Contemporary glass maestro and self-described graphic artist Dan Dailey discusses the conceptuality and intentional design process behind his functional glass objects and sculptures.
As consummate patrons of the arts, Acey and Bill Wolgin did not just live with the art that they collected—they lived alongside the artists who made it. Through their generous support of both individual artists as well as institutions they cherished, the Wolgins became widely celebrated collectors known for their friendships with artists—including Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Arman, and Robert Rauschenberg—that were sustained, not least, by legendary parties thrown at their Philadelphia apartment.
Bill Wolgin, who practiced as a urologist, met Acey through her brother with whom he attended medical school. The pair married and made strong roots in Philadelphia—indeed, the Wolgins may be credited for having a significant role in elevating the City of Brotherly Love to the cultural destination that it is today. In the 1960s, Acey was a founding member of the Arts Council at the Young Women’s Hebrew Association, which helped spark the city’s contemporary art scene. In 1974, Acey became one of the first women elected to the board of the Philadelphia Art Museum, where she served as a trustee and trustee emeritus for the rest of her life. When Robert Indiana’s LOVE stamp was released at that museum, Acey’s birthday party doubled as the event after-party. Among the attendees was the artist Arman, who absconded with a piece of the LOVE stamp-themed cake in order to seal it in resin.
The Wolgins would later relocate to Boca Raton, where they became actively involved in the Boca Raton Museum of Art and eventually funded the Wolgin Education Center. After returning to Philadelphia, Bill Wolgin would become involved in the Woodmere Art Museum as a trustee, helping to guide the institution’s expansion. Works from the Wolgin Collection are now held in all three of the institutions where they became involved, including Yves Klein’s Portrait Relief I: Arman at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fletcher Benton’s Donut with Balls and Half Moon at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, and a group of large-scale sculptures by Sam Maitin at the Woodmere Art Museum.
Surrounded by his parents’ collection from a young age, Richard Wolgin recalls meeting many of the artists whose works he knew intimately—especially memorable was the flaming red hair of Jeanne-Claude when she and Christo dropped in one weekend. (When they weren’t celebrating together, the Wolgins kept correspondences with many of their artist-friends, who sent postcards and, sometimes, drawings.) As kids, Richard and his sister would, naturally, delight in playing with one of Harry Bertoia’s sound sculptures. When Richard was twelve years old, Acey gave him his first work: Roy Lichtenstein’s CRAK!, which he affixed to his bedroom wall with thumb tacks—inadvertently bringing the work back into the realm of mass media and pop cultural detritus that so inspired Lichtenstein.
The works featured in The Acey and Bill Wolgin Collection represent a life lived through, and for, art—“It’s not just buying something to hang on the wall,” says Richard, “it’s a piece of their lives, that are now part of our lives.”
Dan Dailey b. 1947
World-renowned American visual and glass artist Dan Dailey was born in Philadelphia and educated at the Philadelphia College of Art (B.A.) and the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (M.A.), where he was the first graduate student to study under Dale Chihuly. He has produced sculptural and functional art, with a particular emphasis on lighting, since 1970. Dailey is Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and founded their Glass Department in 1973. He also taught at RISD, the Pilchuck Glass School, and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and has lectured and led workshops across the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Each of Dailey’s creations begins with detailed drawings and watercolors inspired by humans and the world surrounding us. Dailey works primarily in series and has explored a myriad of forms, styles, and topics, including faces, animals, architecture, masks, mythology, gender, and nature. His drawings and watercolors are not only used to refine his ideas, but to direct his geographically diverse team which can include glassblowers in Seattle, acid polishing in West Virginia, waterjet cutters in local shops, and a variety of assistants at his New Hampshire studio.
Since the early 1970s, Dailey has been a part of over 300 group, juried, and invitational exhibitions, and held numerous one-person museum and gallery shows including a retrospective at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to his impressive personal and educational accomplishments are his more than 70 architectural commissions at a variety of locales including corporate headquarters, hospitals, and private residences. He is the recipient of many awards including a Fulbright Hayes Fellowship (1972-73) and the James Renwick Alliance’s Masters of the Medium Award (2001) and was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 1998. His work is held in over 50 public and private collections worldwide, including the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and the National Gallery of Victoria.
Auction Results Dan Dailey
