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A failed experiment in the past was successful this time! Josh has managed to make a few Red New Mexico Ornaments! He has also created another group of his Classic Blue New Mexico Ornaments.  | | Representative image |
The color for the red comes from melting metallic silver modified with copper into a sandwiched layer in the glass. The night sky blue color is made by melting silver into the glass at over 2000 degrees. Blue New Mexico Ornaments are $38 each, and the Red are $45. You can order online or by email.
 It is rare when being an utterly disorganized pack rat is advantageous... unless you're Josh. We just discovered a time warp back to the early 1980's in a box that Josh thought held his collection of coin sorting mechanisms from old cigarette vending machines. Instead we found an incredible group of Iridescent Threaded Paperweights that Josh made in 1985. How they got there is anyone's guess... and nobody here knows where the coin sorters have gone.
Under the spiral stairs that go to the office we found a box of machined brass Globe stands made for Josh's planets also in the 1980's. They are a perfect way to display either a Large Inhabited or Large Possibly Inhabited Planet. Planet and stand pair are $95.00. |
 | | "Josh and Carl Kasell" |
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Holiday Hours:
We will be closed From 4pm Friday December 21, 2012 to Wednesday January 2, 2013. We hope that you have a great holiday week with your family and friends! |
11/21/2012
11/21/2012
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| Thanksgiving from Josh Simpson |
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 | | Josh in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last week |
Josh and Cady were in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last week, guests of His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Josh's work has been part of the Arts in Embassy program of the US State Department for many years and has been on display at the residence of the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia since 2009. |
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 Josh read somewhere that that the day after Thanksgiving is a good day to sell stuff. With that thought in mind, Josh created another group of his Classic Blue New Mexico Ornaments for the holidays.
In spite of the fact that the blue color for these pieces comes from melting pure (and expensive) silver into his glass, Josh is offering this year's edition for $36 each. You can order on line or by email. We also have two special planetessimal collector's club selections...a perfect gift that arrives each month for that special person in your life who could never be satisfied being the master of just one world!
 The 4 month group includes a specially selected Otherworld Planet, Large Inhabited Planet, Small Inhabited Planet and a Small Possibly Inhabited Planet. The 6 month group comes with an additional Large Possibly Inhabited Planet and a 3" diameter Inhabited Paperweight. Your special collector will also receive a Planet Poster signed by Josh and a DVD of the PBS documentary "Defying Gravity" For more information on the Planetoid collections, please e-mail or call Myles Monday Through Friday 8am to 4pm at 413-625-6145. 
You will also receive free UPS or USPS ground shipping on all Internet orders and phone orders over $175 within the continental US from this moment through Sunday, December 2nd. |
 The Holiday Season also brings "Moonlight Magic" to Shelburne Falls this Friday, November 23. All of us light thousands of luminaire candles that line the sidewalks in town. Kids then meet Santa Claus who traditionally arrives in a firetruck. At Josh's Salmon Falls Gallery we're having hot cider, live music with Vi Walker and her singing musical saw, and from 5-10pm a special 15% percent discount on all art in the gallery (including carpets). There will be Trolley rides and unhealthy food well into the evening. |
Holiday Hours:
Josh has decreed that we will be closed Thanksgiving Day along with Friday, November 23th. We will re-open for creative play on Monday, November 26. We hope that you have a great weekend with your family and friends! |
11/07/2012
11/07/2012
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| November Greetings from Josh Simpson |
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| Sunday November 18th at 1pm Glass Artist Josh Simpson
Josh will take the audience on a journey from the beginning of the studio art glass movement to the present. He will also share details of his own work and artistic process. |
10/02/2012
10/02/2012
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| October Greetings from Josh Simpson |
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Paradise City Northampton October 6-8th
We will be exhibiting at Paradise City Northampton Arts Feastival at the 3 County Fair Grounds in Northampton, MA this weekend. You can find Josh, Anne and Jamey at Exhibit Space #805 in the main building. If you see Jamey, be sure to ask him to explain hecto- / deca- and deci in the metric system! |
Josh has been working with a group of Senior Art Majors to curate an exhibition of Simpson Glass at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Gallery 51. October 25 - November 25 Opening Reception: October 25, 6-9 p.m 
"Inspired by natural landscapes and the demanding traits of his medium, Simpson's work is complex and intricate. Utilizing balance and light, his work evokes feelings that are as evolving as the tides. Forty years into his relationship with glass, Simpson's work remains unique and respectful to this ancient material." - Gallery 51 |
For the last three weeks Josh has been melting  "Tektite" glass. It all started years ago, when Walter Houston, then editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine (and more importantly the founder of Simpson's favorite childhood magazine... "My Weekly Reader") gave Josh a small, dark, pitted meteorite composed of glass. The scientific name for a glass meteorite is "tektite". On a whim, by combining the right proportions of raw materials, Simpson began making synthetic Tektite glass in his furnace. "It's so profoundly different from the smooth, voluptuous crystal I usually work with. It's rough, dark, bubbly, and was never meant to be blown. Industrial glass factories talk about how they make "perfect crystal" - colorless glass without bubbles, striations or other technical flaws - beautiful, but sterile glass. For me, Tektites are nature's perfect crystal, they were made in heaven, eons before humans existed."  
Josh first used iridescent glass on the inside to contrast with the rough meteorite exterior. More recently he has used New Mexico or Corona interiors. He also has been making "Tektite Portals" that have a solid glass interior looking into another universe. Tektite Sculptures with Iridescent and New Mexico interiors as well as Tektite Portals are on "Josh's Pick" at Megaplanet.com. . |
08/10/2012
08/10/2012
Incredible news for Massachusetts residents A tax free Holiday weekend starts tomorrow! This means that all orders placed on August 11 & 12 (under $2,500) are utterly and entirely tax free. Now you can own Josh's glass...and for once, not have the usual angst that your sales tax money is being poorly managed by the Government! You might even manage to get all your holiday shopping done early and become one with the cosmos... and all by visiting www.megaplanet.com. Remember, the more you spend, the more you save!
Josh is going to Evanston, IIlinois for the American Craft Exposition. He is bringing a collection of special pieces made during the past year hoping that they will all go to good homes. Josh, along with his son Jamey and brother Kim will all be crowded into Exhibit Space #127 at Northwestern University August 24-26. And Please...when you see Jamey remember to ask him if he's finished his summer reading for sixth grade...
Spend the day blowing glass with Josh? There are just a couple of spaces remaining for the September 15th Snow Farm benefit. Please contact Karen at Snow Farm.
07/24/2012
07/24/2012
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| Josh Simpson began to experiment melting silver in his glass in the early 1970's. Understanding nothing about high temperature chemistry turned out to be good because he tried to do things that most anyone who knew better would have thought stupid, or impossible. Some results were ugly... but after countless trials, Josh's signature "New Mexico" glass was born... swirling blues, yellows, greens & grays that mimicked (at least to Josh) the spectacular night sky in the desert. In 1982 The Massachusetts Cultural Council awarded Simpson a grant which allowed him to melt a new silver glass nearly every week for a year until the money ran out. In that year just one glass formula was successful--it had streaks of vibrant red, magenta, purples & yellows. Three platters were made--one purchased by the Fuller Museum, the second was sold to a collector. Josh kept the third. |
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|  | | Josh's first successful Corona Platter, 1982, 8.5" |
For the next 20 years, Josh continued experimenting, trying to recreate the glass from 1982. This spring, Josh realized the formula was more than just the simple chemistry of the glass. Perfecting Corona involved the temperature and atmosphere inside the furnace, the purity of the silver and other minerals in the glass, the amount and duration of time the molten glass was exposed to ultra violet light while cooling, and even the humidity in the atmosphere. Simpson learned to leave store bought rotisserie chicken and aromatic incense in front of the furnace at night to appease the malevolent glass gods.
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 | Shattered Corona Platter Signed Josiah Simpson 2012 |
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We have a selection of Josh's most recent Corona Platters available on our website under Corona Glass. An additional selection of work has been hand selected by Josh to be showcased at the ACE Chicago Show in Evanston, IL. We would be pleased to have you stop by Exhibit Space #127 the weekend of August 24th. |
Click on your favorite Corona Platter & be directed right to our Shopping Cart!
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If you're brought to an Access Denied page reading "error" You've MISSED your chance & the Platter has already been purchased!! |
12/06/2010
12/06/2010
November is here and we will all be trying to figure out what to do with...turkey leftovers and mounds of mashed vegetables. While we are thinking of Thanksgiving, Josh, the alchemist, has been busy saying incantations and leaving burnt offerings before the Corona glass furnace. We've all noticed how the new colors are richer, brighter and more intense than the colors he was getting when he was just burning incense and flailing himself. Josh's wife, Cady, is scheduled to be launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket at noon Eastern time on December 15. Her rocket takes about 8 minutes to reach the orbital velocity of 5 miles per second (18,500 mph). She will dock with the International Space Station and spend about six months doing scientific and medical research. You can see several CNN segments about Cady as well as the most recent CNN piece that was aired a week or so ago. CERF+ Celebrates 25 Years! Over 60 CERF+ friends gathered at Snow Farm on September 25 & 26 in Williamsburg, MA for a two-day, "serious fun" event. Participants were treated to peak New England fall conditions, opportunities to gather with old friends and make new connections, participate in two auctions and dance up a storm. The gathering was also an opportunity for guests to honor the vision of founders Carol Ross and Josh Simpson, review organizational growth and development, and help CERF+ prepare for the next 25 years. If you are fortunate to live in New England, this month's Coming Events are more Massachusetts localized! We promise you we will get Josh out west very soon! Until then...come check out the following venues: The Joy of Bowls: Soup, Serving and Salad - ends Nov.15th. Group exhibit of bowls created by Josh Simpson & bowls from 25 additional National Artists Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA The Worlds of Josh Simpson & Sally Curcio - ends Nov.18th. Dual Exhibit of Josh Simpson and Sally Curcio Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom, Shelburne Falls, MA Snow Farm (The New England Craft Program) in Williamsburg, MA, annual Artist Seconds Sale - Josh's "almost perfect" glass (along with the work of about 100 craft artists associated with Snow Farm) will be available at this incredible event. Nov. 12th - 14th Nov. 19th - 21st Nov. 26th - 28th 10:00 to 4:00pm each day And plan to visit Shelburne Falls on Friday, November 26, from 4:30-10pm as the village celebrates "Moonlight Magic" to welcome in the holiday spirit. Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom is offering a gallery-wide 15% discount that evening. No worries, there will be hot cider to help keep up your energy for this shopping marathon! As you know...November is the start of holiday shopping...You can now give the one you love the whole world...We have imaginary worlds in a galaxy of sizes! For those of you who missed out last year, Ornaments are available, but only until we run out. Remove Me! If you think these messages from Josh are stupid, just write to tell Josh that you've been burning incense and prayng he'll take you off the list. We think your prayers, for once, will be answered!
10/11/2010
10/11/2010
October... and we look for the daily foliage transformations from rich dark green to bursts of orange, gold, red and scarlet. And all of this from the back door of the glass studio!
Josh was given the lifetime honor... of being one of the apple pie judges at this year's Shelburne Center Fall Festival. He's only lived here in town for 34 years and the locals here are beginning to consider him one of their own! Josh has also hosted several non-profit events at his home studio. (Josh actually says that everything he does these days is non-profit.) Profit or not, the Pie Judge will be traveling this month and we hope you will join him!
Columbus Day Weekend, October 9 - 11, Josh will be exhibiting and have his work for sale at the Paradise City Arts Festival, exhibit space #813 in Northampton, MA!
If you just want to see the art and not the Glassmaker...
Josh Simpson: A Visionary Journey in Glass (35 year retrospective) - Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA through Jan. 2, 2011.
From 60,000 Miles Away: The Glass Galaxies of Josh Simpson, Sandwich Glass Museum, Sandwich, MA through Oct. 31.
The Joy of Bowls: Soup, Serving and Salad, Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA through Nov. 15.
The Worlds of Josh Simpson & Sally Curcio, Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom, Shelburne Falls, MA through Nov. 18. The Art of Dining, Krikorian Gallery, Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA through Oct. 23.
Planetoid Collectors we are excited to offer gift enrollment for another year - for those few people that need more than an IPad! Joining the Planetoid Collectors is a fantastic way to acquire or give highly unusual planets and uncommon sizes (1 1/2" through 2 1/4" diameter) that Josh makes from time to time when he is distracted or experiencing some sort of out of body hallucination. By joining, you or someone you love will receive a new planet each month for a year!
Remove Me - just write and tell Josh that in New England being a Pie Judge does not (and never has) meant being considered a native.
09/03/2010
09/03/2010
Autumn is not here but we are beginning to see the change in the foliage. It's still just as hot and miserable as any summer we can remember! If you could see Josh and his little group in the studio today you might wonder what horrible things they had done in this or a previous life to be relegated to this special place in Dante's Inferno!
CNN's John Zarella aired a segment mostly about Josh on Monday morning...check it out!
The last few weeks of August, Josh experimented with new Corona glass formulae and Planets. See Josh's Pick for a few of the fun pieces that were created!
Too bad 4 U if you missed the free wine in cheap plastic cups during the August event at Josh's Salmon Falls Gallery. You're about to have another chance...Salmon Falls will be hosting a dual exhibit of Josh Simpson and Sally Curcio on September 18th! You're invited to attend and have some face time with both artists and their quite amazing work. Of course there will be more wine and cheese!
Remove Me - Junk mail like this makes me feel like I've been relegated to a special place in Dante's Inferno!
08/09/2010
08/09/2010
We are so pleased to announce that Josh is insisting that we be on vacation starting next week, the first week of August. Just one week. We will return Monday, August 9th, to all emails, inquiries and other disasters.
Josh will be exhibiting at several events this month. We hope you will stop by and say hi!
2010 Berkshire Crafts Fair
Aug. 13 to Aug. 15, 2010
Monument Mountain Regional High School
600 Stockbridge Road
Great Barrington, MA (food and drink available for purchase) American Craft Exposition
Aug. 27 to Aug. 29, 2010
The Henry Crown Sports Pavilion Northwestern University
Exhibit Space # 21
2311 N. Campus Drive
Evanston, IL (free hors d'oeuvres on opening night with purchase of $100 ticket) Meet the Artists of Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom!
Saturday evening, Aug. 21, 6PM - 8PM Meet the artists (including Josh!). Over 75 local artists are showcased in the gallery. You will have the opportunity to talk with the artists, view their work and perhaps get an autograph. And we almost forgot... There will be free food and cheap wine in plastic cups!
Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom
1 Ashfield St.
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
413.625.9833
Remove me please! I'm not coming to any of your stupid events until you improve the food situation.
06/01/2010
06/01/2010
A wild weather week in Western Massachusetts! If you've tried to be in touch with us you probably know by now that last Wednesday's storm with 70 mph micro-burst winds knocked down trees and wires. We lost all power and phones for 5 days! Our town - Shelburne Falls was under a State of Emergency - school and businesses closed. Even main access roads were blocked by trees and downed wires. At one point all traffic on Route 2 was diverted up and over our little Frank Williams Road. If you need to reach us we now just this morning have internet and our main phone lines (413-625-6145 and 625-2662)! We aren't used to this kind of weather here in the gentle hills of MA... we will be cutting up the downed maples here at the studio for weeks... and we now sympathize a little more with you folks in tornado land!
Josh and crew managed to get a little work done...They have been creating cane in bright beautiful colors for the past few weeks and hope to have all the cane bundled, fused, stretched and sorted by the end of this week. In spite of it all... Josh has been grilling hamburgs and hot dogs at Jamey's little league baseball games! (Vet's field in Shelburne most Wednesday and Friday evenings starting at 5:30) Josh raves about his burgers... "where else can you find a hamburger that is not just flavorful, but is also guaranteed 62.5% fat?" He has told a number of people that the gripping pain in their chest and down their left arm is "nothing to worry about - just a little indigestion" CNN has been following Cady, Josh and Jamey to various events including the recent opening of Josh's 35 year retrospective exhibit "Josh Simpson: A Visionary Journey in Glass" at the Fuller Museum. Check out CNN's "Counting down Cady" for daily blogs and updates on the upcoming launch and Cady's residency on the International Space Station.
Are you thinking of summer vacation travel? We have some destinations for you... Please join Josh at the GALA Opening Reception of "From 60,000 Miles Away- The Glass Galaxies of Josh Simpson" at Sandwich Glass Museum, Sandwich, MA, Friday, June 18th 5:30pm to 7:30pm. This important exhibit includes new Corona work and will continue through October 31st. "Vessels" - Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville, NJ. Josh's Tektites are included in this invitational group exhibit, May 29th through July 25th. "Josh Simpson - Solo Exhibit" at Neiman Marcus Gallerias in Houston TX and Atlanta, Georgia. April through June 30th.
"Josh Simpson: A Visionary Journey in Glass", the 35 year retrospective exhibit at the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA continues now through December 31st. 2010.
Looking for a great dining experience? Try Vet's Field in downtown Shelburne Falls most Wednesday and Friday evenings!
Wish to be removed? Tell Josh his burgers look and taste like hockey pucks - we are certain you'll be greased right off our list!
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