While the National Liberty Museum is known for its commitment to promoting civil liberties, it is also a champion in another field — glass art.
The museum will host its annual Glass Now Weekend & Auction Oct. 13-16, which will include an awards ceremony honoring a local gay couple at the forefront of the city’s glass-art collecting community.
Franz Rabauer and Brian Daggett, a couple for 16 years, will be named the 2011 Collector Honorees at an awards dinner Oct. 14 at the museum, 321 Chestnut St.
Since their first meeting at Woody’s, Rabauer and Daggett have shared a love of art. While Rabauer was initially an antiques collector and Daggett drawn to pop-shop art, together they began a glass-art collection that has grown to more than 70 pieces, most of which were acquired in the past five years.
Throughout their years of collecting, Rabauer said their taste in glass art has changed.
“We began buying funky, delicate little glasses, champagne glasses and production pieces, and then expanded to buying more substantial, one-of-a-kind pieces,” Rabauer said. “We still buy some of the more delicate pieces but we’ve really grown to love these very large cast-glass pieces that are really heavy and solid.”
Once the couple got involved with the National Liberty Museum, their collection expanded even further.
Rabauer said he and Daggett began supporting the museum after learning about its unique goals from founder Irvin Borowsky.
“He’s a real powerful force and to hear him sit down and talk about the museum is incredible. The mission of the museum is to protect democracy and foster good character and, for us as a gay couple, that was really important, especially because they do a lot of work with children and it’s very important to teach those ideas to kids,” Rabauer said.
The museum’s overarching goals are illustrated by the use of glass art, explained museum chief operating officer Dr. Arlene Silvers.
“All of the themes of the museum are portrayed through glass,” Silvers said. “The whole premise of the museum is that liberty is strong and our freedoms are strong and very beautiful but, just like glass, if they’re mishandled, they can break into a million pieces.”
The museum is home to 125 pieces of glass art, which are included in each of the venue’s exhibits.
The glass-art weekend is now in its 12th year and features such opportunities as visits to homes of area collectors, including Rabaeur and Daggett; a glass film festival; and the weekend’s centerpiece, the Glass Auction Gala Saturday night at the Marriott at 12th and Market streets.
About 300 pieces of glass art will be up for auction, created by emerging artists as well as those more well-known in the glass-art community, and ranging in asking price from $150-$55,000.
Rabauer said the pieces he and Daggett have acquired at the auction in the past several years stand for more than just additions to their collection.
“The glasswork that is donated every year for the auction is usually 100-percent donations from artists all over the world. They’re the ones who really deserve to be honored because if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to have this auction and raise money to support this great cause,” he said. “So when we open our home to different organizations and host dinners and things and people ask about the different pieces of art, we make sure to tell them about the artists because we want to support them for supporting the museum.”
Rabauer and Daggett provide their own support for the museum — donating money, sponsoring their own Milon Townsend sculpture at the venue, and giving their time through Daggett’s work as vice president of the National Liberty Museum’s board and Rabauer’s service as the chair of the Glass Arts Committee.
In selecting Rabauer and Daggett for the award, Silvers said the museum sought to not only honor individuals who have made substantial contributions to the glass-arts community, but also embody the deeper work of the museum.
“One of the big tenets of the museum is diversity and the acceptance of others. And Brian and Franz really fit with that philosophy, so we thought they were perfect candidates to help explain our mission.”
For more information about Glass Now, visit www.libertymuseum.org/glass-art-and-auction/glass-now-2011/.