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.
2024 Smithsonian Visionary 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.