Janis Miltenberger

Janis Miltenberger grew up in California during Berkeley’s infamous 60’s and 70’s and was heavily influenced by the social change and the self-introspection of the times. She first began working as a glass apprentice to Richard Marquis at the age of 19. Soon there after she studied with both Ron Nagle at Mills College and Marvin Lipofsky who headed the glass department at Oakland’s CCAC. Moving to the Northwest precipitated becoming involved with Pilchuck, Pratt Fine Art Center, and The Glass Eye, splitting her time between supporting herself with production glassblowing and finding her artistic voice. After sixteen years of blowing glass, she was introduced to lampworking. There she found that working alone enhanced her ability to focus and create narrative within her work. Janis’ latest work has stretched the size constraints of traditional lampworked pieces, her new life-sized work quietly, personally, addresses her audience eye-to-eye.

Janis received 2017 GAP Award funding for an interactive installation. Utilizing a metal swing set frame, three glass swings will be hung on glass chain. Two will be simple belt swings and one (which has already been crafted) is a toddler bucket swing. The attachment between swing and chain will be a metal bracket bolted onto the glass. The swing set will be lit with ambient lighting but one swing will be singled out and lit from the ceiling with a 3’ arc of DMX lights. These lights will be installed perpendicularly above the top rail of the frame. Triggered by a motion sensor, initially one light at the far right of the arc will illuminate, creating a shadow which will fall to the opposite side of the swing. The lights will slowly fade on and off in sequence creating a shadow which appears to swing. A programable DMX console will control the sequence and intensity of the lights. As a figure nears the sculpture, slowly the shadow starts up, and swings gradually faster and then loses momentum and slows to a stop.