COURTESY PHOTO "Da Vine Da Kine" by J. Robert Reed is made of kiln-formed glass and forged steel. It's among the works in "Transparency" at Gallery Iolani.

Transparency

FledgLing glass artists in the University of Hawaii-Manoa Glass Program have taken their medium down traditional, shiny, pretty paths and along experimental roads as well.

In the exhibition "Transparency," some 20 student works fill Gallery Iolani with everything from vases to skulls to guitars. A metal-and-glass tree dominates one area of the gallery, while nearby, a pile of silvered glass encased in white rubber, titled "Little White Lies," provides a more intriguing piece for visitors to ponder. In another section of the space, "The Material Martyr: The Happy Clamper" combines plate glass, a digital transparency and clamps to present an edgier piece that also challenges its audience.

A statement by UH glass program chair Rick Mills (who also contributes a piece to the show) accompanies the artwork: Glass is the "chameleon of materials," Mills says. It is "able to look like any other material, but in the end, it always asserts its identity."

Reflective of that spirit, the artists in "Transparency" offer a show with range.

"Transparency" runs through May 5 at Windward Community College's Gallery Iolani, 45-720 Kea'ahala Road. Gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays and Tuesdays to Fridays. Call 236-9155.

COURTESY PHOTO "Something Calls ... sentinence" by Rick Mills is a work in solid fennel glass and cast bronze. Bud Spindt's "The Material Martyr: The Happy Clamper."

COURTESY PHOTO Ali Hoag's "Little White Lies."

COURTESY PHOTO "Venus" by Alan Ness is made of sandcast glass.

COURTESY PHOTO James B. Staley worked blown soft glass and lamp-worked bolosilicate for "Sacrifice Watcher," above. Inside the bowl, a figure holds up a vessel.