Laura Donefer’s fiery-red, wildly curly head of hair is symbolic of her personality and her artwork. The Canadian-American glass and mixed media artist is the fourth artist invited to participate in the Toledo Museum of Art’s Guest Artist Pavilion Project (GAPP).

She will be in residence at the Glass Pavilion May 14-22 and will return later this fall to complete her work.

Born in America but raised in Quebec by a professor father and an artist mother, the self-proclaimed “North American” now resides in Harrowsmith, Ontario.

“Being brought up by an artist helps you see the world in an artistic way from a very young age,” Donefer said.

Despite her craftiness, Donefer didn’t know glass was her calling until her late 20s.

“It wasn’t till I was 27 years old that I saw glass in a furnace for the first time,” Donefer said. “And I said, ‘That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ I knew it instantly.”

Twenty-nine years later, Donefer is an accomplished artist who has instructed more than 1,000 individuals to blow glass. She is featured in public collections, including the Tacoma Museum of Glass, the Corning Museum of Glass and the Museum of Art and Design in Manhattan. She also has a sizable following of private glass collectors.

Donefer’s most recent work has been creating baskets, which she’s titled, “Bonnechance.” Commonly two words, “bonne chance” is a French phrase meaning “good luck.” Donefer said the labor-intensive process of creating a basket, which can take upwards of two months, is well worth it because the finished product is “absolutely gorgeous.” Each basket includes handles commonly adorned with flame-worked beads, fibers and shells.

The GAPP program invites one glass or contemporary artist per year to spend time at the museum and create new work inspired by the museum collection. Donefer said being invited to participate is “mind-blowing.”

“Like how lucky was I when they asked me to be their next visiting artist,” Donefer said. “I flipped out. I do not have a glass blowing shop so just to be in the shop for a week is incredible.”

Without a shop of her own, Donefer primarily works out of her home studio torching pieces to pair with her blown work.

“I don’t have a lot of opportunities to blow glass, not like this,” Donefer said. “This will be the first opportunity I’ve had to blow glass for this amount of time.”

Donefer primarily uses glass in her work but said she loves to include bizarre materials. A self-described hoarder, Donefer is unusually fascinated with odd materials. Take her collection of bones, for example, which she estimates contains approximately 4,000 pieces from animals, such as deer, coyotes, cows and buffalo.

Though Donefer’s daughter, Ana, is usually her assistant, she’s hired some local talent for this visit. Hired to be her primary assistant is Adam Goldberg, a student she met while instructing a workshop at BGSU, whom she describes as a “talented, emerging artist.”

Because a large team is necessary to create larger pieces, two to three additional BGSU students and Jeff Mack, the museum’s Hot Shop manager, will complete Donefer’s team. Donefer said she is looking forward to working with and learning new techniques from Mack.

In exchange for being a GAPP artist, Donefer will give a lecture at the Glass Pavilion on glass blowing, titled “Hot Flash: Glass after 50,” at 6 p.m. May 21. Following the presentation, Donefer will interact with the public and work live from 7-10 p.m. in the Hot Shop.

To learn more about Donefer and her work, visit www.LauraDonefer.com.

Tags: Toledo Museum of Art

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 11:05 am and is filed under Exhibits, Star.
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