On West Main Street in Danville sits a stately, old, two-story building with arched windows that originally was a U-S Post Office. Above the front door in big block letters, it says “Federal Building.”
Today, it’s home to the Art Center of the Bluegrass. As you walk inside, off to the right, there are a dozen or so glass art creations on display. They are the work of Stephen Rolfe Powell, considered one of the world’s finest glass artists. Powell taught glass art at Centre College for 34-years before passing away in 2019. He left behind a collection of glass art that has travelled around the world to amaze and inspire art lovers.
Laura Elwyn is the Executive Director of the Art Center of the Bluegrass.
“We have over two million dollars’ worth of his finest museum-quality pieces. We have almost 100 pieces ranging from his earlier ceramics and glass works to the Zoomer that he worked on right before his passing. When Steven passed away, it was very important for his family to find an entity that could preserve and protect his life and legacy, and so it's this wonderful relationship that we have with the Powell family,” she said. “And it's been recently that we have acquired, fully acquired as part of our permanent collection, this wonderful selection of his museum pieces. And so, it brings visitors from us, you know, here locally in Danville, but it also brings visitors. We've had people from New York, from Tokyo, from Britain.”
A series of five different kinds of Powell’s glass art gives visitors a feel for his elaborate and extensive creations. Elwyn describes the glass series of vessels, each with its own name. Some are three-foot high glass vessels, shaped like balloons full of dynamic, bright colors. Others have curling long stems of glass at the top.
“We have the Teasers. Then he progressed to our Whackos, which may remind you of an aardvark elephant or kiwi. His third series are going to be right over here. We have our Screamers with the iconic S shaped neck, that is, that stands out to me when I think about that piece. And then his fourth series we'll see upstairs. They are the Echoes series, which they are these wide vessels that appear to float on their own reflection. And then finally, his fifth series is going to be these Zoomers, these large, curved panels of glass.”
Powell’s influence on the arts in Danville was deep. He founded Centre College’s glass program, and in 2004, Powell became a founding member of what would become the Art Center of the Bluegrass. He received many awards honoring his work, but perhaps his greatest legacy beyond his art is all his former students.
Among them was a young man from Shelbyville, Travis Adams, who would return to Danville after graduating and become one of Powell’s assistants.
“He was just so dynamic. I think as a teacher, there were no real bounds placed on your practice as you know an artist, and he really pushed the envelope of what people were doing in glass through his career, and what really the material could do. And so that's kind of intoxicating. As a student, you see somebody really just going out there as extreme as you could with the material,” he said.
Adams is making his own mark on the glass art world. He created Trifecta Glass Art Lounge in Lexington. It features an art gallery including some pieces of Powell’s collection, a glass-blowing studio where classes are held, and, behind a big green door, a cocktail lounge.
Adams is not content to just showcase his and Powell’s glass art in Central Kentucky.
“I'm a big picture thinker, so we've started showing outside of the state at some really phenomenal fine art fairs as a Trifecta Gallery, and that includes taking my personal work and Steve's work along that journey. We just got back from the Hampton Fine Art Fair. We're heading to Miami for Miami Art week in December. So those type of things are kind of sharing the artistry of glass with a market that's primed for it, but also, you know, going from what some would consider small town to big city, and saying, hey, we've got incredible artists right here in central Kentucky.”
Elwyn hopes more people will stop by for a visit to admire and enjoy Powell’s art.
“You have all these ripple effects with Centre’s programming and with the glass world making Danville a destination to see his art. It's impacted our community in many different ways, enriched a lot of lives and outside of his glass, I think his greatest legacy is allowing his students to soar. And so, we have former students who are still creating and making a living with glass works that, you know, they learned at Centre.”
To get a glimpse of the glass art at the Art Center of the Bluegrass and Trifecta Glass Art Lounge, check out the pictures linked to this story.
