The Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, Ltd.

Daily fine art blog www.artdaily.org ran a large article on the Toledo Workshop Revisited artist residency co-sponsored by the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation and the Toledo Museum of Art. The project concluded on the evening of Friday, March 30, 2012 with artist demos and slide-show presentations, drawing an audience of 150. The furnace had melted most of the 750 pounds of Johns Manville #475 marbles donated to the residency, and the three artists had each made several works: Matthew Szosz had successfully realized several tube draws (short lived tall cylinders of glass that once were how windows were made), Amber Cowan had two dozen vessels incorporating the marbles, and Kim Harty had created a delicate lattice of stringers as well as a serene video projection installation that used shards of broken glass to bounce a moving beam of light that echoed a pipe's trajectory on the bench.

Three artists (pictured L to R: Kim Harty, Matthew Szosz, and Amber Cowan) have been chosen to participate in the Toledo Workshop Revisited artist residency that will take place at the Toledo Museum of Art from March 22nd through March 31st. The project is being co-sponsored by the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation and the Toledo Museum of Art. A jurying panel made up of Jutta-Annette Page, curator of glass and decorative arts at the Toledo Museum of Art; Jeff Mack, director of the glass studio at the museum's Glass Pavilion; and Andrew Page, director of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, chose from nine proposals submitted by invited artists. The residency will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Harvey Littleton's seminal 1962 Toledo Workshop by offering three artists the opportunity to realize a contemporary project using a furnace modeled after the one that Littleton and Dominick Labino developed 50 years ago. The public can view the residents at work at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion during regular museum hours. In addition, the residents will present a free lecture, open to the public about their projects on March 30th from 6:30 - 8 PM at the Toledo Museum of Art as part of the institution's celebration of the 50th anniversary of Studio Glass. For more info, please visit the project website at www.toledoworkshop.org

In March 2012, the Toledo Museum of Art will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Harvey Littleton's seminal 1962 Toledo Workshop by offering three artists the opportunity to realize a contemporary project using a furnace modeled after the one that Littleton and Dominick Labino developed 50 years ago. It was this small-scale furnace design that made the Studio Glass movement possible. To honor the past and celebrate the future of glass, selected members of a new generation of artists who directly experiment with the material in their own way will be invited as resident artists for this project. It was direct experimentation with the material that drove Harvey Littleton's quest to make glass available to artists working in a studio setting.The residents will begin by participating in the building of a 1962 style furnace. The residency will run from March 22nd through March 31st, 2012, exactly 50 years from the original event. The residents will make a public presentation about their projects on March 30th from 6:30 - 8 PM.
                        For more information, please visit the project website at www.toledoworkshop.org

A new way of understanding the accomplishments of a true American master and his development from his earliest attempts at capturing a daisy in glass in 1969 to his glorious 2010 orb encasing a honeybee swarm. Paul Stankard's finely wrought organic detail is illuminated through never-before-seen high-resolution photographs enlarged and printed with the highest production values to create a unique book that is itself a work of art. In an essay by William Warmus, an interview by Andrew Page, and photographs by Ron Farina and Douglas Schaible, Beauty Beyond Nature (published by the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, Ltd., 2011) reveals Stankard's work as a powerful touchstone that connect us to the potency of the natural world and remind us of what it means to be alive.
Hardcover. 168 Pages. $80.00.  Available for online purchase.

The Foundation has been a major donor to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, including direct support of its exhibition “Glimmering Gone,” which opened in October 2010 and continues through September 2011. The exhibition features a collaborative project between American artist Beth Lipman and Scandinavian artist Ingalena Klenell. The Foundation has also sponsored Martin Blank’s "Fluent Steps" installation, which spans the entire length of the museum’s 210-foot-long Main Plaza reflecting pool and rises from water level to 15 feet in height. This monumental installation opened April 18, 2009, and is part of the museum’s permanent collection of 20th- and 21st- century glass art. Most recently, the Foundation has helped to make possible the retrospective exhibition of the work of Paul J. Stankard which will travel to other museums in Virginia and New Jersey.

The Foundation has donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Challenge Gift to endow a curator of Craft at its Renwick Gallery. This curatorial position will be named for the Renwick’s founding director, Lloyd Herman.

The Foundation gives major support to Wheaton Arts, a Millville, New Jersey, organization that promotes the glass arts through residencies, hands-on programs for the public, an accredited museum of American glass, and hosts a variety of special events, exhibitions and educational programs throughout the year.

The Foundation has endowed the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Scholarship at Salem County Community College, which provides two scholarships up to $4,000 per academic year for tuition, fees, and books to two full-time glass art students attending college.The Foundation has also been a sponsoring organization of the International Flameworking Conference at Salem County Community College in Carneys Point, New Jersey, each year since 2008. This conference draws attendees from around the world and honors the contributions of a single major flameworking artist each year. The keynote speaker for the 2010 conference was a member of the board of the Minkoff Foundation.

The Foundation supports the work of Housing Unlimited, which provides housing and jobs training for mentally challenged individuals. Those who receive help are chosen by the Montgomery County Maryland Department of Human Services.

The Foundation's managing trustee serves on several committees of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, including internal budget and development committees.

The Foundation has been a supporter of the programming and fundraising initiatives of the New Jersey chapter of the Recording For the Blind and Dyslexic organization.