Sculptor Glenn Dasher will return to Albany this week for events in connection with his exhibition Glenn Dasher: In Retrospection; Monuments to Human Imperfection in the Haley Gallery at the Albany Museum of Art. In addition to a appearances at the AMA, Dasher will visit Albany Technical College, where he will present a welding demonstration Wednesday morning.
 
That AMA outreach event will be 10 am-noon Wednesday, April 18, in Albany Tech’s welding lab. The lab is located in room 104 of Freedom Hall on the Albany Tech campus at 1704 S. Slappey Blvd. The demo is open to both students and the public at no charge.
 
Albany Museum of Art Executive Director Paula Williams said, “Our hope is that the artist’s demonstration will expand students’ thoughts on how the skills they are learning can be used in ways that may not be readily apparent to them.”
 
Carlos Salter, chair and instructor of Welding and Joining Technology at Albany Tech, says the demonstration will be “a great benefit” to students who attend the workshop.
 
“We participate in SkillsUSA,” Salter said. “Last year, we had the state winner here (Dennis Benton, who won the gold medal in Welding Sculpture).
 
“Students like to see sculptures being built. They love hands-on work,” Salter said. “They can watch a professor come and do sculpture with skills they can use with SkillsUSA.”
 
Dasher, a full-time artist since his retirement from the University of Alabama in Huntsville where he was dean of the College of Liberal Arts, uses welding skills in the creation of his sculptures, which are made of metal, stone, wood, canvas and found objects. Dasher says the creation and evolution of his work require the use of a great variety of materials and processes, including the casting, carving, and the machining and fabrication of metal and stone forms.
 
The works by Dasher explore topics such as church and state, and speak to the changing meaning of works of art as time passes and society evolves.
 
Dasher will lead visitors in a discussion of his exhibition Glenn Dasher: In Retrospection; Monuments to Human Imperfection during a Gallery Talk at 6 pm Wednesday, April 18.
 
“I’ve always been fascinated by irony,” he said. “People do one thing and it’s meant to be a good thing, and some people interpret it as a bad thing. The work I do, I don’t really want to upset people, but I do like to do the things that can tweak someone’s interest into trying to figure out what it’s about. In communication, interaction is necessary. … But I do like to ask the questions, the same questions I ask myself.”
 
Also, at 7 pm Tuesday, April 17, Dasher will join a five-person panel exploring the topic “What Is Art?” That panel discussion is being held immediately after the 6 pm opening of Justin Hodges’ Time Time and a Half exhibition in the Albany Museum of Art’s East Gallery. Joining Hodges and Dasher in the discussion will be Rob Matre, owner of the Matre Gallery; Paula Williams, executive director of the AMA, and Femi Anderson, owner of Renaissance Art Café in Albany.
 
All the events are free and open to the public.