Of all the glass currently showing in Pittsburgh, there are only two solo shows, and those are by local artists exhibiting at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

	Judi Charlson's "Max and Charlotte," a kiln-cast glass sculpture in negative relief, is part of "Totem & Taboo" at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts. Click photo for larger image. Related article Glass events: 7/18/07

In "Totem & Taboo," Judi Charlson exhibits monotype prints and bird, dog and cat mummies inspired by, needless to say, ancient Egypt.

But her tour de force is a "Journey of Life Wall," comprising 98 glass casts, each 8 by 8 by 2 inches in size. The variety of colors recalls stained-glass windows in places of worship. The variety of subjects -- among them children, war, life sculpting in the studio, popular culture -- recalls the human condition, specifically and universally, its contemporary and its timeless aspects.

Charlson has only been working with glass for six years but has long been known for her figural sculpture. In these scenarios -- effervescent with life yet frozen in the moment -- she reveals, and draws upon, the passion she feels for the material and the passion she both experiences and is witness to in life. It is evident that ardor is nearly impossible to contain -- it fuels her aesthetic and will give this artist material for the infinite expression that is destined to follow this impressive display.

The sea

"Efflorescence: The Sea After Time" is an installation by Lindsay O'Leary that comprises large clusters of silvered blown glass arranged upon a tactile wash of vibrant blue carpet that segues into a glossy arc of blue paint rising over the gallery wall and onto the ceiling.

Decorative and glowing, the whole is also chillingly static, seeming to reflect one of the futuristic possibilities O'Leary addresses in her artist statement: "A Pangea Ultima wherein the waters will dominate the earth? Or perhaps a desiccated graveyard of dying rivers ..."

Tackling an installation format is ambitious, something O'Leary is clearly up to by the sheer numbers of objects she's created for this work (more than 200), and this first attempt is admirable. Taking the piece a step further might include making the glass forms more individuated and biologically imbued, and integrating the pods more fully into their environment.

Nature as muse

Also at the Center is "Worlds Within Worlds," glass works with a basis in nature by Kaley Finegan, Christopher Clarke and Brian Frus.

Each artist creates sculpture that is organic, expressive and mysterious, but stylistically their finely developed visions are unique.

Clarke's unruly, colorful, motion-filled "creatures" -- they have that visual aspect, underscored by their titles -- of blown glass and forged steel are polished works. Finegan's are also well tuned but imbued with a casual fragility that makes them at first appear to be found -- a product of growth and decay -- a vision prompted by frosted surfaces, patined copper and/or patches of moss. Frus turns flameworking conceptual, with underlying implications -- growth, rootedness, the natural cycles of which we're all a part -- all cloaked within wondrous containers that combine the natural and the fanciful.

At 6 p.m. tomorrow, Clarke, Pittsburgh Glass Center director of Studios and Technology, and Frus, who is visiting assistant professor of glass at Jacksonville University, Fla., will give artist talks in the gallery.

The exhibitions continue through Aug. 19 at 6300 Fifth Ave., Shadyside. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission: $5 suggested donation; 412-361-0873 or www.pittsburgharts.org.

Glass prominence

Concept Art Gallery shows four prominent contemporary American glass artists -- John de Wit, Henry Hillman Jr., Dante Marioni and Richard Marquis -- in its bountiful "Glass 2007."

Concept has long included contemporary glass sculptors among its artists, and in the 1990s and 2000 co-sponsored high-end glass exhibitions and related programming with Wood Street Galleries, Downtown.

Marioni and Marquis are the most well known in this show and are also included in Carnegie Museum of Art's "Viva Vetro! Glass Alive! Venice and America." Here, more current works are exhibited, including a wunderkabinet of Marioni's color-resplendent, sleek and gorgeous embellished vessel forms. The irreverent and playful Marquis places in found cages eggs formed of his spectacular murrine cane work and uses the same technique in a somewhat bas-relief representation of a "hephalump," a rather jovial interpretation of a creature from Winnie the Pooh.

Pittsburgh native and West Coast resident Hillman casts bold blocks of saturated color to create solid and monumental shapes that defy the fragility of their material.

The sculpture of Washington state artist de Wit, in contrast, is more like three-dimensional abstract painting, a bit Philip Guston, a little Rauschenberg, but his own in the way pattern and color simultaneously complement and are supported by form.

Together they present a fine complement to the fabulous array of works at the Carnegie.

"Glass 2007" continues through Aug. 25 at 1031 S. Braddock Ave., Regent Square. Hours: 10 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; until 8 p.m. Thursdays. Admission: free; 412-242-9200 or www.conceptgallery.com.