Acquisition Will Transform OKCMOA’s Glass Collection

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA) announces a receipt of a major gift of over 100 important works from the “Golden Age” of studio glass from the Jerome V. and Judith G. Rose Family Glass Collection. The collection includes works by pioneers of the studio glass movement and many other artists prominent in U.S. and international museum and private collections, among them Harvey K. Littleton, Dale Chihuly, Paul Marioni, Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, William Morris, Lino Tagliapietra, Jaroslava Brychtova and Stanislav Libensky, and Ginny Ruffner.Jerome and Judith Rose, known to their family and friends as Jerry and Judy, began collecting glass in 1977 with the acquisition of a small glass teapot by Richard Marquis. The Roses traveled frequently in the 1980s and 1990s building their collection. This included many visits to Seattle where they became friendly with Dale Chihuly and many of the other artists represented in the collection who are graduates of the Pilchuk Glass School, a center for glass education north of Seattle co-founded by Chihuly. After 40 years of thoughtful acquisitions, the Rose Collection grew into one of the most impressive private studio glass collections in the world comprising 179 works by 83 artists. For 40 years this collection was lovingly and exquisitely displayed through the Rose’s light-filled residence in Atherton, California, delighting family and guests (including many of the artists in the collection who became part of the Rose’s circle of friends).