IN MEMORIAM
Untitled
1998
blown glass with murrini pattern from the
Teaser Series
32” H x 21” W x 11” D
This was the first work blown by Stephen Rolfe Powell in the Jones Visual Arts Center when that facility became the new home of Centre’s hot glass program. The piece was generously donated to the College by Shelly Powell in memory of her husband.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A 1974 graduate of Centre College, Powell went on to world renown as a glass artist whose works reside in the permanent collections of museums from Sydney to St. Petersburg. He crisscrossed the nation and the globe giving invited exhibitions of the technique he developed for making large glass vessels encrusted with intricate murrini designs. He was a dazzling colorist who drew inspiration from nature, especially sunsets, and was himself a force of nature.
When he came back to Centre as an art professor in 1983, he built the glass program up from nothing to national significance. Remarkable glass art was soon being made by Powell protégés all across America. Glass-world titans such as Marvin Lipofsky and Lino Tagliapietra routinely came to campus for residencies. Word spread. The best show in town was the best show in the whole region: watching Powell and friends in action in the hard-rocking Centre hot shop.
All who knew Powell described him as a man in motion and a power source. That he was so inspiring to be around was what made him such an effective team-builder of legendary glass crews. The adrenaline-fueled and sweat-drenched choreography of the Powell method was equally a sight to behold and a thrill to be part of. Because Powell's art was so athletic, it was symbolically apt when he and an ace student crew headed off to the 2002 Winter Olympics, invited there to give glassmaking exhibitions in the Olympic Village.
The dynamism made him a great teacher too. The many state and national honors that came his way--Acorn Award, Renwick Distinguished Educator, twice Kentucky Professor of the Year--were simply by-products of a life energy as warm for people as for art.
Powell's work was always evolving. The vessel shapes, for instance, changed from what he called Teasers to Whackos to Screamers to Echoes and finally to huge curved panels called Zoomers. One thing that never changed, however, was his bedrock character. His Alabama drawl and old-school courtesy and unfailing generosity of spirit were constants his whole life.
Information Plaque
Old Centre Building
Centre College, Danville, Kentucky
Written by Mark Lucas