By Caitlin McNamara

DOWNTOWN — The Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass is hosting a new exhibition of hand painted glasswork from artists around the US and world.

Like many Urban Glass exhibitions, “Drawing on Glass� features both flat and sculptural pieces, but this show is “all about the drawing,� says Dawn Bennett, executive director of UrbanGlass. They generally began as sketches on paper before being transferred to glass.

One of the featured artists is award-winning Joseph Cavalieri, a one-time Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope resident and winner of the MTA Arts In Transit competition, whose six panels of faceted glass were chosen to become permanent installations at Phillips Manor Metro North train station this year. He currently lives and works in his East Village studio, although when he needs to fire an especially large piece, he uses the kilns at UrbanGlass.

Cavalieri’s pieces at UrbanGlass share the Simpsons TV-show family as a theme, and make statements about the country’s gloomy state of affairs. “Il Momento Della Morte� (“In the Hour of Death�) depicts Bart and List on a cross. Another shows Krusty the clown with an apparently lifeless Marge, called “Funerale Di Un’amica� (“Funeral for a Friend�).

Says Cavalieri: “‘Il Momento Della Morte’ reflects the state of the U.S. economy and how we no longer rule this empire. The icons of Lisa and Bart are recognized around the world, here they are presented dead in savory stained glass renaissance world.

“Why are Bart and Lisa dying on the cross? Who killed Marge? My past stained glass panels were based on existing fables, but these two are self-written stories that relate the demise of American society.

“When my Brooklyn fame maker, Robert Shapiro, saw ‘Il Momento Della Morte’ in progress on my light table, he shouted ‘You’re going straight to Hell!’ I couldn’t ask for a more emotional response to my work!�

The artwork is for sale at the gallery, with a percent going to support the glass center. UrbanGlass is the first, and now largest, artist-accessible glass facility in the US, and offers classes and workshops for all skill levels. When it was founded in 1977 as the New York Experimental Glass Workshop, the world of glass as a medium was opened to artists without access to art schools or private studios.

Today, UrbanGlass serves as the primary studio and facilities for more than 350 artists each year, and more than 900 students come from around the globe to study and work.

UrbanGlass is located at 647 Fulton St. “Drawing on Glass� runs through June 14. More information at www.urbanglass.org.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net