Bits 'n' Pieces: Orchestrating a dream come true

Glenda Michael

“Cool Bamboo” plates by glass artist Eric Argo of Vancouver appear in the January/February issue of Garden Design magazine.

Eric Argo

Growing up, Glenda Michael dreamed of standing before an orchestra with a baton. Instead she went into banking and settled for appreciating music from the sidelines. But this month, Michael, a 49-year-old vice president and relationship manager with First Independent Bank of Vancouver, will see her long-dormant dream become reality.

Michael, who lives in Vancouver, will conduct the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Jan. 17 and 18 performances. Michael is a member of the board for Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and has chaired its annual Composers’ Gala. At this year’s gala, Michael’s husband, Chuck, surprised her by bidding $2,000 on the chance to conduct the orchestra. She will lead the musicians in “The Radetzky March” by Johann Strauss Sr.

“It’s a fun, upbeat piece that makes me want to get up and move around,” she said.

To prepare for her conducting debut, Michael has been practicing along with a YouTube clip of a maestro leading “The Radetzky March.” She’ll also work with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra music director and conductor Salvador Brotons before rehearsing with the orchestra.

“By the time I get to (the actual performance), I’ll pretty much have this thing burned in my brain,” she said.

With the economy in a tailspin, fewer people have money to spend on luxuries such as original artwork. But Vancouver glass artist Eric Argo hopes his inclusion in the January/February issue of Garden Design magazine will help boost sales. Garden Design has 250,000 subscribers, and the exposure should prove invaluable, said Argo, 47.

Argo’s work draws inspiration from Hawaiian and Polynesian cultures, and he and his sister, Florida glass artist Mary O’Shea, launched an online Tiki-themed art show this summer. He thinks that’s how Garden Design editors caught wind of his work.

Garden Design’s first issue of 2009 has a “Hot Tropics” theme, and the publication contacted Argo about including his “Cool Bamboo” plates. The magazine, which hits newsstands later this month, will include blue, green and yellow glass plates by Argo, each with a black bamboo design.

Argo thinks Garden Design chose these plates because of their simplicity and high color contrast, which helps them photograph well.

Argo started doing glass art 11 years ago and sells his pieces at the National Aquarium gift shop in Washington, D.C., and online through keywestglass.com. This will be the first time his work’s been featured in a national publication.

“It’s a pretty high-end publication, so I’m so pleased to have been chosen,” he said.

Bits ’n’ Pieces appears Mondays and Fridays. If you have a story you’d like to share, call Features Editor Elisa Williams, 360-735-4561, or e-mail elisa.williams@columbian.com.