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Silver Queen joins Dancing Hands to hold reception for artist Danielle Blade

Last year, Silver Queen Fine Art joined Dancing Hands Gallery and brought in glass artist Danielle Blade of Gartner-Blade Glass for their receptions during the monthly gallery stroll.

"We both represent Dani, which is mostly unheard of in the art community, because most galleries do only exclusives," said Timm Hilty, owner of Silver Queen Fine Art, during an interview with The Park Record. "Last year, Dani danced back and forth between our galleries and spent 30 minutes at time at each throughout the night and worked with all of our clients."

The pairing worked so well, the two decided to do it again.

Blade will alternate between the galleries during the regular stroll from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday, March 30, but will also be on hand Saturday, March 31, as well.

This rare artist "sharing" was Blade’s idea.

"I moved to Park City from Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where Dani once lived," Hilty said. "We were actually pretty good friends and I had represented her for a long time, but upon arrival, I was disappointed to learn she was already being represented by Dancing Hands that carried her vessels and vases, and I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to represent her."

Blade approached Dancing Hands Gallery owner Chris Meyer and asked if she would be open to having Hilty, whose shop is two doors away, carry her lighting fissures.

"Chris was gracious enough to say yes, which was wonderful," Hilty said. "So, we share Dani, which is very uncommon.

"Chris has been amazing and very generous to let us carry the lighting and sculptural pieces," Hilty said. "It makes our connection and relationship with Chris that much more stronger."

It’s also nice to be able to bring Blade to town so she can meet the local clients, as well as the galleries’ staffs, he said.

"We got to know her really well last year," he said.

This year, the galleries are using the events to benefit Friends of Animals Utah.

"On both evenings people can donate $5, which will give them a chance to enter in an opportunity drawing for one of Dani’s new pieces," Hilty explained. "We’ll draw the winner on Saturday night."

Blade is looking forward to returning to Park City for the festivities.

"Last year’s event was absolutely fantastic," she said during a call from her studio in Ashley, Mass. "Because Timm and Chris worked together, we were able to pull off an impressive exhibition. We’re able to show our full sculptural line and our full vessel line."

Blade, who had never been to Park City, also found she was enchanted by the town so much that she was inspired to create a new line of work.

"I was on my way home last year, and it was absolutely stunning flying over the mountains," she said. "It was a bright sunny day and just spectacular. It seemed I could just reach down and touch the mountains. The colors were incredible and they are reflected in the grays and greens and all the bright whites that are a part of my new pieces."

Upon returning home, Blade took some time off, which she rarely does to contemplate her next move.

"Sometimes the creative process is so draining emotionally and physically and it’s like you’re bashing your head against a brick wall while looking at your work, telling yourself it’s not going to work," she said. "Other times, the creative process takes on a life of its own. I came back to the studio so refreshed and ready to go."

The new works are part of the Sargasso line, which Blade and her business partner Stephen Gartner named after one of the greens the used in the pieces.

"It’s a very beautiful green and may sound a little odd in combination with the white, but the result is surprisingly beautiful," she said.

The two, worked with glass blower Clinton Smith, who has been with the artist for the past 12 years, produced what Blade feels is her best body of work to date.

"My whole aesthetic and color palette seems to have changed and the Sargasso line has some very beautiful works that have this pure white in them," she said. "There is a great deal of romance in the glass. It’s a tremendously complex medium and the physical aspects used to produce a single work is very much like a dance, because it takes all three of us to put a piece together. It’s a perfect symphony having everybody in the right place at the right time, anticipating each others’ moves and seamlessly moving around each other to execute the piece of work."

Not only did the joint event benefit Blade, she said it helped the galleries and community as well.

"The more you’re able to draw people interested in the arts to an area makes it worth it because they’ll want to return for more visits," she said. "That wouldn’t have been possible in a single venue."

Silver Queen Fine Art, 577 Main St., and Dancing Hands Gallery, 591 Main St., will present two nights of artist receptions for glass artist Danielle Blade of Gartner and Blade, on Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit http://www.silverqueengallery.com or http://www.dancinghandsgallery.com.


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