A recent major gift to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art has catapulted its fast-growing collection of glass sculpture into an exciting next phase.
With a goal of telling a comprehensive visual history of the Studio Glass movement, the museum’s President and CEO, Charles Shepard is quick to point out that the collection has been built by donors, collectors and the artists themselves who gave generously to further the cause.
This latest acquisition, from Dena and Ralph Lowenbach adds 96 works of art from the couple’s personal collection, which Shepard describes as, “highly idiosyncratic pieces by famous artists.”
“Their collection,” he continues, “while it ties to the evolving history of the great glass artists, adds a different flavoring, a different, you know, dimension, if you will.
A different spice in the chicken soup of glass life approach. So really, it enriched our collection tremendously.”
Here WBOI’s Julia Meek and Shepard discuss the impact of this acquisition, how it can shape the future of the story the museum tells and what it will mean to the entire community.
Find out more about the museum and its glass collection at the FWMoA website.
This is a transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Charles Shepard, welcome.
Charles Shepard: Thank you so much for having me on.
Julia Meek: So, we have watched your Summer of Glass blossom and our own Fort Wayne Museum of Art become a real glass art hot spot destination. Now in a word or two, Charles, what does that kind of rush feel like?
Charles Shepard: It feels exhilarating because it's something that I only had the smallest dream for that's turned into something that's blossomed beyond my dreams.
Julia Meek: A reality of unimaginable scope. Thank you for that, and you did spearhead this glass art movement back in that day,. Charles. What motivated your own push for the medium and bringing it here to Fort Wayne?
Charles Shepard: The simplest quick answer is that most museums don't deal with sculpture much. Our museum included, we have some, but not much.
And the reason they don't deal with it much is because it tends to be a heavy medium. It tends to be awkward to deal with, awkward to store, awkward to display.
At the same time, though, I was a sculpture major when I was in college, and my interest has always been there, but frankly, my interest for recent sculpture over the last 20-30, years has not been as high as I thought it might have been, just because the work being done was too predictable, too academic.
And I saw a particular exhibit full of beautiful architectural-leaning sculpture that was unlike anything I'd ever seen, and the label said it was made of glass, which really struck me as maybe impossible.
How could you make these seven and 10 feet tall things out of glass? And it made me look glass up as a medium. What I found was it's a newish medium, starting in the 60s in America, and I thought that is the most exciting medium to use for sculpture that I've ever heard of.
I can't believe I've not heard of it or paid attention to it, and I really have to dig into it. And that gave rise to Summer of Glass.
Julia Meek: Aren't you glad it did?
Charles Shepard: The response to Summer of Glass, with all these different kinds of sculptures of different sizes, some the size of softballs, some the size of a small person, all of this was possible in this medium.
And if you think about it, art generally addresses color, line form, ooh. What about this extra thing--light?
Glass has this capacity to use light to bring things to life that have been sculpted that takes it way past marble, bronze, wood, ceramic, almost anything else.
And that's what fascinated people. The audiences loved it. They kept coming back to see that exhibit, the first Summer of Glass, time after time, which I marvel that, that's not what ordinarily happens. And I thought we got to do more. We have to do more.
Julia Meek: It's strictly the magic of it that fits everybody.
Charles Shepard: That's it. It really does. And many different kinds of subject matters being sculpted in glass, but all truly beautiful in one form or another, and the light is the unifier.
So you see people who might be intimidated by different forms of art that aren't beauty-first focused relax and just look at things and say, I don't know what it means, but I love it. That's what I want to hear.
Julia Meek: [chuckles] And that's the magic as well. So okay with your dream of an encyclopedic collection of contemporary glass sculpture realized by now.
Let's factor in your latest acquisition, 96 pieces of art from the Lowenbach's personal collection. What does this add to the next act for the Museum of Art?
Charles Shepard: Well, the wonderful gifts we've been given over the last several years by glass art collectors have all meant something special to us.
I think in the case of this most recent gift by Ralph and Dena Lowenbach, the difference was that their personal tastes as collectors were more quirky. They were more interested in, yes, the big names. But how about a slightly odd piece by that big name or this big name?
So their collection, while it ties to the evolving history of the great glass artists, it adds a different flavoring, a different, you know, dimension, if you will.
A different spice in the, in the chicken soup of glass life [both chuckle] that brings it alive in another whole way.
So, their collection was a great addition to our over-1000-piece collection presently, because of introducing these highly idiosyncratic pieces by famous artists who did more popular work that would be collected by more people.
But this, I've-got-an-odd-piece-I-want-to-show-you-from-the-back- room kind of approach, and that's the one they'd buy. So really, it enriched our collection tremendously, yes.
Julia Meek: That's fantastic. And so now, standing at the threshold of the new pieces from the exhibit, Charles, what are people going to see in this coming month?
Charles Shepard: Well, I wanted to have what you might think of as a double whammy approach. In the coming month, in the Illumination Gallery you'll see little teasers of the new collection. They'll stand out and tweak your imagination.
And then in the first of the year, you walk into the glass wing, and the very first gallery will give you the whole 96-piece collection as a garden of delights that you've been teased about for the last couple of months.
If that makes sense; you're setting up a treat. You know, it's sort of like a little appetizer--appetizer, boom, a marvelous culinary creation!
Julia Meek: Especially to brighten winter's sadness.
Charles Shepard: Yes, absolutely.
Julia Meek: That is something, to be sure, Charles. And then looking out into the future of glass here at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, what possibilities does exactly this kind of generous donation pave the way for?
Charles Shepard: It's a two-part situation here as well, because we really want to make sure we're able to tell the whole story of glass in America, from 1962 when it started as a sculptural form, to the present.
So, let's call the present 2026 I need about 3000 pieces to tell that story completely, which means featuring all the very special, the best-known glass artists that evolved.
And it started with a handful, which then became two dozen, which then became 100 which then became 500 and I need, I think, 3000 to visually tell that story.
So on the one hand, this collection plugged in some very well known artists that we didn't have, and for some of the artists, we had better pieces than we had previously, and more unique in their distinctive styles, helping us fill in.
And then the second part of this answer, though, is that after the press release went out, we immediately received three calls from other collectors who said, I knew them, I loved them, or I always wanted to meet them, and never did.
But I need to tell you, I'm a glass collector, and I'd love you to consider accepting a donation of part of my collection, or sometimes all of my collection.
In fact, I have a curator in Miami this afternoon looking at 100 pieces that because of the first gift she'd like to now give a gift.
Julia Meek: Mmmm. Is that a dream come true?
Charles Shepard: It is. It's not only a dream come true for me personally, but as the director of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, I'm able to bring the best of glass art in the world to Fort Wayne, and I'm attracting donations from people all over the country who've maybe never even been to Fort Wayne.
This collection we're looking at while we're talking, this woman had never been from Miami to Fort Wayne ever, and she made a trip especially to do it. She stayed in a lovely hotel. She had lovely meals.
She can't stop raving about it, and now we're there looking at her collection. So it's good for Fort Wayne, and it's good for Fort Wayne people who support us so well. And they do; our community supports us very, very strongly.
Also, that strength of their support shows these other collectors, so, this is a worthy place for me to give, well, in this last gift, that's a million-dollar gift.
So, I don't mind giving a million dollars to a community that supports this museum. You know, it makes it worth the investment of the person who's never lived here. So what a beautiful dream come true for Fort Wayne,
Julia Meek: It is. And just how much, if not everything, is this because we were so early into the art glass game?
Charles Shepard: It's directly tied to how early we were, because even though we weren't there in the 60s, 70s and 80s, to take advantage of this, you know, still we're in the early 2000s and fine art museums being distinct from museums of glass.
Fine art museums that have all the various kinds of fine arts were really not paying attention to glass because they gave it a title of decorative art, and they don't collect decorative art in most cases. So they didn't pay attention.
We don't draw those kind of hard lines. You know, we love all art. We love all people. We're here for all people, and we love all art. So, we liked the diversity that glass would bring to this collection and embraced it.
I wasn't sure I was being progressive. I just thought I was doing what you should do if you love things. I love all art. Why not have all art?
But it turns out that I was often the only museum person at these gatherings of collectors and galleries and exhibits.
I'm the only museum person in the room, let alone a museum director, who can say yes or no to a gift or maybe even a purchase. So I was a little overwhelmed by how much goodness they showed me.
Julia Meek: Again, timing is everything, yes!
Charles Shepard: Timing is everything. [laughs]
Julia Meek: What a wonderful situation and circumstance to be in. And what might it mean, say in the near and medium-term future, literally expansion-wise, to our museum and is expansion an option, should you want to continue to grow this wonderful collection?
Charles Shepard: It is. Expansion is not only possible in the land that we have behind the museum, and we're poised to do it. People are begging for it.
I think a conservative campaign, not a wild, billion dollar campaign, but a modest campaign like our last one, I think people were ready for it, and they wanted to happen.
So new space for glass. Also, another thing that we haven't yet touched on is the effect of out-of-town people giving of their glass collections.
We now have people who collect great American paintings calling us saying, are you going to do that with painting too? Could I leave you my paintings?
And we think, well, we're looking for certain kinds of great American painting, but we will definitely want to talk with you. So there's yet the next expansion of the collection.
Even as we get halfway to our goal with glass, we're already starting a new goal with great American painting, and it's exciting.
Julia Meek: It's very exciting. And on the topic of the expansion of the artform, of where everything has gone in the art glass world since the 1960s where would you say it can go, Charles?
Besides the steady gain on momentum, are there true new hotspots for art glass here in the United States, new schools of thought coming out a new generation of artists?
Charles Shepard: I think that's exactly what's happening, and it helps us draw the line at the 1962 period to today, stopping at today for the kind of interests and esthetics that have shown up between 1962 and today. But the kind of interest and esthetics that are showing up today, stretching into the future are of a different ilk altogether.
And I think this is a good thing. I think it's an exciting thing. And what specifically that means is that perhaps an artist says, I love working with the malleability of the glass. I love the light, how it brings a different dimension to the glass.
But I'm not into swirling, wonderful, colorful shapes. What I'm into is exploring deeper, darker emotions. Or what I'm into is exploring something to do with the world ecology. We have someone who's deeply involved with studying what's happening to icebergs and global warming.
Well, that's showing up in the glass. So glass, like all other artistic medium, has started in 2026 let's say maybe a little earlier, to explore different territories for this medium, it'll still have the benefit of having light added to all the color, line, shape, form criteria, but I think you're going to find it more issue oriented, more value oriented, and stepping into things that may be beautiful but may not be.
And I think that's going to be an interesting point, particularly interesting to watch for the next 20 years of glass, because there are more students. There aren't more schools because of the expense of running a glass program, but there are more students, and different students and students with different things on their mind than of the generation of second half of the 20th century, and even the early 21st.
New students are coming. They have a new voice. They have new things of concern, and they're going to speak to them in glass.
So, if and when we collect the glass of the future, you'll want to display it in such a way that you see the book-ended, stop and start of traditional, beautiful glass and the next generation, because that's going to be another whole voyage.
And some folks will come in only to see the new voyage, and some folks will come in because they're reassured by the beauty of the old voyage.
Julia Meek: Now I am curious, Charles, this being your brainchild, and you have raised it with such devotion and determination, our world of glass that we can live in right here at the museum.
Did you ever dream we would be right here, where we are now, sitting here talking about it as a matter of fact? [chuckles]
Charles Shepard
No, I certainly didn't, because I would have, I, I first, honestly wouldn't and didn't understand glass as an art form. When I began to understand it, it's expensive, it's fragile, it's heavy, it's just a lot to deal with, and we weren't in connection with anybody or any force from that world.
But it was a very loving and open world of artists, and connections got made quickly. And I think the glass artists have sort of felt that the art world may have had a grudge against them, and interestingly, it affected them not to produce negativity, but positivity.
So, for example, we could say early on, we're going to feature your work in a show. An artist from San Diego or Seattle would say, Oh, I'll come to Fort Wayne to see it. I'll pay for the ticket. I'll come to see the show. It doesn't happen in our world much.
Now, just as we say art in glass is as valid as art in marble or steel, they say to me, this city, what? This city is as good as any city I've ever been in. These restaurants are as nice, if not nicer, than any. The people are even nicer to me.
So, we didn't have any prejudice against glass as an art form. And all the practitioners and collectors wherever they lived came here with joy and love and had no prejudice against, oh, I uh, you're not New York City, so I'm not going to deal with you.
This is as nice as any city I've ever been in. That's a wonderful thing. So I didn't dream of that. And here we are.
Julia Meek: And now that we are here, what's next for the world of glass that the Fort Wayne Museum of Art has grown for the whole world to share?
Charles Shepard: I think what's next is another part of my dream--to add more information and visuals to the processes and the individuals behind the thing.
So, there's been an awful lot of interest in the few videos that we have out of people in their gear working with 2000-degree heat and bringing a gorgeous thing out of a furnace. People love to see that.
And I think we've not done enough in that realm. Yes, it's educational, but it's sort of an immersive education. I think that's going to come. I think people want that badly.
I think more glass. The whole story being fulfilled. We're roughly at 1200 or so pieces. We need to get to somewhere around 2500 or 3000 to tell the whole story. And we need to do that.
I think we also need to add some not glass furnaces, but some glass working opportunities, what they would call torch work, which you do at a bench with a torch, so that the heat is not on all night, all day, but when someone would like to experience actually making a glass thing.
I'd like in a new building to have a studio for that and have classes on a regular basis, so that people could experience being able to take, you know, cold, hard pieces of glass and turn them into something malleable and shapeable and able to color and twist and make beautiful, and thus have an affinity with the great art that's in the galleries.
I know something about how that got done, and I have this to take home. What a beautiful moment. I think we can bring that to Fort Wayne, and I think Fort Wayne would love it.
Julia Meek: Charles Shepherd is President and CEO of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Charles, thank you for your hard work.
Thank you for your vision and the magic you make with the whole glass movement over there and the story of it. Best of luck. Art Glass, forever.
Charles Shepard: I agree. Thank you. Julia.
