A partnership between the Loews Hotel and Co and the University of Texas at Arlington’s Fine Art Program puts on display the aspects of the collegiate institution’s glassmaking artistry at both Live! By Loews – Arlington and Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center.
“Loews Hotels and Co has this amazing program called Local By Loews, in which we partner with local businesses, local craftsmen, local artisans to bring the neighborhoods right into our hotels,” said Steven Cummings, Complex Managing Director at Loews Arlington Hotel & Convention Center. “We have the rotating arts exhibit right in our hotel lobby, so it really allows our guests when they arrive at the hotel to see world class artwork right here in Arlington, Texas.”
“The work that’s currently on display in the lobby, which I made, is all a series of work in which I'm actually submerging the hot glass, like 1500 of 2000-degree Fahrenheit glass into giant tanks of water,” described Justin Ginsberg, Assistant Chair, Assistant Professor, and Glass Area Coordinator in the Art History Department at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). “This would be something that you wouldn’t think to want to do because it causes the glass to crack. But through very specific kind of processes and timing, what ends up happening is the pieces end up cracking on the interior and the exterior, but the molten state of the glass holds it together.”
Loews Hotel and Co commissioned Ginsberg to commemorate the opening of the Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center with a glass blown sculpture permanently displayed in the Library of Loews Arlington. Entitled, Loews Loves Arlington, it is an infinity heart shape and reflects the timing of the hotel’s opening that took place one day before Valentine’s Day 2024.
“That helped us build a really strong relationship, but I know the Loews Hotels and University of Texas at Arlington had already kind of been developing, but now specifically with the arts,” Ginsberg recalled. “Through further discussions and with the kind of excitement about some of the newest pieces and having the sculpture there, we started kind of thinking about other creative ways in which myself and our students in our program, could be involved as this hotel developed. We came up with this idea to start presenting artwork, starting with my artwork as we're kind of, starting this first part of the journey, but ultimately leading to an opportunity where students can submit images of their completed work and then start to think about how they could design something or how some of their work might fit.”
Cummings reiterated that the glasswork on display is just one part of their collaboration with UTA students.
“The wonderful thing about this partnership with the UTA is that we have the rotating arts exhibit here at the Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center, but we're also doing a cocktail at Live by Loews called the ‘Native Breeze,’” Cummings explained. “That is a rum punch that our bartenders are crafting every single day for our guests.”
“When you see the glass, it kind of has like a summery, sandy, beachy feel to it,” Ginsberg described. “However, when you start to put the ‘Native Breeze’ in it, which has a reddish hue, it totally changes the visual effects of the glass having a different background on it. It's gone well enough that we've done a second round because there's so much interest. They were designed collaboratively with me and some of our Masters of Fine Art students. Ultimately, Aubrey Barnett, who's one of my graduate students, ended up fabricating the glasses.
The glassware is available for purchase at Live By Loews and a portion of those proceeds go back to support the UTA Masters of Fine Arts’ program.
“We have some amazing mixologists here in the hotel who are really experts in their craft,” Cumming said. “To partner those mixologists with the artisans at UTA, who are experts in this glassmaking field, they could collaborate and come up with this amazing cocktail and this amazing glassware.”
“There's one facet that's kind of making art and sculpture, which is something that is a strong part of our curriculum,” Ginsberg explained, “but there's another part that we make things that are functional and things for design. These types of opportunities are great professional kind of experiences for students while they're in school to learn how to make something for a specific place, how to document those well, and how to submit those images to a group of professionals.”
About Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center
Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center is a state-of-the-art, full-service meetings and resort destination that caters to groups of all sizes, as well as families who are looking for a world-class experience in the epicenter of the premier sports and entertainment district in the country. Centrally located between Dallas and Fort Worth between iconic sports stadiums, Globe Life Field, home of the 2023 World Series Texas Rangers and AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, the 888-room resort features five restaurants and lounges, two pools with an authentic sandy beach, cabanas and a water slide as well as a fitness center, full-service spa and salon and 266,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
About Live! By Loews - Arlington
Bringing an upscale hospitality experience to Arlington’s Entertainment District, Live! By Loews Arlington stylish resort destination offers unparalleled, easy access to Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field, the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, the Esports Stadium Arlington & Expo Center, and more. With 35,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, our Live! by Loews - Arlington hotel is ideal for meetings and conventions, but also perfect for families, sports fans, and anyone looking for the true meaning of Texan hospitality.
About University of Texas at Arlington’s Master of Fine Arts in Glass
The Master of Fine Arts in Arts: Glass will allow students to explore the sculptural, conceptual, and functional aesthetics of glass as an artistic media in order to create a creative body of work directed by a personal concept or project. A variety of traditional, contemporary, and experimental glass working techniques are examined and utilized in ambitious research and creation of conceptually significant work. The Master of Fine Arts is a professional degree in the practice of art. The program of study at UTA is designed to guide and encourage students in the development of their skills, the definition of their goals and the recognition of their responsibilities as artists. The educational objective is to provide training that will make it possible for each student to achieve professional excellence.
Goals for graduate students in glass include but are not limited to:
- develop the ability to discuss and interpret their work both verbally and in written form
- develop into professional artists, active in the production and publication of creative work
- reflecting a personal and meaningful aesthetic
- understand the content and relevance of art history in the development of contemporary art
The UTA glass facility consists of several purpose built, state of the art, technically specialized studio areas. It is a climate controlled 3000 sq. ft. Cold Shop that houses grinding, cutting, shaping, polishing and fabrication equipment. There is also separate 4800 sq. ft. Hot Shop completely equipped with a six-station glassblowing facility, where glass engraving and carving techniques can be explored using state of the art diamond cutting lathes and grinders.
