Left Hand Valley Courier - All Local, All The Time

This article continues a monthly series about the artworks and artists chosen for Community Corner at Sculpture Park at the corner of 79th Street and Niwot Road.

This month's feature is "Waco Curves II" by artist Rollin Karg. This tall steel and blown glass structure is the most colorful sculpture currently on display, and the only one in the park which features glass. The sculpture is now a permanent resident at the park - after it was bought by the Burrell Family Foundation and generously donated back to Niwot through the Niwot Cultural Arts Association.

Rollin Karg grew up with men who worked with their hands. His father was a carpenter. One grandfather was in construction, the other a tool-and-die man who could make things out of junk. His family wanted him to work more with his brain. Karg studied business for a time at Wichita State University and then launched an industrial engineering and sales career working with aircraft and other manufacturers. All the while, he liked being creative, dabbling in wood, metal and other craft work.

Although Karg spent the first part of his career as an industrial engineer, after exploring woodworking, pottery and photography, he began to focus his artistic efforts on what he had decided to be his true artistic purpose – glassblowing. He became a full-time glass artist in 1983 and has quickly gained fame for his contribution to the world of glass art. He has received a slew of awards in competitions and exhibitions across the United States.

Karg prefers to use traditional techniques of glassmaking that are thousands of years old. That said, he also adds his own inventive techniques to each project. He creates massive works of art, sometimes taller than 14 feet, through the use of a five-foot blowpipe.

He is especially well known for his creative use of dichroic colors – colors which convey one color while reflecting another – in his glass art. Over the years he honed his skills and soon became well known within the art glass world for deftly mixing traditional glass making techniques with his own, more modern touches.

In the same year he became enamored with glass work, he opened his studio and gallery, Karg Art Glass, in Kechi, Kan. His works started as paperweights, sculptures, bowls and perfume bottles, and have since expanded skyward. "Waco Curves II" is a prime example of Karg's expansive quality and unconventional mixing of media and technique.

Karg's works can be seen in galleries and exhibitions across the United States, and at his studio in Kechi, a small community just north of Wichita. His sculpture, "Waco Curves II," is on permanent display at Niwot Community Corner at Sculpture Park. For more information visit http://www.niwot.com/sculpture and http://www.rollinkarg.com.