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habatat history

Habatat Detroit Fine Art was established in 1971 in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. We are the oldest and largest art gallery in the United States devoted exclusively to artists working with glass as their medium.

Habatat’s Historical Timeline

1971

Habatat Detroit Fine Art opens in Dearborn, Michigan

1972

Habatat Detroit Fine Art begins regular exhibitions of Joel Philip Myers, Richard Ritter, Mark Peiser, Harvey Littleton, Dale Chihuly and David Huchthausen

1979

Habatat Detroit Fine Art holds exhibition: 10 Concepts in Glass

1980

Habatat Detroit Fine Art moves from Dearborn to Lathrup Village and begins to exhibit artists who work in glass exclusively.

1981

Klaus Moje’s first one-man exhibition in the United States is held at Habatat Detroit Fine Art Co-published Glass-Artist & Influence. April is declared Michigan Glass Month. " Glass Artist and Influence “an exhibit of 12 artists that traveled to 13 museums.

1982

Pavel Hlava’s first one man exhibition in the United States is presented at Habatat Detroit Fine Art

1983

Habatat Detroit Fine Art opens a second gallery in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. Co-published The Fine Art of Contemporary Glass

1984

Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova hold their first solo exhibition in the United States at Habatat Detroit Fine Art – Michigan. First International Glass Invitational held at Habatat Detroit Fine Art – Florida. Glass: State of the Art is written and edited by Ferdinand Hampson

1985

Habatat Detroit Fine Art publishes Insight: A Collector’s Guide to Contemporary Glass

1986

Habatat Detroit Fine Art is a participant of the Chicago New Art Forms Exposition, Chicago, Il

1987

Habatat Detroit Fine Art opens a third gallery in Chicago, IL. Habatat Detroit Fine Art publishes 25 Years: Glass as an Art Medium

1988

Habatat Detroit Fine Art Michigan opens The Sixteenth Annual Invitational as an international exhibition.

1989

Habatat Detroit Fine Art, Michigan moves to Triatria Complex in Farmington Hills, MI. Habatat Detroit Fine Art, Illinois is destroyed by fire along with 10 other galleries. Antoine and Etienne Leperlier hold their first exhibition in the U.S. at Habatat, Michigan. Czeslaw Zuber’s first one-man exhibition at Habatat, MI. Habatat Detroit Fine Art is a participant in the Miami International Art Fair, Miami, FL First time exhibition in the U.S. of solo exhibitors: Niyoki Ikuta and Matei Negreanu, at Habatat, MI

Habatat Detroit Fine Art participates in the Tokyo Art Craft Expo, Tokyo, Japan. Habatat participates in the Las Angeles Art Expo. Lucio Bubacco has his first solo exhibition in the U.S. at Habatat Detroit Fine Art, Michigan Sponsored by Centro de Vitro, Habatat Detroit Fine Art organized the exhibition,Cristalomancia-Arte Contemporeno en Vidrio,exhibited at the Tamayo Museum Mexico City, and the Marco Museum, Monterray, Mexico. This exhibtion was the first of it’s kind to take place in Mexico.

1992

Ferdinand Hampson of Habatat Detroit Fine Art co-curated Glas: From Ancient Craft to Contemporary Art: 1962-1992 and Beyond,for the Morris Museum, a six museum traveling exhibition.

1994

Habatat Detroit Fine Art-MI establishes an art & entertainment complex in Pontiac, MI. Habatat opens in this new location in Pontiac.

Sponsored by PPG Industries Foundation, presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Concept Art Gallery and curated by Sam Berkovitz and Ferdinand Hampson, the International Survey of Contemporary Art Glass opens in Pittsburgh

Contemproary Glass of Japan opens at the Museo del Vitro in Monterray, Mexico, curated by Habatat Detroit Fine Art.

1995

International Festival for Glass Arts/Hsinchu Cultural Center Taiwan

1997

Habatat Detroit Fine Art curates the second Biannual Hsinchu Int’l Glass Art Festival

Inaugural Exhibition of Museo del Vidrio Monterrey, Mexico

Habatat Detroit Fine Art co -curates “Currents in Contemporary Glass” in conjunction with Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Concept Art Gallery and Woodcreek Galleries.

1998

Habatat Detroit Fine Art, Grest Barrington, Massachusetts opens

Habatat Detroit Fine Art and Emilio Flores Siller curate the first American solo glass artist exhibition of Jon Kuhn at Museo del Vitro, Monterrey, Mexico

Habatat Detroit Fine Art co-curates with Sylvia Nelson, Director of the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery of Metro Detroit, The Art of Acquisition:Contemporary Glass form Collections in the Jewish Community.

1999

Habatat Detroit Fine Art co-curates, Clearly Sculpture, with the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Birmingham, Michigan

2000

Habatat Detroit Fine Art curates, Artist, Influence & Evolution at the Kraft Gallery, Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Arts Midland:Galleries and School of the Center for the Arts, Midland, Michigan.

Ferdinand Hampson and Sam Berkovitz curate The Italian Influence: CONTEMPORARY GLASS,presented by Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Concept Art Gallery

Habatat Detroit Fine Art curates, Shattering Perceptions exhibition for the Dennos Museum, Traverse City, Michigan and Museo Del Vitro, Monterrey, Mexico.

Ferdinand Hampson and Emilio Flores Siller curate Divinidades y Tormentos, a solo exhibition of the works of Lucio Bubacco.

Habatat Detroit Fine Art and Janice Charach Epstein Gallery curate Illuminous. Illusions, a retrospect

2001

Habatat Detroit Fine Art co-curates with Sylvia Nelson: Steven Weinberg and Irene Frolic: Two Artists, Diverging Directions Janice Charach Epstein Gallery of Metro Detroit.

Habatat Detroit Fine Art, in collaboration with the Liulgongfang Newworkshop, introduces and presents the first International Glass Exhibition in China. This traveling exhibtion opened in the new Millennium Monument in Beijing and in the Shanghai Fine Art Museum in Shanghai.

Habatat Detroit Fine Art opens the Habatat Detroit Fine Art Complex in Royal Oak Michigan.

2002

Habatat Detroit Fine Art Michigan opened a new location in Birmingham, Michigan. Glass Lovers Tour visited artist's studios in England, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Habatat Detroit Fine Art Michigan Began exhibiting at Art Palm Beach.

2003

During the 31st Annual International Glass Invitational Habatat Detroit Fine Art Michigan held the 3rd Masterworks of Contemporary Glass Auction consisting of work from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The Glass Lovers Tour visited artist's studio in Japan.

2004

Habatat Detroit Fine Art Michigan began the Award Exhibition during the 32nd Annual International Glass Invitational. The Habatat Detroit Fine Art location in Birmingham, Michigan was closed. The Glass Lovers Tour visited artist's studios in Hungary, Germany, Poland and Italy. 2004 included exhibits with the work of Tomas Hlavicka and Pavel Hlava.

2005

Habatat Detroit Fine Art 33rd Annual Award Winners were exhibited at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City. The Glass Lovers Tour visited artist's studios in Seattle. 2005 included an exhibition of Erwin Eisch. The second level was added to Habatat Detroit Fine Art Michigan making the location 12,000 square feet which is the largest contemporary glass art gallery in the U.S.A. Habatat Detroit Fine Art Michigan had the first exhibition of the Borowski family's work in America.

2006

During the 34th Annual International Glass Invitational Habatat Detroit Fine Art held its fifth Contemporary Glass Auction consisting of work from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Glass Lovers Tour visits artist's studios in New England.

2007

The 35th Annual International Glass Invitational was celebrated with both a 112 page catalog and for the first time a digital publication. The 2006 award winners were presented at the Muskegon Museum in Muskegon Michigan. As part of the International we offered in a separate building a exhibition called “Scaled Detail”, celebrated diminutive objects by 50 artists. After a 20 year hiatus Ann Wolff had an exhibit at Habatat Detroit Fine Art titled “Observations” that was held concurrent with the Mint Museum.

2008

In 2008 we accompanied the 36th Annual with our most impressive auction to date featuring the Belkin collection. The award winner’s exhibition from the previous year was held at the Midland Center for the Arts. Later that year we had a summer exhibition of American artists at the Anton Art Center in Mt. Clemens Michigan.

2009

In 2009 we were involved in two trips with collectors. One trip went to studios in Seattle and the other studios in the Czech Republic. We worked with the Flint Institute of Arts on a exhibition titled Blown Away which featured a hard cover catalog. The award winners from the previous year were exhibited at University of Michigan Dearborn.

2010

For the 38th Annual International Invitational we published “Inspirations”, a 200 page fully illustrated catalog. We also, for the third year in a row, produced a hard cover book for the award winners. Also this year Habatat visited two glass centers of the world on two collector trips including the Czech Republic and Seattle.

2011

Habatat Detroit Fine Art participated in an exhibition in Art Naples, Sarasota and Art Palm Beach. Ferdinand Hampson was given the Visionary award at Art Naples. We participated in Sofa Santa Fe ,SOFA Chicago, Wheaton Village. For the 39th annual International Invitational we again created a 200 page catalogue.

2012

As part of the 50th anniversary of Studio Glass in America Habatat curated 11 exhibitions for museums, including a retrospective exhibition at the Naples Museum of Art that brought nearly 400,000 visitors. We participated in 4 art fairs, created a 220 page catalogue for our 40th anniversary exhibit. Latter in the year Ferinand Hampson's book “Studio Glass in America: A 50 year journey" released by Schiffer Publishing was introduced. In July we took our collectors trip was a cruise in the Mediterranean , visiting artist studios, galleries and museums along the way.

2013

This year we will continue to work with museums with 4 exhibitions planned. The 41st International will feature the exhibit “eXposed" which will display over two dozen artists that have never exhibited at Habatat. We will host our 12auction entitled Masterworks. Our collectors trip to Australia will be held in collaboration with the Tacoma Museum.

2014

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