Artinfo.com September 28, 2009

Both Barack and Michelle Obama had art on their minds at various points during last week’s G-20 summit.

Inspired by an exhibition at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, where the Obamas held a reception at the start of the summit, the president gave glass trees made by the Frabel Studio to the world leaders in attendance. The studio is the Atlanta home of flamework glass artist Hans Godo Frabel, whose work is featured in the Phipps exhibit. The Obamas themselves were presented with a glass bowl and some glass frogs by Frabel.

Meanwhile, at a concert she hosted at the Pittsburgh Creative & Performing Arts School for its students and the spouses of international leaders, the first lady gave an 11-minute address about the importance of the arts. “We believe strongly that the arts aren’t somehow an ‘extra’ part of our national life, but instead we feel that the arts are at the heart of our national life,” she said. The power of the arts, she added, is “to remind us of what we each have to offer, and what we all have in common; to help us understand our history and imagine our future; to give us hope in the moments of struggle; and to bring us together when nothing else will.”