“Charlotte Potter and April Surgent: Cameo Glass in Context,” organized by the Wichita Art Museum in Wichita, Kansas, focuses on the work of these two contemporary cameo makers in context of their historical precedents. The exhibition, curated by guest curator Vicki Halper, formerly of the Seattle Art Museum, will feature ancient and European historical examples of glass cameos, alongside Charlotte and April’s work. The Wichita Art Museum has a small, but growing collection of glass with an emphasis on Steuben, supported by the F. Price Cossman Trust. In addition to providing context for the exhibition overall, some of the requested pieces, especially those by George Woodall, have particular resonance for individual works by either of the two contemporary artists. The show is scheduled to open at the Wichita Art Museum on June 9th, 2018 and run through October 30th, 2018. There are no other venues planned.

Cameo glass, one of the most costly and difficult decorating techniques since first century B.C., is documented and illustrated in this catalog. Included are examples from Rome, Islam, and China, as well as English 19th-century masterpieces by John Northwood and George Woodall among others. For the purposes of this catalog, the term “cameo glass” is used to refer to cased glass objects with two or more differently colored layers. The outer layer is usually an opaque or opalescent white, and the outer layer or layers have been carved in to leave the decoration standing in relief against a body of contrasting color. Shading is produced by thinning down the carved layer; highlights are created where the glass is left thickest. Both this catalog, and the exhibition for which it was created, documents the 2000-year cameo glass tradition.