Howard Ben Tré

Glass vase, 1985

Howard Ben Tré (May 13, 1949 - June 20, 2020) was an American glass artist. He worked with poured glass, creating small sculptures and large scale public artworks. Glass magazine has called Ben Tré a pioneer in the technique of using hot glass casting in fine art.<ref name="Perreault">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Personal life and education

Howard Ben Tré was born May 13, 1949, in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name="Imago">Template:Cite web</ref> In the 1960s he attended Brooklyn College for two years<ref name="Imago"/> and was a political activist.<ref name="Goodale"/>

In the 1970s he left New York with his wife, Gay, for Oregon. At Portland State University he learned about the university's well-known glass-blowing shop and began studying the creation process, finding influence in religious objects.<ref name="Goodale" /> He would obtain his bachelor's degree at Portland State. Dale Chihuly recruited Ben Tré to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)<ref name="ProJo" /> from Portland, Oregon where he would graduate with a Masters of Fine Arts in 1980.<ref name="Imago" />

His wife Gay Ben Tré was actively involved in planning and siting the installation of his art. They divorced amicably and remained friends for the rest of his life. He married Wendy MacGaw in 2004.<ref name="ProJo" /> He lived and worked in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.<ref name="AAA">Template:Cite web</ref>

Howard Ben Tré died June 20, 2020, in hospice care at his home in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.<ref name="ProJo">Template:Cite web</ref>

Artistic career

He started blowing glass. Through his education at Portland State University, he would discover the process of pouring glass. Pulling inspiration from African and Japanese religious icons and figures, he uses his artwork to explore connections between the two.<ref name="Goodale"/>

Ben Tré utilized his training as an industrial manufacturing master technician to create glass artworks based on traditional methods. His studio space, located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island is where he designed, made molds and completed his work.<ref name="Carasso"/> He created fine art castings by pouring molten glass into sand molds, applying heat and then cooling them for months. The form is then dug out from the sand mold, sand blasted, cut, ground, and polished. Many of Ben Tré's works involve the use of gold leaf; by way of wrapping portions of works or installing lead bars within the pieces covered with gold leaf. The glass sculptures are often symmetrical. His wife, Gay, assisted in the designing and planning of his large scale works, including the installation of his public art.<ref name="Carasso"/>

Reception

In lieu of Ben Tré's 2001 exhibition at the Orange County Museum of Art, critic Roberta Carasso described his work as being "part of the glass revolution".<ref name="Carasso">Template:Cite web</ref> The Christian Science Monitor described his poured glass works as timeless, monumental and "hulking, architectural forms he creates...existed before the dawn of recorded history."<ref name="Goodale">Template:Cite journal</ref> Arthur Danto stated in 2000 that Ben Tré's glass works were redefining and powerful, and that he creates "a kind of pleasure that we don't usually associate with art."<ref name="Goodale"/>

Notable collections & installations

• Caryatids, 1998, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee<ref name="Hunter">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Immanent Circumstance, 1991, Norman Leventhal Park, Boston, Massachusetts<ref name="Park">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Kira's Benches, 2007, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire<ref name="Hood">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Mantled Figure, 1993, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, Rhode Island<ref name="Boulanger">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Siphon, 1989, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York<ref name="Adlin">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Untitled, Artery Plaza, Bethesda, Maryland<ref name="PABethesda">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Various works; Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York<ref name="DM1">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Water Forest, Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington<ref name="Silberman">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Notable exhibitions

• Design Visions, 1992, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia<ref name="Imago"/>
• Masters of Contemporary Glass, 1997, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana<ref name="Imago"/>
• Interior/Exterior, 2000, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California<ref name="Goodale"/>
• Howard Ben Tré: Sculpting Space in the Public Realm, 2001, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota<ref name="Imago"/>
• Solo exhibition; 2002, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York<ref name="Cowles">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Private Visions, Utopian Ideals: The Art of Howard Ben Tré, 2005, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York<ref name="Imago"/>

Further reading

• Calo, Carole Gold. "Public Art / Private Art: Dichotomy or Intersection?." Public Art Review 15.1 (2003): 4–10.
• D.K. "Howard Ben Tre." Artforum International 35.7 (1997): 91.
• Danto, Arthur C., Mary Jane Jacob and Patterson Sims. Howard Ben Tré. Manchester: Hudson Hills Press (1999). Template:ISBN
• French, Meghann & Eleanor Heartney. Private Visions, Utopian Ideals: The Art of Howard Ben Tre. Buffalo: University of Buffalo (2005). Template:ISBN
• Jepson, Barbara. "The Gallery: Community Through Glass." Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition 18 Oct. 2001: A24.
• Johnson, Linda L. Howard Ben Tre: Contemporary Sculpture. Washington: Phillips Collection (1989). Template:ISBN
• Ben Tré, Howard, Diana L. Johnson and Donald B. Kusbit. Howard Ben Tré: New Work. Providence: Brown University (1993). Template:ISBN
• Streitfeld, L. P. (Lisa P.), 1958-. "Interior Exterior Vision: A Conversation with Howard Ben Tre." Sculpture (Washington, D.C.) 21.9 (2002): 44–49.
• "Vis Alchemical." Neues Glas 1 (1998): 54.

External links

• Template:YouTube an interview with Ben Tré from the Wheeler School