Page 11 - 2022 Glass Editorial

Interview with Glass Artist and Blown Away Judge
Katherine Gray:

What do You

Collect?

eet Katherine Gray. Her expertise in glass design is something Not intentionally but there is a grouping
to observe – it is at once infinite, moving, gracious, colorful, that has similar styling with metal embell-
Mand an exploration of color, balance, and textural. Her work ishments and gold lustre squiggles on the
can be seen at the Heller Gallery in New York City, found in the glass. (left) Most of them play How Dry I
collections of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Toledo Museum of Am.
Art, the Asheville Museum of Art and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma,
WA, among others. She is a teacher, mentor, and seems to have Do you have any “add-on” collectibles for
observation skills when looking at others’ work that takes in all this category such as ephemera or music boxes
consideration – from design and use of color to the interior of the that were not intended for a bottle?
piece’s overall messages expressed by the artist. Her sense of humor and
joy is always welcome and reflects her sense of creativity. Not really. I do have one still in its
So, what what does she collect? original box. Other than that, just a
Two areas of collecting are musical glass liquor decanters and couple of extra music boxes.
ceramic Venetian gondolas (as a nod to the home of modern glass).
Let’s explore her two growing collections. What is the oldest one in your collection? And your latest purchase?
I don’t remember which one is my most recent purchase but I think
Musical Liquor Decanters the one with the three horse heads might be the oldest. A quick
These collectibles are not something everyone has heard of by any google search shows it’s from 1965.
means. Looking up information on them can lead a person to a trend
that might be thought of as a gimmick, but what a gimmick! Did you come across on you wish
you had picked up?
How did you discover the musical liquor bottles? And when did you buy your first
one? Or, was it a gift? No. I’m pretty impulsive.
If I see one and I like it, I
My first one was a gift from another buy it.
glass artist, Stephen Paul Day, in
1992. I became kind of captivated by Do you have a favorite?
it and then sought them out whenever
I was thrifting. Of course, now you Yes, the one with the three
can search online pretty easily to find horse heads. It also has a
them for sale. There are a lot of varia- roulette wheel.
tions, especially in ceramic, but not as
many in glass. What price range have you spent
on the bottles in this collection?
Did you establish a list of criteria a bottle had
to meet in order for you to add it to your col- Oh gosh. I doubt nothing
lection? What were/are they? was over $30.

No, not really, but I didn’t want any Given your profession and artistry,
duplicates and I prefer ones that have have you ever tried to make one on
something else going on besides just your own? If so, how did it go?
the music box. Some of these spin
when they’re activated or there’s a I did make one, but I
dancing figure inside. actually hired a scientific
glassblower to make the
Are there any “sub-categories” you have for bottle for me.
your collection, such as songs played or coun-
try the bottle was from? Above: Katherine’s favorite that is described as “a rarely seen decanter, better known as
the merry-go-round bottle or horse race bottle, three glass bottles are molded together in
Left: 1950s Gilbeys Scotch Whisky musical the shape of the forepart of the horse. The stoppers are horses’ heads. The base music box
decanter. Featuring a music box bottom with plays Bridge Over the River Kwai or Les Canons de Navarone. A closed-in roulette
Scottish dancer. The music played by the wheel’s ball stops at one of the 3 different liqueurs telling you which one to drink. Le
music box is The Bluebell of Scotland. Tierce is a famous national horse race in France. Bottles rotate on base while song is
playing.” – Worthpoint.com Values run $90-$350
April 2022 9