MANCHESTER, NH — Dan Dailey was featured on New Hampshire Chronicle Thursday night at 7:00pm. The nightly news magazine show from WMUR Manchester, an ABC affiliate, visited Dailey’s studio and the Currier Museum of Art to learn about the personal stories behind the pieces of art on display. Dan Dailey: Impressions of the Human Spirit is currently on view at The Currier Museum of Art until February 2, 2025.
Dan Dailey welcomes you to his retrospective, "Impressions of the Human Spirit."
Currier Museum Retrospective Now On View
MANCHESTER, NH — Dan Dailey: Impressions of the Human Spirit is Dailey’s first comprehensive museum retrospective in New England, offering an extensive exploration of the renowned artist’s extraordinary work spanning more than five decades. The Currier Museum of Art exhibition opened on September 26, featuring 81 carefully selected objects from 1972 to 2023, ranging from vases to glass murals, blown glass sculpture, figurative lamps and chandeliers. The exhibition is open to the public and runs until February 2, 2025.
“Dailey’s meticulously crafted forms reveal Dailey as an acute observer of life,” says museum Director Jordana Pomeroy. “Each of his works brings a narrative to life, communicating the complexity of human emotion in glass. The Currier is privileged to work with Dailey on this important retrospective of his remarkable body of work.”
“Impressions of the Human Spirit is a retrospective examination of a transformative sculptor whose creative ideas and inventiveness expanded the vocabulary of art,” writes Senior Curator Kurt Sundstrom.
In the 1960s, Dailey was entrenched in the experimental San Francisco art scene, and was among the many discontented artists who rebelled against Abstract Expressionism. Desiring to tell stories and explore the human condition, Dailey turned to the figure and everyday life as a source of artistic inspiration. His chosen medium of glass, which was unfamiliar in the exclusive art world, was initiated by the resurgence of traditional crafts and the material-based teachings of the Bauhaus.
Dailey has maintained that experimental attitude and has stayed faithful to – while greatly expanding on – the traditions of craftsmanship, making his work groundbreaking and difficult to place within established art historical categories.
A beautiful catalog of this exhibition, published by the Currier Museum of Art and designed by Joe Rapone, with essays by Kurt Sundstrom PHD and Henry Adams PHD, is available at the Currier Museum Shop.
This exhibition is generously supported by Pamela A. Harvey. Additional support is provided by the Galena-Yorktown Foundation, the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, Patricia L. Wentworth, and Mark Fagan
UPDATE 12/4/24: ARTalk with Dan Dailey — In the video above, join artist Dan Dailey and exhibition curator Kurt Sundstrom for a lively conversation highlighting signature works selected for his retrospective, and Dailey’s storied career as a groundbreaking artist in glass.
The Currier Museum of Art connects art with diverse audiences, from its neighborhood to international and digital visitors, and embraces regional new museum-goers and under-served communities. The museum is dedicated to the social needs of its community though programs serving people with memory loss, families of those with substance-use disorder, those with physical and cognitive challenges, and military veterans.
Moody Currier and his wife Hannah Slade conceived the idea of founding an art museum in in the 1890s. A former governor of the New Hampshire, Moody died in 1898, and Hannah in 1915. Their estate and house formed the basis of the Currier Gallery of Art, which was chartered by the state legislature in 1919. The museum building opened in October 1929, a few days before the great stock market crash ushered in the Great Depression.
Smithsonian 2024 Visionary Award Presented to Dan Dailey
WASHINGTON DC — World renowned glass artist Dan Dailey has been honored as one of the two recipients of the 2024 Smithsonian Visionary Award for his innovative and captivating glass sculptures. Dailey has a unique ability to fascinate with narratives of human experience and expression, inviting viewers into a world of imagination.
Meroe Park, Deputy Secretary of the Smithsonian, presenting Dailey with the the 2024 Visionary Award.
Dailey employs “imagery, high contrast, simplicity of form” and symbolic rather than representational elements in his artwork. He pushes the boundaries of traditional glass composition by incorporating metal into many of his sculptures. In the 2020 Dailey retrospective at the Chrysler Museum of Art, it was stated that he is “known as one of the most unique voices within the field of contemporary glass.”
Stained glass artist Judith Schaechter was also honored as a 2024 Smithsonian Visionary, because of her unique creative vision and exceptional artistry. The Smithsonian Visionary Award is presented annually by the Secretary of the Smithsonian at the Smithsonian Craft Show to American artists who are deemed by experts in the field to have risen to the pinnacle of sculptural arts and design, who have works in major museums, and who have demonstrated distinction, creativity, exceptional artistry and, of course, vision in their respective medium.
Dan Dailey at the Smithsonian Craft Show, May 1, 2024. The National Building Museum's Corinthian columns are among the largest in the world.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States.
In Memory of Dr. Paul Parkman, Inventor of Rubella Vaccine
A true American patriot who saved millions of lives all over the world, Dr. Paul Parkman was remarkably modest. Whenever I heard him speak about the discovery that led him and Dr. Harry Meyer to figure out a way to stop the Rubella virus from its deadly course, he was quite matter-of-fact and humble about it.
One thing that cannot be overlooked is Paul’s selfless generosity. He and Harry had the rights to the vaccine they developed, but they didn’t keep it for themselves. They could have taken their patent to a drug manufacturer and made a lot of money, probably billions by now, but instead they assigned their patents to the National Institutes of Health, for the good of mankind. This generosity stands in stark contrast with today’s dollar-oriented individuals who think more about becoming rich than achieving something significant toward the common good.
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s words captured the importance of Paul and Harry’s discovery, and their contribution to the welfare of our country. The good that came from their work continues to help people around the world. We should have many more people like Dr. Parkman, outside of political actors and the people who try to control availability of immunization and the drug industry business opportunity seekers, men like Paul need to be recognized for their selfless goals and achievements.
Paul will be fondly remembered by all who were lucky enough to know him. Our thoughts go to Elmerina, Paul’s companion and mate since their childhood years. Together they brought a solid presence to the support group of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Art Museum, with their curiosity and sincere interest in art made of glass. Their contribution to the arts, through building a collection and befriending many artists, and donating artworks to museums, has been done with much thought and care. Through their generous attitude and actions Paul and Elmerina have made a positive difference to the lives of others.
—Dan Dailey
Donations in Dr. Parkman's memory may be made to: Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, MRC 510 Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, Attn: Paul Parkman Donations
Parkman Coupe, 1988. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Elmerina and Paul Parkman
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs at The Louvre Acquires 18 "Character Heads" Drawings
PARIS, FRANCE — The Musée des Arts Décoratifs has accepted a gift of eighteen conceptual drawings from the archive of artist Dan Dailey. The Museum already owns The Doctor (above), a vase from Dailey’s 1988 Character Heads series of twenty blown glass vessels based upon these original pencil drawings.
“These eighteen graphite studies for anthropomorphic vases testify to the place of drawing in [Dailey’s] creative process and its close relationship with glass,” writes Museum Director Christine Macel. “We are grateful for such a gift that will enrich our collection.” The museum also owns Dailey’s Flute Véronèse 17, a gift from the Daum crystal factory (Nancy, France) where Dailey has worked periodically as an independent designer since 1976.
Located in the north-western wing of the Palais du Louvre, The Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Museum of Decorative Arts), is dedicated to the exhibition and preservation of the decorative arts from around the world. With approximately one million objects in its collection, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is the largest museum of decorative arts in continental Europe. It is one of three museums operated by the non-profit arts association Les Arts Décoratifs, founded in 1882.