2018 Murano Journal by Glass Art Society

T H E G L A S S A R T S O C I E T Y J O U R N A L M U R A N O I TA LY

2018 2018

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY JOURNAL MURANO ITALY

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH 47 TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE MURANO, ITALY | MAY 16-19, 2018

MURANO 2018 2

GAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2017-2018 President

Natali Rodrigues

Vice President

Tracy Kirchmann

Vice President

Stephen Rolfe Powell

Treasurer

John Kiley

Secretary

Jessica Jane Julius

Alex Bernstein

Lynn Read

Kelly Conway

Masahiro Nick Sasaki

Matt Durran

Jan Smith

Michael Hernandez

Cassandra Straubing

Ed Kirshner

Cesare Toffolo

Jeff Lindsay

David Willis

Heather McElwee

Caitlin Vitalo, Student Representative

GAS 2018 MURANO CONFERENCE SITE COMMITTEE Cesare Toffolo, Co-President Lino Tagliapietra, Co-President Lucio Bubacco Davide Salvadore Adriano Berengo Consorzio Promovetro Murano Marina Tagliapietra CONFERENCE LOGO DESIGNERS Lucio Bubacco and Cesare Toffolo CONFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHER Manuel Silvestri* GAS STAFF Pamela Figenshow Koss, Executive Director Kristen W. Ferguson, Operations & Program Manager Tess McShane, Communications & Social Media Specialist Jalair Box, Development & Membership Specialist Helen Cowart, Administrative Assistant Laurie Streiner, Event Coordinator* Charlotte Moss, Bookkeeper* Sarah Kulfan, Graphic Designer* Brandi P. Clark, GAS Journal Editor *Contract/part-time employee

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

Published by: GLASS ART SOCIETY 2208 NW Market St., Suite 200 Seattle, WA 98107 USA www.glassart.org Editor: Brandi P. Clark Design: Sarah Kulfan Conference Photographer: Manuel Silvestri Copyright Š 2019 by Glass Art Society No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced in any form without the written permission of the Glass Art Society. The opinions expressed and text written in the GAS Journal are those of the annual conference presenters and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the Glass Art Society, its Board of Directors, or staff. Copies of this GAS Journal may be ordered from the Glass Art Society at a cost of $35 USD (includes shipping & handling to GAS members in the US, Canada, Mexico) or $45 (to GAS members in all other countries.) For non-members, the GAS Journal prices are $50 (US, Canada, and Mexico) and $60 (all other countries.) Most past issues are available at the same cost. A 10% discount is given on orders of five or more. Inquiries of over-the-counter sales and quantity-orders are welcomed. Copies of the articles may be purchased for .50 per page. An order form can be found at the back of this journal. Upon request, the Journal is available to libraries and educational institutions for a minimal fee and shipping and handling costs.

For information about the Glass Art Society, please contact us at 206-382-1305 GAS office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, Pacific Standard Time Email: info@glassart.org Cover images: Front: Livio Seguso, Vortice, 1978 Back: Pino Signoretto, Testa di Cavallo Molata, 2006

San Pietro Church registration area. Photo: Pamela Koss

All permission for photographic reproduction is the responsibility of the author. Unless otherwise noted, the photographs were submitted by the artist. Dimensions, when available, are usually given in inches or feet as height x width x depth.

The 2018 GAS Journal is supported, in part, by an award from the Corning Incorporated Foundation. Without their support, this publication would not have been possible.

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

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CONTENTS REFLECTIONS President’s Message by Natali Rodrigues Murano Co-President Message by Cesare Toffolo Murano Co-president Letter by Lino Tagliapietra Building Il Percorso di Vetro by Pamela Figenshow Koss Planning the GAS Conference in Murano by Marina Tagliapietra Remembering “Alabama” Stephen Rolfe Powell 1951-2019 by Lino Tagliapietra

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AWA R D S & T R I B U T E S Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award: Livio Seguso Lifetime Technical Achievement Award: Pino Signoretto Lifetime Membership Award: Durk Valkema 2018 International Student Exhibition Awards & Scholarships Visionary Award: Benjamin Moore

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C ATA LY S T S Saxe Emerging Artist: Meng Du Saxe Emerging Artist: Gayle Forman Saxe Emerging Artist: Simone Fezer

22 24 26

LECTURES Keynote Lecture: Glass in Imitation of Other Material by Fabrizio Antonelli Labino Lecture: The Venetian Cristallo: The Secrets of Venetian Renaissance Glass by Marco Verità Strattman Lecture: The Great Unknown; Establishing a Glass Community in Bangkok by Jeremy Popelka and Stephanie Trenchard Willson Lecture: Who in the world am I? Ah, that is the great puzzle! by Silvia Levenson Littleton Lecture: Off the Beaten Path by Michael Rogers Fratelli Toso Glass Factory by Caterina Toso Functional Glasses for Glass Art by Laura Aalto-Setälä Beyond Legacy by Gianni Toso Observations on Roman Cameo Glass by Richard Whitely The Flameworking of Glass Items Until the 19th Century by Sandro Zecchinn The Murrini of Franchini, Moretti, and Barovier by Giovanni Sarpellon GLASS Virtual, Real by Koen Vanderstukken Lampworking by Cesare Toffolo Extruding Glass Across Millennia by Michael Stern

29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55

D E M O N S T R AT I O N S HOT GLASS Magic Light of Plasma/Neon by Patrick Collentine Double Standards by Ned Cantrell & Vidar Koksvik Channeling of Light by Veronika Beckh Venini Experience, 1972 -1973 and 2018 by Dan Daily Working Borosilicate Glass at the Furnace by Simone Crestani Capriccio Glass in Context by Tom Moore The Color Wheel by Claire Kelly

58 60 62 64 66 68 70

ENGRAVING A Moving Point – Tradition and Innovation by Alison Kinnaird

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

The GAS Conference in Murano – When a Dream Becomes Reality! by Matteo Seguso

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FLAMEWORKING A Beadmaker’s Journey by Alessia Fuga Mind in Glass by Mauro Bonaventura Love for Nature…Passion for Glass by Vittorio Costantini The Journey of an Italian Glass Flower by Carolyn Baum Glass Figurines by Jitka Havlíčková Cane Work in a Flame Way by Laurence Brabant & Alain Villechange Vessels of Memory: Glass Ships in Bottles by Dr. Ayako Tani

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COLDWORKING Coldworking Intricate Forms by Yusuke Takemura & Richard Whitely

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Metamorphosis of a Vase: Glass from Another Point of View by Franco e Mauro Panizzi

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KILN Books of Disquiet by Anne Petters

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PA N E L S Four Women Artists: Their Unique Approaches and History to the Media of Glass by Amy Schwartz; Panelists: Jen Blazina, Amber Cowen, Susan Taylor-Glasgow 95 The Glass Path and the Visual Culture of Glass: What Does All This Glass “Do” in the World, Anyway? by Jeffrey Sarmiento; Panelists: Vanessa Cutler, Inge Panneels, G. Jane Cook 97 Murano, what a future by Piero Nason; Panelists: Michela Scibilia, Monica Guggisberg, Marco Zito 99 The Venini Panel by Phillip Baldwin; Panelists: Richard Marquis, Benjamin Moore, Dan Dailey, Toots Zynsky, Monica Guggisberg, Roberto Gasparotto 100 The Future of Glass Colour by Caterina Toso; Panelists: Michele Back, Cristiano Ferro, Prof. Francesco Gonella, Sandro Hreglich, Prof. Antonio Pires de Matos, Prof. Carlo Pantano, Prof. John Parker, Prof. Setsuhisa Tanabe, Caterina Toso 101 SPECIAL EVENTS Pre-conference Reception at Lino Tagliapietra Studio Rosin: The Strong Side of Glass Documentary by InMurano Archive Murano Glass Fashion Show in Boats by Laura Donefer Special Events & Exhibitions Conference Tours

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REMEMBRANCES John Leighton James Yood

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CONFERENCE PROGRAM & ACTIVITIES Glass Art Society’s 47th Annual Conference Program Presentation Descriptions Technical Display Vendors

118 122 128

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Glass Art Society Thanks & Acknowledges our 2018 Sponsors, Conference Committee, Donors, & Volunteers Glass Art Society Fund Donors Glass Art Society Upper-Level Members Past Award Recipients, Conferences, Board Members, & Editors Back Issues of the GAS Journal IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

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REFLECTIONS

“I believe that what we have experienced has been a historical event and that we have all been witnesses and protagonists of these moments that will continue to live in our memories and above all will be stationed in our hearts. Certain things, you know, cannot be described if they have not been lived but the story has to be told and we can say ‘I was there.’”

—Cesare Toffolo

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

Natali Rodrigues

President’s Message

By Natali Rodrigues Time has given me the opportunity to reflect on our shared experience of the Murano GAS conference. When we first began talking about even the possibility of having a conference there—it seemed like a dream. Thankfully the Italian site committee were the perfect people to make dreams come true.

Il Percorso di Vetro: The Glass Path was a conference that celebrated the generous and bountiful spirit of the Muranese glass tradition. The island has become a touchstone for the Studio Glass Movement, developing in our imaginations what is possible to make and driving innovation in an attempt to begin to match what has been produced on the island. It is a singular tradition and history that has shaped us all.

The conference was focused on the celebration, skill and tradition that has flowed from Murano to the rest of the

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

world and a welcoming back of its return through new generations of makers. And like all reunions, it was a complex experience filled with joy, surprise, and new friends. Skill and innovation were shared across cultures and generations. This Journal is a record of the rich experience of that generative place.

In the context of all the history and contributions of those before us, I’m very grateful that together we were able to stand on the floor of Venini, to see the historic design on the top of Barovier & Toso, and to participate in the conference. It seems nearly miraculous.

I hope you enjoy our effort to capture the moment as we have tried our best to re-create and memorialize the spirit of the event. Thank you to all of you who showed us the way.

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Cesare Toffolo

Murano Site Committee Co-President Message

By Cesare Toffolo Participating in the preparation of the GAS Conference in Murano was a very stressful adventure. But, the result and the happiness of the people present has repaid us abundantly and, if I could go back, I would do everything from the beginning.

The preparation required a long and intense work that lasted many months, all this was “burned” in four fantastic days.

What happened in those four days was incredible, two opposing glass realities (one closed and conservative, one open and popular) merged with each other.

Above all I feel thankful, all of this was possible due to the determination and work of a few, but also because the time was ripe and people were ready for this step.

Personally, in those days, I breathed

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two scents: one brought great charm and respect for those who wrote the history of glass for over a thousand years, the other, the curiosity to know that even beyond the lagoon you can work the glass with skill and innovation.

The energy that was released during those four days I had never seen before, not in Murano and not at the other GAS Conferences in which I participated.

I believe that what we have experienced has been a historical event and that we have all been witnesses and protagonists of these moments that will continue to live in our memories and above all will be stationed in our hearts. Certain things, you know, cannot be described if they have not been lived, but the story has to be told and we can say “I was there”.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

Murano Site Committee Co-President Message

By Lino Tagliapietra

Lino Tagliapietra at the Pre-Conference Reception. Photo by: Rosann Milius

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

I just think the time was ripe for having, finally, the GAS Conference in my hometown of Murano. Murano has always been the “Mecca� of glassblowers and glass artists. After decades of decline, Murano needed a new starting point, a fertilizer to revive the decadent tradition of glassblowing. It was my belief that the conference could be the mechanism to implement, to complete, the cultural openness already in action. Murano needed to experience, with no filters, what was going on in the glass world outside of its boundary. It had been my wish for a long time to have the two worlds meet.

I must say, for the committee, organizing the conference took a huge effort in terms of time and commitment.

It took almost two years. Not only for practical matters like bringing everything by boats, setting up structures for hundreds of visitors on the soccer field, but also dealing with the Italian bureaucracy was not an easy task. Personally, I felt a two-sided responsibility towards the Muranese and towards the visitors. I wished that Murano could show its best and that the Muranese could directly experience the most talented glass artists from all over the world. In my opinion, the conference is all about sharing experience and knowledge. In my dreams, everything went smoothly, and everyone enjoyed it. Of course, there were a few missteps and things that could have been done in a better way, but my overall impression is extremely positive. I do hope that this conference will represent a turning point for the glass art movement in Murano and a sweet memory for the participants, and I hope that my fellow citizens understand that teamwork pays off and being isolated is harmful.

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Building Il Percorso di Vetro, The Glass Path

by Pamela Figenshow Koss The building of any new road is exciting and hard work. In the case of Murano, the roads are those of water, and the paths between the worlds of glass were somewhat uncharted.

Selecting the Landscape for 2018

Murano was always a dream for the Glass Art Society. Over my nearly 15 years at GAS, many conversations happened with many boards and many possible partners, both formal and informal, to discuss the possibility of a conference.

In 2008, while on another scouting trip in England, I made a preliminary visit to Murano when then-president Shane Fero was teaching there with Lucio Bubacco. But still, the timing was not yet right for Murano. In the fall of 2015, it was suggested I reach out to Adriano Berengo as he had produced Glasstress and we thought there might be an opportunity. Adriano, unaware of the Glass Art Society, replied positively and talks began. The next step involved Board members making the first official site visit in April of 2016. During our visit, it became resoundingly clear that it was important for the Glass Art Society to connect the history of glass on the small island of Murano.

Engaging a Team

The first step was to ensure there was a strong committed team in Murano. It was essential for GAS to have partners who had attended conferences in the United States before and were already involved with the Glass Art Society. It was imperative that the site committee was wholly committed to helping GAS plan this enormous event on a very small island with limited capacity. The Italian/ English language barrier was a challenge and bridging that linguistic gap, along with the unique cultural makeup of Murano, to plan a conference was a difficult assignment.

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We all knew the legends surrounding the inner world of Muranese glass and its history of protecting its secrets, so sharing that with the world at large was a controversial one. We needed a team to help negotiate and initiate access. Our planning committee began to form: Lino Tagliapietra, Cesare Toffolo, Lucio Bubacco, Davide Salvadore, Adriano Berengo, and Promovetro were all members of the planning committee. Cesare Toffolo and Lino Tagliapietra took on the job of conference co-presidents with Marina Tagliapietra taking on the role of event planner. After the committee leadership was confirmed, it was then that we began to pave the actual path.

Building this program and choosing how attendees would flow between venues was more complicated than any other conference. For many reasons, every step forward was fraught with unexpected roadblocks which were more complicated and expensive than we had envisioned.

There were hundreds of conference calls with Cesare, Marina, and Lino, and Alessandro Vecchiato was eventually brought in to help with the project. After over two years of designing and executing plans for this historic program, we can say with certainty that GAS owes their undying gratitude to its Italian partners.

Laying the Foundation

In March of 2017, members of the GAS Board and the Italian committee met in Murano to plan the conference schedule. The initial program was selected based on our standard format but focused on celebrating the location.

Logistically, the challenge was organizing what we knew would be a popular conference in historic sites with limited capacity. The venues were smaller, and transportation was complicated by a city surrounded by water. Politically, the conference was taking on issues that

had never been examined on such a large scale. As a way of addressing these issues, GAS initiated a program of tours concurrent with the conference schedule of lectures and demonstrations. The tours achieved two things - they allowed attendees to see the hidden wonders of Murano, and they eased the capacity issues that most venues faced. When I think back on the entire process, it was a gift I experienced every day. It was a joy to see the back rooms of Ercole Morretti with fused work and thousands of hidden glass buttons, the history of sketches and engravings from SALIR, the miles of cane being pulled at Effetre, inside the renowned Barovier&Toso which began in 1295 and its historic museum with centuries of work created there, and the lighting currently being made. It was also a privilege to see the delicate gold leaf creations of Albertini and Spezzamonte, the mirroring of Ongaro & Fuga, the remarkable antiquities of Altino. These are but a handful of examples.

The American glass world knew the lore of Venini and its connection to the world of glass, but at the conference, we were able to venture inside. Many of the places in Murano were not only closed to those outside Murano but were also closed to all outside of the studio. In Murano, you could see the final products, but unless you were working there, the insides of the studios were off limits and shrouded in mystery.

The Center

To accommodate approximately 2,000 conference attendees on the small island was no small task, so we needed to develop a center. As it has served the local Muranese for centuries, Santa Pietro Martire graciously allowed us to create the heart of the conference there with the use of the church and its grounds.

The soccer field at the church was trans-

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

formed into a small stadium with a hot glass furnace and seating for 800 that was used for both lectures and demos.

The church, along with Noi il Patronato, operated a kitchen with volunteers who served food from morning until night, and Scout Murano troop helped to serve food and tidy up the field. The church was also the center for registration and the beginning point for tours. The church also housed our offices, and we used its theater for lectures and films on glass.

Special events such as Bill Gudenrath’s concert on the church organ beneath the beautiful glass chandeliers were also held at Santa Pietro Martire.

The Furnaces

Inside the furnace venues, most ran their production lines during the conference allowing participants to see both the GAS demonstration as well as how these historic furnaces are typically operated.

It was a dream come true for most. For the daily conference program, the hot glass venues were varied. We had artists coming from around the world and often the equipment and tools they were used to, like a garage or glory hole, would not exist because they are not standard equipment in a production furnace. We borrowed and built what we did not have.

Flameworking

Since the studios in the city were too small for demonstrations, we had to convert two other sites to accommodate the crowds. We rented Palestra Gym from the city and transformed it into a flameworking site for two artists to work simultaneously, and at Fabbrica, a former glass furnace, we had to build a new interior from scratch. In one section, we had a stage for flameworking demos, and in another, we created a structure for the technical display trade show.

Coldworking

We built two coldworking and engraving sites at Effetre and NasonMorretti, and we also used the studio of Matteo Seguso.

Kiln

The Berengo Studio casting room held lectures and demonstrations on kiln work.

“If You Build It, They Will Come�

The night we opened registration in Seattle was like no other. At midnight, the minute we went live, registrations started pouring in from all over the world. It was really very moving to see how much excitement people had built up for the upcoming conference. The phone did not stop ringing for the first 5 months.

We achieved and surpassed our target numbers. Many things sold out in the first few days, so we worked on adding capacity up until the beginning of the conference. We added an additional furnace, we added tours, we added two new locations for the pre-conference reception, we expanded the site for the opening reception, we added demonstrations - all to increase to our possible reach.

After a year of working hard, verbal approvals moved to official permits, fire inspections were done, equipment needs were answered, and, above all, safety issues were addressed in great detail. With the construction plans completed, we were ready for the move-in. Every booth, chair, table, flag, piece of audio-visual elements, and lighting fixture along with all food, drink, signage, lavatories, t-shirts, hundreds of bleacher components and staging, were brought to Murano by boat.

We opened registration early the first morning to a crowd that was at least three blocks long. Tours were launched at the same time as registration, and hun-

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

dreds of volunteers from Murano helped.

Happy conference goers lined the streets, looking for flags marking our locations, seeing things they never thought they would see. The conference program was diverse and international with subjects and presenters spanning the globe.

Attendees were exploring glass, having a coffee, eating great food, and seeing friends from around the world.

On the last night, hundreds of local Muranese, conference attendees, and visitors alike lined the banks of the canale to enjoy the Glass Fashion Show produced by Laura Donefer. Eleven Caorlina boats and one gondola floated down the canale with thirty-six models on board donning glass costumes. Afterward, the closing party took place featuring music, dancing, and food to close what had been a fabulous and historic four days. Somewhere in a library in Rome, the name of the Glass Art Society is now officially registered in Italian accounts, recorded in a six-inch-thick leather-bound volume, marking forever, the history of this journey. After nearly fifteen years with the Glass Art Society, this was a wonderful conference on which to finish my tenure at GAS. To all those who helped open this path, to the island of Murano which allowed us to build it, to the Murano committee that worked so hard to make a dream come true, to all the sponsors that funded it, to the artists from around the world that presented, and to all who came and walked down the path and enjoyed this historic moment in time, I offer my heartfelt thank you. I hope that the path we laid those four days will continue to be well-traveled between all the worlds of glass everywhere.

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Marina Tagliapietra and Pamela Figenshow Koss at the Closing Night Party in Murano.

Planning the GAS Conference in Murano

By Marina Tagliapietra Almost three years have passed since we started talking about the possibility of hosting the 47th Glass Conference in Murano.

I remember a walk in Murano with Pamela Koss, executive director of the Glass Art Society, during which Pamela asked me if I would be available to help her organize the Conference. When I answered yes, I didn’t know, I wasn’t aware of how much work, commitment, tension, and emotions I would be subjecting my life.

Murano was not an easy location. Everything in Murano is complicated and extremely expensive.

To receive all the necessary permits, to work and accommodate people in peace, and organize many more spaces (our dimensions are smaller compared to American standards; hence the need to find and host many different places instead of just a few locations) was challenging.

Materials, including an entire furnace

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built outdoors on a stage, bleachers, and tensile structures were all brought in by boats of various sizes, some of which occupied the entire canal and due to high tide, almost did not pass under the bridge.

All this complicated our lives but has also made the final result more sweet and satisfying. To offer as many people as possible as complete an experience and an overview of the entire Murano environment, we developed a series of guided tours of historical working sites that included both the most prestigious furnaces and the small artisan workshops unknown to most.

Many of these sites are typically closed to the public and just being able to include them in our project was, for us, a success.

Through furnaces, coldworking, mirrors, enamel decorations, engravings, murrine, and guided visits to the Glass Museum and the Archaeological Museum of Altino, participants were able to see and be directly in contact with the people who have been

working in these places for generations.

All this has been possible thanks to many people who dedicated their free time to this project. They accompanied visitors around the island, most with only rudimentary English skills, but always with a smile on their faces because they were happy to be part of this ambitious project.

I would like to send my thanks to all these friends and to the students who made themselves available because without them all this would not have been possible.

A special thanks from the bottom of my heart goes, above all, to Pamela Koss, who involved me in all this and who gave me one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and that I will keep forever inside me.

Finally, I would like to dedicate all this to Stephen Powell, who helped us, worked with us, and participated with us to make this experience unforgettable as we will never forget the time spent with him.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

Right: Pamela Figenshow Koss and Stephen Rolfe Powell in Murano

Remembering “Alabama” Stephen Rolfe Powell 1951-2019

By Lino Tagliapietra Participating in the preparation of the GAS Conference in Murano was a very stressful They say that you give nicknames to people you love, for Steven I had a bunch of them. I used to call him “Alabama”, mostly when his native state’s college football team was winning. Making fun of him, I use to call him “Pocahontas”, due to his supposed relationship with her husband John Rolfe. I first met Steven in the 80s at Pilchuck and after meeting him many times in our travels due to our common passion for glass, I appreciated his qualities as a human being. He was energetic and lively, not self-indulgent, and a curious person.

He was a special teacher because he

was fully aware of his own limits, as all humble people are. He was also a great motivator, with the special gift for putting people together. Around Centre College he created a group of friends and supporters that contributed to form a unique place where they could study the art of glass. He developed an exquisite version of the Venetian working technique that is readily recognizable. Even if one had the impression that Steven was teaching or working on his pieces randomly, he studied a lot and carefully planned his work. Just by checking the library in his home, you got the impression of how much he had worked to get to the point of completion. Steven was also a great experi-

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

menter with a great taste for the combination of colors but he never took himself too seriously, it is enough to see when you check the titles of some of his pieces of art.

Steven truly loved what he was doing and the people around him, family, students, and friends. He taught us how to enjoy life and follow our passions. I have been fortunate enough to share with him part of his journey and I feel the privilege of being his friend. I could talk about him for days.

These pages for sure are not enough to explain how special he was. His loss leaves an overwhelming emptiness, and I miss him so much.

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AWARDS & TRIBUTES

Scott Benefield introduces the 2018 Lifetime Membership Award winner, Durk Valkema

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

L I F E T I M E A R T I S T I C A C H I E V E M E N T AWA R D

Livio Seguso

The awarding ceremony of the “Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award” by the Glass Art Society. Photo by Roberto Cesarin.

DINAMISMO VITALE, 2013, Clear glass, black Belgian marble

I have received the opportunity to express a thought towards the event promoted in Murano by the prestigious Glass Art Society. I will say with sincere conviction that its articulation in the various places of the island of Murano, they showed great interest and, above all, revealed their immense love for glass has been felt everywhere.

I believe that all the participants, regardless of their origin, showed great enthusiasm and felt various emotions. It has been clearly perceived that everyone appreciated the moment of cultural exchange. I also firmly believe that this event has been useful for the evolutionary and innovative purposes of this marvelous art centered on glass. It has been a great experience for the participants to filter their past, see again the present, and look towards the future. The event enriched every person who loves glass with new and deeper connections.

Even with my long experience in direct contact with the material glass, even as a modest connoisseur of public events par-

ticularly focused on glass art, I can say that such an event can be considered one of a kind.

Regarding the prestigious recognition that has been bestowed on to me, both for my intense artistic research activity and for the results achieved in the field of contemporary sculpture, I must consciously affirm that it has honored me and stimulates me to pursue my career with greater enthusiasm and love, for as long as I exist.

In the light of what was expressed, I feel the urge to address my sincerest gratitude to the entire management team of the Glass Art Society, to the large number of people who have dedicated themselves intensely, facing physical and intellectual hardships to be able to give the event the caliber that emerged irrepressible in everyone’s eyes.

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Livio Seguso

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L I F E T I M E T E C H N I C A L A C H I E V E M E N T AWA R D

In Loving Memory of Maestro Pino Signoretto 1944-2017

Left: Davide Signoretto accepts the Lifetime Technical Achievement Award on behalf of his father. Right: Pino Signoretto

“Pino was one of my best friends and one of the greatest glass sculptors of our time. He made extraordinary pieces and his skill and deep generosity of spirit helped not only me, but hundreds of other artists realize their creative vision. Goodbye, Pino.

We will always remember you and love you.”

—Dale Chihuly

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

L I F E T I M E M E M B E R S H I P AWA R D

Durk Valkema

Durk Valkema

It is a great honor to be here today, on this historic location, at this gathering, to accept the award of Lifetime Membership in the Glass Art Society.

I am grateful to the present Board of Directors for this recognition, and the colleagues that I served with for their friendship and support during my years on the Board.

I was privileged to have a unique vantage point for viewing the origins of the Studio Glass movement as my father’s professional acquaintances became family friends in the process of creating a global network of artists, craftsman and educators.

The essential ideals of the Glass Art Society—of information exchange, of gathering together to strengthen bonds forged through common interests, to inspire and challenge one other— were a natural outgrowth of these early friendships and have continued to keep that spirit alive through the many years that followed.

My generation carried on and multiplied those first connections. We came of age in a new era of inexpensive and easier international travel, and embraced those possibilities.

The Studio Glass movement was growing faster than anyone had anticipated, and spawned publications, galleries, schools and workshops—and organizations such as GAS—that created a fertile ecosystem that supported a wide variety and scope of activities related to glass.

Like any ecosystem, the glass world continues to evolve. GAS continues to evolve and find new ways to connect with its members and provide services that they need.

But I believe that gatherings such as this, when people can meet face to face and have a visceral, from Latin Viscera= gut feeling not mind, rather than virtual experience of a particular place and time; have all of those minor but meaningful personal interactions; are of real and lasting importance.

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

It is the reason why I felt it was important to bring the conference to my home town of Amsterdam in 2002, so that everybody could better understand what is particular and important about a specific place—and thus enlarge their perception of this wide and wonderful world.

That is why I’m excited to be here on Murano today, which is a place that resonates with history and is so rewarding to experience. Our only hope of truly understanding its importance is to be here, to engage all of your senses, to smell it and hear it, to walk the streets, to talk to the people, to experience some of the culture and environment that produced such an important contribution to the history of glass.

My current work with Anna Carlgren and the Rakow Library of The Corning Museum of Glass on the Sybren Valkema archive is related to this appreciation of history—the study and preservation of the past, as a means of informing and enriching our experience of the present.

Human beings have worked with glass for thousands of years and will, no doubt, continue to work with glass in the future. How can we nourish that development? What is the role of tradition in doing that, what is the value of preserving some continuity of thought and process as we go forward?

We evolve, yes, we progress and invent new forms and new technologies, but my belief is that these efforts can only be boosted by a knowledge and appreciation of those who walked this Percorso di Vetro (the glass path) before us.

As circumstances keep changing, each new generation takes on a different set of challenges. Whether that’s energy consumption in a world of diminishing resources and its environmental impact, or the ever-changing market for glass, or its position in the wider world of visual arts, the conditions under which we make our work do not stay the same.

As artists--people who are inspired by visions of the possible, who are fundamentally creative, who are skilled with tools and materials--we must continue to adopt smart and creative solutions to ensure the use of glass as a free and independent medium in the arts in the 21st century.

Gatherings such as this conference are a vital link in keeping communication between communities open, in renewing our capacity for wonder, in affirming the positive value of connecting person to person.

Stanislav Libenský once put it this way- in a tribute to my father: “There are a lot of things (between us). We think of each other even if we do not meet, we have each other in the heart, and when we meet anywhere in the world, it is always holiday.”

Thank you for giving me this award. And thank you Lino and the local committee and Pam with her team at GAS, and all the volunteers for organizing this great gathering.

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2018 International Student Exhibition Awards The Glass Art Society holds a Student Exhibition each year. All artwork is submitted via an online application, then juried for awards and inclusion into the show. Students who are unable to ship their artwork or unable to attend the conference were still eligible for awards. The 2018 Student International Exhibition was held at Abate Zanetti.

FIRST PLACE Tate Newfield, Rochester Institute of Technology • One year Glass Art Society membership and free conference pass to 2019 conference • $1,000 cash award from Corning Museum of Glass • $100 cash award from the National Libety Museum • $100 gift certificate from Carlisle Machine Works • Visiting Artist opportunity at the Worcester Center for Crafts • Pittsburgh Glass Center Summer Intensive Gift Certificate

SECOND PLACE Kris Rumman, Tyler School of Art • One year Glass Art Society membership and 50% off conference pass for 2019 • $500 gift certificate from Bullseye Glass Company • $100 cash award from the National Liberty Museum • $100 gift certificate from Carlisle Machine Works • An UrbanGlass Full Scholarship • Diamond Shears from Red Hot Metal

THIRD PLACE

Miia Pauliina Lötjönen, Gravity, 2017, Sandcasting, grinding, sandblasting, polishing, freeblowing, Aalto University of Art Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Uudenmaan lääni, Finland

GAS 2018 Student Scholarships

Alexander Lozano, the University of Texas at Arlington • One year Glass Art Society membership and 25% off conference pass for 2019 • $100 cash award from the National Liberty Museum • $100 gift certificate from Carlisle Machine Works • Minnesota Center for Glass Art Full Scholarship

General Student Scholarships ($1,000 each)

Student Exhibition Jurors

Takako Sano International Student Scholarship

Jane Bruce Walter Zimmerman Silvia Levenson

Fatma Çiftçi, Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey

Becky Winship Flameworking Scholarship

International Student Exhibition Award Donors

$1,000 or more: Corning Museum of Glass, National Liberty Museum $500-$999: Worcester Center for Crafts, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Bullseye Glass Company, UrbanGlass, and Minnesota Center for Glass

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Abbey Uffelman, Temple University Chenyang Mu, Rochester Institute of Technology for American Craft JiEun Yoon, Rochester Institute of Technology for American Craft Eric Meeker, Rochester Institute of Technology for American Craft Jennifer Detlefsen, Virginia Commonwealth University

Valeria Montana, VICARTE, Portugal

Student Scholarship Jurors Leo Tecosky Nadania Idriss Ben Wright

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

V I S I O N A R Y AWA R D

Sharing of a Rich Tradition

By Benjamin Moore I could tell my design presentation to Ludovico Diaz de Santillana was not going as I had hoped. Ludovico indicated he was impressed with my work but did not think my designs were appropriate for Venini production at that time. But as a naïve young American glassblower/designer, I was not ready to give up my desire to work in a glass factory on Murano.

I had received my MFA the previous spring, in June 1977, from the Rhode Island School of design, where I studied and worked with Dale Chihuly. Before studying at RISD, I studied ceramics at the California College of the Arts and attended Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State.

My interest in ceramics and the concept of dealing with the center had evolved into a fascination with glassblowing.

I was enthralled with the process of blowing glass, so going to Venice, with its centuries-old traditions of glassmaking and sophisticated glass artisans, was key to my growth as a glassblower. In the spring of 1977, I had sent letters to about 10 Muranese glass factories. I received only one response, a cryptic telegram from Ludovico at Venini saying, “Come along.

We might make arrangements for work.”

Based on this telegram, I arrived by train in Venice in the fall of 1977 and checked into a cheap hotel. It took a couple of weeks to arrange a meeting at Venini with Ludovico. In the meantime, I explored Venice, absorbing the atmosphere.

When Ludovico and I finally met, I already felt a sense of comfort on the lagoon. It reminded me of my upbringing on the Puget Sound in Washington State.

The smells of the sea were familiar to me, as were the sounds of the boats and lapping water. I also had a connection with this marine environment which came from knowing and understanding tides and being on a protected saltwater lagoon.

At the end of my meeting with Ludovico, I offered to do anything to stay on Murano and work. Ludovico agreed. I

began working in the factory as a garzone assigned to Checco Ongaro’s team, doing the work typically done by an apprentice including taking completed glassworks to the annealing oven, opening and closing molds, and picking up wine from Il Cacciatore for the morning break.

Dale Chihuly, who influenced me greatly, believed the best way to learn glassblowing was to carefully watch someone more skilled than you. When I went to Venice, the American Glass Movement was still in its formative years.

Artists were mostly self-taught. Students in art programs learned what they could from the faculty, but there was no real sophisticated foundation for glassblowing craftsmanship. Everyone had to do their best to figure it out on their own.

Coming from that background, I was amazed by what I saw in the Venini factory. Muranese artisans approached the glass in ways unknown to me. How they worked the glass at incredibly hot temperatures was truly awe-inspiring. Seeing and understanding the importance of working glass this way was new to me.

I kind of understood the concepts and fundamental techniques, but now I was watching the maestri and their teams for the first time.

I saw how to properly gather glass, create the moil that is the foundation for the bubble, and distribute the glass around the bubble to achieve the desired effect.

The living history of glassblowing, together with the soulful factory environs used for centuries, added to the mystique of the experience.

At that time, Venini had six piazze – one for each maestro and his team. Because my work was not pivotal to Checco’s team, and when time allowed, I was given permission to roam the factory to watch other Venini maestri at work.

After working for a few weeks, I asked for and received permission to use a room with beautiful light as a studio in the facto-

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Benjamin Moore was selected for the first GAS Visionary Award for his integral role in connecting the Italian glass world in Murano to the emerging American studio glass movement.

ry. The only opportunity I had to personally blow glass was during the lunch break.

I would eat a quick lunch then go back to the factory floor and blow rondels.

In my studio, after work and on weekends, I used the rondels to create leaded windows, doors, and screens. Checco was taken by my enthusiasm to learn about and design glass. He took me under his wing and suggested I bring some of my designs to the factory floor and indicated he might try making one at the end of the workday if time permitted. By the end of the year, we had created a small body of work from my designs. Late in the spring of 1978, it was time for me to return to the United States and my responsibilities as Pilchuck’s educational coordinator. I invited Ludovico to visit my studio and see the work I had created during the year the leaded panels and the blown objects Checco and I made. He was surprised as he had no idea I was creating my own work and was impressed enough to invite me to return to Venini in the fall as a designer. I made many friends during my first year in Venice, particularly Checco and his family, who took me on outings around the 19

lagoon and taught me about everyday life in Venice. This time was filled with so many memorable experiences, particularly to a kid from Olympia, Washington. One night I had a wonderful dinner with Ludovico and his wife Anna’s palazzo on the Grand Canal.

At the other extreme, each day I returned to a basic room with no hot water where I lived, just behind the Piazza San Marco.

As I walked across the island of Venice every morning to catch the vaporetto, I was struck by how little had changed in this magical place. The smells and the sounds of the piazza, campi, and canali were so rich and distinctive.

Everywhere there were new things to absorb-culturally and visually - the architecture, the museums, and, of course, the wonderful food and wine. Most importantly, I had a unique, hands-on experience in this incredibly rich and vibrant glass culture and returned with new skills and ideas about how to work with glass.

As I look back, I am struck with the connection between my experiences and the Venetian influences on the American Glass Movement. I was the Educational Coordinator at Pilchuck Glass School when I went to Venice and was so excited by what I was learning in the factory that I invited Checco, my new friend and mentor, to come to Pilchuck with me for the summer of 1978. That summer, Pilchuck participants learned for the first time from of true Venetian maestro while Checco had a chance to see the different way Americans approached glass. Everyone had a great time that summer, even with the language differences. When I returned to Venini in the fall, many things had changed. I spent much of the year designing and drawing, a first in my career. Unfortunately, few of those designs were ever executed on the production floor. Occasionally, if help was needed with production, I worked on the factory floor assisting various maestri. At the end of the year, I had the unique opportunity to spend two weeks working on Grasso’s team, making some of the finer Venini designs, including many of the

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Tapio Wirkkala pieces.

I invited Checco back to Pilchuck for the summer of 1979, but he declined and introduced me instead to his brotherin-law, who was very interested in traveling to America. Checco’s brother-inlaw, whom he described as being a great glassblower, was Lino Tagliapietra. When I told Ludovico about Lino’s decision to spend the summer at Pilchuck, he replied, “Benjamin, it will take some time for you to become aware of how lucky you are to have someone of Lino’s skill and generosity to come and work with you in America.”

During my two years on Murano, I visited several factories and observed various maestri. It was thrilling to watch maestri like Caramea, Livio Seguso and, of course, Lino, who was doing his marvelous cane work at Effe-Tre International. Watching Loredano and Dino Rosin sculpt glass in massiccio, a technique entirely new to me, was fascinating. It was awe-striking watching Caramea, the true maestro of traditional Venetian stemware.

I also began to understand that many changes had occurred on the island since the end of World War II. First, and probably most important, was the changed status of the maestri. Traditionally, the maestri were very well paid, but with the rise of the unions and the influences of the Communist Party, an egalitarian philosophy was introduced where the salary differences between a garzone and a maestro diminished. As a result, maestri were not encouraging their children to go into glassmaking. There was also less demand for fine, traditional handmade glassware. I began to wonder, with the shrinking markets as well as the number of maestri, was the great Venetian glass culture dying? During my time on Murano, I asked different glassmakers from around the island, who was the best overall glass blower. Without fail, most declared Grasso the best. One day after lunch, Anna Venini Diaz de Santillana told me that in the 1940s the Venini factory had three maestri as skilled as Gras-

so, but by the late 1970s, Grasso was the only maestro on Murano at this skill level.

Checco’s first visit to Pilchuck in 1978 had been followed by Lino Tagliapietra, Loredano and Dino Rosin, Pino Signoretto, and other Muranase maestri.

When the Venetians first came, they were appalled by the crude approach to glass used by Americans, but at the same time, they were captivated by the American approach to glass where no tradition dictated what could or should be done with the material. The combination of the fundamental craftsmanship of the Venetians and the unfettered approach to working glass by the Americans has played a pivotal role in the development of the contemporary American Glass Movement.

At the same time, the American Glass Movement has brought new recognition to Muranese master artisans. In the 41 years since I first visited Murano, I have been drawn again and again, like the tides in the lagoon, to my incredible experience in Venice observing the great maestri of Murano. Since my stay 41 years ago, there has been a resurgence of many young people working with glass. This is evident by the young talented Muranese involved with the former Centro Studio Vetro. I will be forever grateful to Ludovico Diaz de Santillana, Checco Ongaro and Lino Tagliapietra for their great friendship and generosity. How fortunate I was to experience this rich glass culture through the wonderful people I met and the magical environment where I had the privilege to work. To return to Murano and see the Muranese people share their magic with the international glass community and the Glass Art Society was a very special experience.

In closing, I want to express my gratitude to Cesare Toffolo, Marina Tagliapietra, Lino Tagliapietra, and the entire Murano Planning Committee. A special thanks to Pam Koss, GAS Executive Director, who had the vision and tenacity to make the historic Murano GAS Conference a reality.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

C A T A LY S T S

2018 Saxe Emerging Artists: Gayle Forman, Simone Fezer, and Meng Du

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

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SAXE EMERGING ARTIST

Beyond the Boundaries

By Meng Du As a story-teller and an artist who primarily works with glass, I have always been interested in collecting stories from daily life and memories. Growing up in Beijing, a city that has been dramatically changing and developing in the past decades, my observation starts with a single element like an object from our daily life or scenery, to social events and environment around us. Through working with glass, the versatility of the materiality shows the sorrow of calling forth recollections, and the power of reconstructing different scenarios into a brand-new story. I find my remedy for nostalgia and perplexity in glass, a material that is both delicate and strong; a material that conveys lost feelings in a sense of subtlety.

I started my studio practice in Rochester, New York, where I studied for my MFA at Rochester Institute of Technology. Although the lack of prior glass experience and my limited English language skill made it extra hard in the beginning of my graduate study, it didn’t stop me from persistent exploring. When I had difficulties to express myself verbally, I had to learn how to express my thoughts and feelings more visually. The wish of being able to communicate with others kept pushing me to represent my ideas through my art works. And I therefore invested lots of time in the kiln-shop to make sculptural works that could speak for me. Being far away from home also made me want to learn more about myself and the place where I was raised. The familiar alleys and neighbors, are vanishing; the traditional courtyard houses, known as siheyuan1, are slowly transformed into modern sky-scrappers or residence blocks. Along with local people migrating away from where they used to live, their life stories are no longer attached to

‘Waiting for the Awakening’, 2015 • 1” × 16” × 16” each • Kiln-formed glass, cherry wood, tea • Photo: Elizabeth Torgerson-Lamark

these places. By discovering more about the historical changes that has happened to these people and places, I found the whole research process was like gazing at a photograph with an old man’s back in the background, sentimental and lonely, fading away in a sepia tone.

I started to collect stories from my family and people around me. And furthermore, from Chinese literature and plays, such as, Teahouse (Lao She2, 1957), which spans fifty years in modern Chinese history from the collapse of the Qing Dynasty to the birth of the People’s Republic. The play brings together over sixty characters in this little tea house in a panoramic view, representing all walks of life in change. All the conversations and stories from ordinary life or literatures have deeply influenced me in my studio practice. I began to build the connections between them with my own life experiences. Most of the works I made in the early years are about nostalgic emotion with location and time changing, based on a narrative structure.

By working with glass, I could preserve

those precious moments from being erased in a timeless translucent form. I could also show memories in decay, as a way of memorializing them and showing the process of their slow disappearance from our consciousness. The unique hue of my works is achieved through staining the glass surface with Chinese tea that I drink every single day. I incorporate tea as the surface treatment in my working process. With brushing tea onto the glass surface over and over again. As time goes by, the texture gets richer, and the glass itself gets milder. It shows the sensation of glass as a material, as well as the philosophy in Chinese culture: There is no rush in life, it is all about the matter of time.

After a few years of living in the states, I became more immersive and comfortable with this foreign environment. I then started to slow down my pace to embrace all the little things that have happened around me during my staying in Rochester, NY. I started to introduce more drawings and illustrations into my works, to capture and depict those fragmented moments that I would not let go of. I drew

1 A siheyuan is a historical type of residence that was commonly found throughout China, most famously in Beijing and rural Shanxi.

2 Shu Qingchun (3 February 1899 – 24 August 1966), courtesy name Sheyu, best known by his pen name Lao She, was a Chinese novelist and dramatist. He was one of the most significant figures of 20th-century Chinese literature, and best known for his novel Rickshaw Boy and the play Teahouse

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

‘Remembrance’, 2013 • Dimension Variable • Kiln-formed glass, tea • Kiln-formed glass • Photo: Elizabeth Torgerson-Lamark

them down, and pieced them together into a new scenario. At the meantime, my works became more related to each other in a serial form. From time measuring rocks to growing self-portraits, the works are always presented in groupings, showing the transition of different stages of time and life. Those works are carrying a subtle sense of belonging that I want to share with the viewers, much like having a silent conversation with them in the galleries. It is very fascinating to me to see how people respond to it with their personal experience and perspectives. At that point, light is not only passing through glass to cast shadows in the space, but in people’s eyes and heart. These special moments and treasured recollections all form into a poetic aesthesia that are connecting our lives.

At the age of thirty, I determined to return to China. It was a huge transition in both my life and career, which tremendously impacted my art works. Soon after I moved back to my homeland, I went through a very uncomfortable transition dealing with limited internet access.

Without the special VPN, there is no Google, I cannot even access my Gmail or the websites that are blocked. I completely feel like I am abandoned by the free information society that I am familiar with. The invisible “walls” are creating barriers around us. My investigation continues to the physical and visible world

where I found the streets are divided by layers of security fences and building are covered by security doors and windows.

My view has constantly been blocked by pervasive “walls” or other implements.

Apart from these visible limitations, each of us is experiencing invisible restrictions in the society. Conventions, rules, authorities, homesickness, nostalgia, and even judgment from other people is restricting us from the true freedom. These restrictions are sometimes referred as the “comfort zone” that is hard to break away from.

Together working with Shanghai Museum of Glass in the past two years in China, allows me to continue extending what I have discovered and experienced in our social world to the glass world. The translucent nature of glass offers a dramatic contrast with the man-made environment, which, perfectly interprets “limitations” and “boundaries” in an intuitive way. Eventually, it all compose into an ex-

hibition, the Room. Seven different bodies of works are set in different “rooms”.

Walking through the whole space, rooms of various sizes function as large installations and stages. And each stage reflects a different type of limitation based on social reality and public events. I deconstruct and rearrange common daily scenes into a seemly absurd but familiar world based on the observations of the world we live. Glass, as the characters living in these rooms, are casting distinctive parts under certain circumstances.

Perhaps, there is no beginnings in their stories, nor endings. No one would know what the script is. The journey of the glass could be intertwined or paralleled with each other. They could be scattered everywhere in every random corner. Occasionally penetrate the “walls” with their transparent bodies. When light is passing through the surface of the glass and reflecting hope beyond the boundaries, people are able to see more than one world.

REFERENCE: Lao She (Qingchun Shu). Teahouse. Shouhuo.

(1957)

‘Bai’, 2013 • 3” × 9.5” ×7” • Kiln-formed glass, mix-media, tea • Cast glass • Photo: Elizabeth Torgerson-Lamark

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

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SAXE EMERGING ARTIST

Finding the Wiggle

By Gayle Forman

A self-proclaimed absurdist, I found my artistic practice on imagination and play, sifting through the frivolous and foolish events of daily life seeking moments of “eureka”. I think about the possibility of flight and the way that you are suddenly suspended mid-air, with no control over your own body or its relationship to the world. The playground swing is my obvious choice for flight. Although flight by swing is a physical lesson in gravity, it affords its willing participants something else—a mere moment where they are free. I imagine within that millisecond I could solve the mysteries of ancient civilizations, or invent a way to turn dirt to water.

The playground is my research site and I look to my everyday life to provide the stage for my illogical interventions, whether it is reconfiguring a dinner table, setting up a playground within a hot glass studio, or even transforming my bathroom into a vacation destination. These fascinations take shape in glass, installation, souvenirs, video, and photography. I am preoccupied with daydreams of what could be, and of places I have not yet traveled to, while desiring to weave myself into the fabric of any new city I live in or visit. The places that I have seen melt together in my memories until I find myself looking for landmarks of one place in another. I search for these moments of “wiggle”—when materials or spaces move beyond their boundaries and solid can become liquid or frozen can become melted or that place can become this one.

The flipping, sliding, and swinging of molten glass through a completely mechanized factory outside of Prague, Czech Republic struck me. This joyous blob was at odds with the efficiency of factory production and dialed-in systems, and there was something so poignant about the glass still finding moments of unrestricted motion within those rigorous confines. Although at the end of the line that blob would become a utilitarian wine glass, for a moment it was the child on the playground, flying through the air from a swing-set, finding her first moment of flight.

It was this encounter in the Czech glass factory in late 2014 that deepened my curiosity about materials and how they’re used. Throughout my undergraduate studies in the glass department at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) the practice of glassmaking was a rigorous, technical pursuit—demanding intensive and constant practice to attain perfection. Yet conversations with other artists would delve into the deeply philosophical nature of glass to understand how and why it works in order to better use it as a material. The idea that perhaps all materials could—and should—be questioned, pressed to reveal their limitations and breaking points, opened up a world of fascinating possibilities to me. By questioning how a material is used and why it works, we can start considering what else it can do. I have always been intrigued by the potential of different realities, or rather by the notion that this reality is only one of many, made

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by choice or opportunity. My desire to understand and question materials, objects, and spaces introduces the questions—why are they this way? could they be different?

To describe some of these instances throughout my work I’ve separated my inquiries into five different, but related categories.

Decadence

Like many, my introduction to glassmaking was through functional vessels and tableware. I began through the high school program at the Pittsburgh Glass Center in 2006 in my hometown, working my way through many a misshaped vessel as my skills developed. Balanced Meal, a video piece from 2012 came directly from a moment during my bachelor’s studies at RISD, attempting to attain a perfect balance of craft and technique.

The absurdist video depicts me using glass dishware that I created with such precise balance points so as to force the material beyond its functional limits.

My interest in this boundary of decadence and the architecture of tableware found its next exploration in a piece developed for an exhibition entitled Let Them Eat Cake at The Agnes Varis Art Center at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY, curated by Kimberly McKinnis. The Unattainability of Plastic Champagne and other Desirable Goods took on the form of a champagne table fountain, in which I likened the construction of traditional stemmed goblets to fountains ala the gardens at Versailles, spewing champagne constantly onto the place settings and dinnerware of an immaculately staged dinner party.

Cities and Urban Spaces

Snowglobes are perfectly frustratingly satisfying objects; they provide something mesmerizing and magical to watch yet are never truly representational of a memory or experience. These little dioramas are faux-relics from an experience; they “capture” a moment that supposedly can be recreated by a simple shake. They are the perfect platform for creating representations of cities that have never existed. The design of snow globes reveals the liberating discovery that a city can be a tangible material, something to be altered or reconfigured, in this case to fit within a tiny glass dome.

In this age when the other side of the globe is simply a click away, the Internet holds raw source material for an imaginary architect such as myself. In “Snowglobilization” three pairs of cities, each 12 hours apart from one another, are reduced to one person’s assumption (distillation) of their most recognizable landmarks. I have only been to one of these 6 cities. World-famous landmarks and urban promenades were recreated with a single print and became my building blocks for empires of the future. As with their snowglobes, the cities of New Beijing or Tokyo De Janeiro never stop turning, for as one day stops another begins.

Vacation

In my last year of undergraduate studies, I was captivated with the idea of vacation, despite or perhaps as a result of being tied to a specific place. Within the boundaries of my own studio apartment and its contents, I created what to me represented

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

‘Balanced Meal’, 2012 • Video • Dimensions Variable.

Still from ‘A Hot Day at the Playground Performance’, 2017 • Photo: Echard Wheeler

Snowglobalization Series, ‘Toyko De Janeiro’ and ‘New Beijing’ • Cast and engraved glass from 3d printed models, cement, metal, snow, postcards • 12”x5”x5” • Photo: Gayle Forman

Bathroom Vacations: ‘Beach’ and ‘Ski Resort’ • Postcards, content’s of Artist’s apartment • 4”x6” Each • Photo: Gayle Forman

typical vacation scenes, setting the stage for the “Bathroom Vacations” postcard series.

By the time I moved to Norfolk, Virginia, in 2014 to work at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio, I was consumed by the daydreams of world travel, while simultaneously motivated to explore this new city that I had decided to make my home. Embarking on a tour of Norfolk, I recreated tourist-taken, Googlesourced images of the world’s greatest wonders and destinations, brought alive through cardboard, fabric, and a bicycle in the “DIY Norfolk” postcards.

glass is used to explore gravity, tension, and velocity in the same way a child in flight from a swing does. The slipping, swinging, and sliding leads the way to further understanding the relationship between production, function, and movement.

Playgrounds, or spaces designed for play

Integral, I think, to all of this work is the undercurrent of play, or the state of being that encourages exuberant discovery. Following the visit to the Czech glass factories, it became important to compare actions of bodies on playgrounds to what I could ask glass to do inside the studio. A Hot Day at the Playground was performed as part of the Third Thursday Series at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio in 2017. In the performance, playground equipment replaces the architecture of the glass studio, and hot IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Conclusion

The next stop on this search for the wiggle will bring me to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the majority of 2019 as a recipient of a Fulbright US Student Study/Research Grant. In Brazil, the practice of repurposed materiality is known as gambiarra. Materials with past life are no longer cast aside simply because they’ve been used before. From resource limitations emerge new fantastic functions for ordinary objects, and the wiggle is at the very center of these discoveries. Between studying at the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Sao Paulo and working with the non-profit Instituto Campana, founded by Brazilian designers Humberto and Fernando Campana, my research will be grounded in the conversation about how design thinking and process can result in changes to how we live everyday life and the inevitable materials we use to construct it.

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SAXE EMERGING ARTIST

Shiny and Bright

By Simone Fezer

I want to talk to you about change, about balance and diversity. Just as we are continuously reshaping and -forming our world, I install existing structures new, reconstruct, and take them further. I add things or deconstruct older works and assemble them in ever new combinations.

Glass is perfect to reflect upon diversity: to express various aspects of a theme you can employ different states of this amazingly diverse sculptural material: Pâte de Verre gives you a rough yet delicate lightness and fragility, kiln-cast glass is light contained, or as pristine as marble, mold-blown objects speak of fabrication, free flowing forms of –the flow...

Glass can speak of containment or transcendence, of light and shadow, it is a vessel, carries, magnifies, clarifies or distorts, it reflects or lets pass, speaks of fragility, brittleness and the flow, it´s hot and cold, colorful and clear, rough and smooth, resembles water, ice and earth, it´s elegant, kitsch, beautiful, broken.... and you can use it and its historical and technical properties to have your work speak about all this and more.

Ambiguity and the tolerance of it are not only an essential part of my work, but of life itself.

One thing is not just one thing, - and is that not what also art is about inherently, - that we as artists put something out there, we even may have intentions, but what the viewer sees in it and where she or he takes it is up to them, - to their upbringing, their knowledge, their mood…

The projected images in the installation fragile worlds talk about just that, - projections of the various cultural traditions every human being is growing into, being modeled and educated to by family and institutions; by just being born within a certain world, reflecting her- or himself in the available imagery, role models and patterns. In a global world, societies are beginning to overlap, - as they always have though migration and trade, - creat-

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‘flowering out into the world (feed)’, 2017/18 • Free, mold-blown, and sculpted glass; textile; mixed media; tubing • 350x500x250cm • Photo: Gottfried Stoppel

ing new patterns. Everyone stepping within the projections is being projected upon, casting shadows, they become part of the piece.

I find a beautiful intensity in making glass: the being in the moment, the immediacy and focus it gives and demands as well as the satisfying physical challenge and exertion it provides.

Glass gives you the amazing chance to let things happen, to initiate something and then let the process shape it, - this is a wonderful potential.

To me the process is part of the piece and becomes ever more important, and to actively make this process part of the work itself is something I am very interested in.

I love breaking up the static of objects and installations, combining them with projections, sounds and performance, true to the multi-layered, ambiguous, and sometimes dazzling and exuberant reality. I love to cross the boundaries of traditional art categories, as well as the boundaries of my own aesthetic. What about doing sound installations made from glass, or shattering, breaking, interactive pieces that really convey the fragility of life?

I sometimes feel the urgent need to convey this fragility of the balance we are all maintaining or endangering but do also want to make aware of the diversity that we all are, the resilience and stability of the permanent change and re-composition of the interwoven systems of social, sociological, and personal structures.

Continuous in my newer work is the emphasis on the imperfect, or maybe rather the perfection of life as a fabricated yet evolving patchwork of various facets and elements.

I often use old, found windows as a base for my installation pieces, they are scratched, blind and dirty, but they tell stories, - and these stories become part of the piece.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

‘Metaposen’, Performance w/ Katja Windau, 2017 • Photo: BBK Hamburg

‘fragile worlds’, 2015/17 • Blown and sheet-glass, mirrors, glass-fibers, steel, wood, mixed media, projections, music (composed by Frank Brückner) • 350x400x500cm • Photo: Gottfried Stoppel

In trame de soi the architectural elements are made from elements attesting to precarious life and living-conditions, corrugated boards and space-blankets, haphazardly assembled and patched, unstable and temporary. In the upper regions the constructs resemble the shiny glass towers and palaces of the world of big business and finance, the high-rising skyscrapers; formally they refer to ramshackle shelters and tents.

The installation flowering out into the world, - talks about overflowing hearts, full to the brim, wanting to burst, - but it also evokes resemblances to pop-cultural imagery of feeds, AI and the optimizing, engineering and genetic enhancing of human beings.

A friend of mine recently made me aware that I am incorporating pop-cultural elements into my work. This allows me to reflect the use of these elements and to map the scope of my work, embedding it in a wider context. I strongly stand for the use and reflection of the imagery and topics of popular culture, - modern myths and iconography like motives from movies and comic- strips, advertisements and the everyday world that form the narratives of modern society. And to combine and find within these the underlying topics that have been essential for (wo)mankind over the centuries.

In my installation work I want to create spaces for the viewer and myself to enter, within or outside of him or herself, stages for discovery and play. Immersive and possibly overwhelming settings.

Many of my more recent pieces have been getting darker, and they, I believe, have been getting less personal in the sense that the focus is not on me but on the world.

They are still very personal in the sense of me being part of this world, and that therefore its state does concern me closely.

Trame de soi ended up together with the fragile worlds as the backdrop for the bones

of the earth which are suddenly not only talking about the unity of body, nature and spirit anymore, but are stranded in a heap at the shore of an indifferent society; the whole installation tells a story, the movement of the surging waves of wooden branches and human extremities, stranded against the rigid fronts of a seemingly bright and shiny world that is not aware of its own fragility.

On a less dystopian note the newest pieces (shiny (bright new world)) combine textile with architectural elements, representing our physical existence within the structures of the world. Layers and layers of angles, interwoven and interlinked, shiny bright and beautiful, transparent yet not readily accessible… spaces within spaces, all connected, all part of it, like us.

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

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LECTURES

Stephanie Trenchard during her lecture with Jeremy Popelka on building a glass program in Bangkok

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Glass in Imitation of Other Material

By Fabrizio Antonelli Additional Speakers: Elena Tesser, Marco Verità, Rosa Chiesa, Raimonda Riccini, and Ella Saguí.

The use of glass in small and thin slabs of different shapes and colors for wall coverings and decorative motives, also combined with marbles and stones to create opus sectile, has been the object of specific research in the past few years.

The materials uncovered in excavations of several Roman provinces of the empire provide important evidence to the extensive use of glass in the most precious opera sectilia for rich wall and floor decorations.

About 26,000 monochrome and polychrome glass pieces imitating marbles, rare stones or with fanciful patterns from the collection belonged to tenor Evangelista Gorga (1865-1957) were excavated in Rome between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.

The homogeneity, exceptionality and abundance of this unique collection point to a single context as a source. The studies performed on the glass fragments attest their probable provenance from the villa of the emperor Lucius Verus (161-169 AD), an adoptive brother of emperor Marcus Aurelius, located on the Via Cassia. A very small panel preserved in the Glass Museum in Murano and made of glass pieces identical to those of Gorga collection made possible to attribute the origin of the pieces to the imperial Villa and to reconstruct two decorative patterns with the pieces of the Gorga collection. During the 19th century, the study of the ancient Roman techniques allowed the rebirth of luxury glassworking in Murano. Therefore, the presence of this Roman find in Venice is not surprising. Vincenzo Moretti, the famous Muranese glassmaker, adopted first the Roman glassmaking tradition for the producing of bowl and plates with the murrina technique and, from this moment forward, the practice of imitation abandoned the functional purpose and adopted the aim to implement the glassmaking technique.

Fig. 1: Comparison between the glass piece 7.12-14 of the Gorga collection (a) and the limestone Marmor Numidicum (b - photo pulled from Pensabene, Patrizio, Bruno, Matthias. Il marmo e il colore - Guida fotografica. I marmi della collezione Podesti. Foto di Giuseppe Stuto. L’ERMA di Bretschneider, Roma 1998. No. 75.)

Fig. 2: Comparison between the glass piece 7.12-8 of the Gorga collection (a) and the rare Egyptian stone Gabbro Eufotide (b – photo pulled from Pensabene, Patrizio, Bruno, Matthias. Il marmo e il colore - Guida fotografica. I marmi della collezione Podesti. Foto di Giuseppe Stuto. L’ERMA di Bretschneider, Roma 1998. No. 65.)

The reconstruction of all the decorative patterns with the glass pieces of the Gorga collection is, and will probably remain, an impossible task. However, a recent collaborative study involved the archaeologist who discovered, studied, classified and illustrated the opus sectile glassy materials of the Gorga collection and the experts on ancient stones and glass of the LAMA laboratory of the Iuav University of Venice. The aim of the research is to investigate the glass tesserae of this collection in order to distinguish between items made in imitation of real stones and/or of fantastic patterns. Glass pieces imitating a dozen of antique marbles and exotic stones have been identified.

Many monochrome yellow glass pieces were found with several colour variants

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

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in imitation of Marmor Numidicum varieties, usually called Giallo Antico. This type of limestone was widely used during the Roman age for the production of columns, slabs, sculptures and opus sectile decorations.

Several monochrome red glass fragments are totally comparable with Marmor Taenarium or Rosso Antico, a Greek soft limestone from the Mani Peninsula, used from the late Roman Republic until the Severan age as stone for opera sectilia, strips, capitals, sculpture and rarely columns.

Regarding polychrome glass, some samples were produced in imitation of alabaster, in particular of Alabastro Tartarugato, or of onix. Some samples are totally comparable with Gabbro Eufotide, a rare stone from the Eastern Egyptian Desert used during the Roman Age for the production of opus sectile and small columns. Some other samples imitate Marmor Carium, a Turkish coloured marble widely used from the late Ellenistic age until the Severian age, or Marmo Frigio, an ornamental rock also named Marmor Synnadicum or Marmor Docimenum, due to the ancient name of the city where the quarries were, Docimium in Turkey. Also the Greek Semesanto in its variety called Breccia di Settebasi, or Marmor Scyreticum, has been well imitated in glass.

The majority of polychrome glass slabs with dark green background and multiple embedded canes in light opaque green faithfully imitates Lapis Lacedaemonium, also called Serpentino or Porfido Verde Antico. This Greek porphyry rock was of imperial ownership and it was the most widely used rock for wall covering in the Roman provinces.

The main features of the imitated stones have been discussed in order to discover the possible reasons that may have led to make this kind of imitation glass. In general, the use of glass allowed easier workability with lower costs and greater availability of

materials. It guaranteed higher mechanical durability, the opportunity to produce several colour variants, which were in some cases not available in nature, a surface with a greater shininess or the illusion of depth.

The hot forming techniques for the glass slabs have been also highlighted detecting specific characteristics for working technique of monochrome and polychrome glass pieces.

Chemical analysis allowed the types of glass used to be identified, the colouring materials and technological secrets that were behind this extraordinary Roman production.

The research is still in progress and some other aspects will be taken into consideration since the Gorga collection is a “mine” of glass samples to investigate Roman glassmaking technology of the 2nd century AD.

REFERENCES Lepri, Barbara, Saguì, Lucia. “Mapping glass production in Italy. Looking through the first millennium AD.” In: Annales du 20e Congrès del l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, Fribourg/Romont 7-11 septembre 2015, (2017), 168-174.

Cisneros Cunchillos, Miguel, Ortiz Palomar, Esperanza, Paz Peralta, Juan, Ángel. “Stone emulated in glass: an alabastrum and a glass similis, both in Hispania.” JRA, no. 26 (2013): 409-422.

Cisneros Cunchillos, Miguel, Ortiz Palomar, Esperanza, Paz Peralta, Juan, Ángel. “Not Everything is as it seems: imitation marbles and semiprecious Roman glass.” Madrider Mittelungen, no. 54 (2013): 275-298.

Ortalli, Jacopo. Rimini: la domus “del chirurgo” in Aemilia: la cultura romana in Emilia Romagna dal III secolo a. C. all’età costantiniana. 513-526.

Bacchelli, Barbara, Barbera, Mariarosaria, Pasqualucci, Rita, Saguì, Lucia. “Nuove scoperte sulla provenienza dei pannelli in opus sectile vitreo della collezione Gorga.” In: Atti del II colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico, Roma 5-7 dicembre 1994. (Istituto Internazionale di Studi Liguri, Bordighera, 1995).

Saguì, Lucia. “Vetri”. In: Museo Nazionale Romano / Evan Gorga: la collezione di archeologia. (Electa, 2013): 418-437.

Sarpellon, Giovanni. Miniature di Vetro, murrine 1838-1924. (Arsenale editrice, 2 edizione, 2014).

Urbani de Gheltof, Giuseppe, Marino. Catalogo del Museo Civico Vetrario di Murano. (Stabilimento Antonelli, Venezia, 1888) no. 42: 14.

G. Tomassetti. La Campagna Romana antica, medioevale e moderna, III, Vie Cassia e Clodia, Flaminia e Tiberina, Labicana e Prenestina (nuova edizione aggiornata a cura di L. Chiumenti, F. Bilancia, Roma, 1976).

Saguì, Lucia. “Roma (via Cassia). – La villa di Lucio Vero alla luce delle recenti indagini archeologiche”. In: Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

Notizie degli scavi di antichità – comunicate alla accademia dal Ministro per i Beni e le attività culturali. (Scienze e Lettere Editore Commerciale, Roma, 2012). No. 9, v. 21-22: 159-170.

Pensabene, Patrizio, Bruno, Matthias. Il marmo e il colore - Guida fotografica. I marmi della collezione Podesti. Foto di Giuseppe Stuto. (L’ERMA di Bretschneider, Roma 1998).

Antonelli, F. a*, Tesser E. a, Verità M. a, Lazzarini L. a, Saguì L. b, a Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi (LAMA) - Università Iuav di Venezia, San Polo 2468/B, 30125 Venice. Italy b Università “La Sapienza” di Roma, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Rome, Italy

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LABINO LECTURE

The Venetian Cristallo: The Secrets of Venetian Renaissance Glass

By Marco Verità If today we have a clearer picture of the history of a thousand years of Venetian glassmaking, we owe it especially to Luigi Zecchin and Tito Canal.

In his catalogue The Golden Age of Venetian Glass, (1979, British Museum), Hugh Tait wrote that Luigi Zecchin (1905-1984)1 was the scholar “whose research among the archives have done so much to correct long established misconceptions of one thousand years of glassmaking in Venice” Tito Canal (1924-2018) was a self-taught archaeologist who made some of the most important discoveries in the history of Venice2. Among others, many glass pieces of different periods, whose analyses led to the creation of a database on chemical composition of ancient Venetian glass.

A manuscript dated 982 A.D. is the first document attesting some form of glassworking in Venice. Documents of the middle of the 13th century attest to the importance of glass cullet and raw materials from the Levant, confirming that the growth of the glass industry in Venice during the Middle Ages is strictly related to the Byzantine and Islamic tradition. Archaeological evidence of glass working dating to about 7th-8th century has been found on the island of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon, limited to low-quality blown vessels made by re-melting glass cullet.

The origin, development, quality and success of the Venetian glass are strictly linked to the history of the Venetian Republic.

The Venetian government protected the trade of raw materials of the best quality. Several decrees forbade the export of the raw materials from Venice to foreign glassmaking centres as well as the use in Murano of the low-quality potash plant ash used in northern Europe. Furthermore, glassmakers were not allowed to leave the Republic and export of professional secrets was punished.

A wide range of products was made in Venice: luxury blown items, tableware, lamps, window glass, mirrors, mosaic tesserae, glass rods and canes, beads, enamels, lenses, pigments for painting (smalt and giallolino) and imitation gemstones. Sabellico, around the end of the 15th c., wrote3 “there is no kind of precious stone which cannot be imitated by the industry of the glass workers”, giving us an idea of the technological skills reached in the Venetian workshops.

Several glasses and techniques were invented in Venice. Lattimo, the opaque white glass was improved at Murano in the second half of the 15th c. to be blown and used for items imitating Chinese porcelain.

With the raw materials used at the end of the 17th c. in the workshops in northern Europe to make the new lead crystal glass (arsenic, saltpetre and lead oxide) the Muranese glassmakers invented the girasole glass (sunflower), a dichroic glass imitating opal gemstone.

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Fig. 1 – Fragment of bowl classified as common glass (Venice, 15th c.).

In the first half of the 16th c. Venetian glassmakers invented filigree glass, a new type of decorative luxury glass composed of opaquewhite canes embedded in clear glass.

Aventurine, a brown or blue glass flecked with sparkling metallic copper particles, was first obtained in a furnace of Murano around the end of the 16th c. Darduin, a Muranese glassmaker of the 17th c. explains that the name Venturina came from the fact that this glass can be obtained successfully più per ventura che per scientia (more by chance than for skill).

In the Medieval and Renaissance glassmaking, a batch made of quartz and plant ash was used. In Venice, the import of silica sand documented from the Levant (1275) and Sicily (1340), was replaced since 1332 by pebbles from Ticino river. This change lead to a decrease of colouring contaminants (iron). Soda ash, imported from Syria and Egypt (since the 16th c. also from Spain), was obtained by burning halophyte plants growing in grounds of high salinity. This ash contains sodium carbonate (the fluxer) and calcium carbonate (the glass stabilizer). The reason for the import of soda ash, in spite of high freight charges, was that it was a reliable raw material, because of its high, stable, and proportioned content of soda and lime and its low level of undesired colouring elements and insoluble salts.

Glass melting was performed in two steps. A preliminary firing of the batch at about 800°C to obtain the frit (the aim was

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to eliminate the carbonaceous residual of the ash, transform the carbonates into oxides which react with silica forming low-melting Na and Ca silicates) and the melting of the frit at high temperature (1100-1200°C) in a pot furnace to obtain glass. This second stage could last from twelve hours to several days. In Venice glass clarity was improved by scumming salts floating on the molten glass and by casting molten glass into water several times and subsequently re-melting it.

The carving of an object from a single piece of rock crystal (a naturally occurring form of quartz), required time, enormous effort and exceptional technical skill (the thickness of the walls could be less than two millimetres). Rock crystal masterpieces were highly esteemed. In the king of Spain Philip II’s will, paintings

by Titian and Bosch were valued at far less than some rock crystal items in his collection. Therefore, to manufacture a glass with the same clarity as rock crystal was an aim over which the Renaissance Venetian glassmakers lost their sleep! And, when cristallo glass (crystal rock glass) was invented by Angelo Barovier around the middle of the 15th century, Venice became the undisputed leader of glassmaking until the end of the 17th century. Then, the invention of lead crystal glass in England and of Bohemia crystal glass in Central Europe ended this supremacy.

The extraordinary quality attained by Venetian cristallo glass is attested by several facts. William Harrison in his book on the history of Elizabethan England (second half of 16th c.) writes: “In England, everybody wants to drink wine and beer in Venetian glasses!”. During the 16th c. a number of glass masters left Murano spreading Venetian technology (but probably not the secret of cristallo glass) and style (façon de Venice glass) to Spain, Low Countries, Austria, France, and England. Galileo Galilei selected Muranese glass pieces to make the first telescope lenses in 1609.

In 1610 Galileo tried without success to improve the glass quality having a glass furnace built in Florence. In a couple of years, he was obliged to return to Murano to take the high-quality glass necessary to make lenses.

Now the question: how was this cristallo glass made? The treatises of Renaissance Venetian glassmakers prescribe a preliminary step, consisting in the purification of the plant ash which was dissolved in boiling water and the solution filtered and dried. The salt obtained was mixed (in general 1:1) with silica and calcined to prepare the cristallo frit. The purification process lead to the removal not only of colouring impurities (iron), but also of calcium carbonate which is essential to stabilise glass against weathering. But the cristallo artworks show beautifully in museum collections. This means that Venetian glassmakers searched for and discovered a solution to this problem.

Elemental analysis performed on more than 200 glass samples dated 15th-17th c. excavated in the Venetian lagoon allowed a da-

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Fig. 2 – Renaissance Venetian clear glass samples classified as vitrum blanchum (right) and cristallo (left).

tabase on Renaissance Venetian glass to be created. We don’t know exactly which type of glass did the Venetian glassmakers call common glass, vitrum blanchum or cristallo. We classified the samples with natural colour (hues from green to yellow) as “common glass” (Fig. 1) whereas colourless specimens were classified as either vitrum blanchum or cristallo depending on their more or less grey appearance, respectively (Fig. 2).

The chemical analysis of Venetian clear glass of the 15th-17th c., evidences some peculiarities of each group of samples. Common glass is the one with larger iron content and the most variable manganese (the decolorizer) content. This means that raw materials were not specifically selected and that decolouration was not a priority. Instead, the samples of clear glass classified as cristallo, show the lowest iron content and vitrum blanchum samples have an iron content intermediate between the common glass and cristallo samples.

Furthermore, it was found that the content of calcium and magnesium in cristallo samples is about half of that of vitrum blanchum and common glass, while the Ca/Mg ratio of about 3:1 is the same as in the two other groups.

These results attest that the secret solution found by the Venetian glassmaker Angelo Barovier was to melt a mixture of cristallo frit and vitrum blanchum frit in roughly equal amounts. This process yielded a glass of higher clarity than vitrum blanchum, and ensured sufficiently high amounts of calcium and magnesium to stabilize the cristallo glass against weathering. The imitation of rock crystal was finally achieved!

“In front of the throne [of God] was something that resembled a sea of glass clear as crystal.” (Revelation 4,6) 1 The studies of Zecchin are published in the three volumes: Vetro e Vetrai di Murano, Arsenale, 1987, 1989, 1990.

2 The researches of Canal are published in: Archeologia della laguna di Venezia.1960-2010, Cierre, 2015.

3 M.A. Sabellico, De sito urbis Venetae, libri tres, 1495.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

S T R AT T M A N L E C T U R E

The Great Unknown; Establishing a Glass Community in Bangkok

By Jeremy Popelka and Stephanie Trenchard In May of 2018 a new glass facility was introduced at the Glass Arts Society conference in Murano, Italy. It was a poetic setting for the Bangkok Studio to be presented to the world glass community, not only because of the location’s historical significance but also because of the role of Italian tradition in shaping art education in Thailand.

In 2017, American glass artists, Jeremy Popelka and Stephanie Trenchard were asked to assist in the establishment of one of the first hot shops in Southeast Asia to be primarily dedicated to education and the arts. The married couple have continually pursued educational opportunities and conducted workshops including classes at The Studio of The Corning Museum and Pilchuck Glass School. After receiving an unusual email in April of 2016 they could hardly imagine that soon they would be conducting an intensive workshop on the other side of the world.

One year later, as they toiled in the blistering Bangkok heat, Popelka would be sprinkled with a Monk’s water blessing as he blew a glass offering bowl, which is a national symbol for democracy.

Bangkok Glass is one of the largest glass manufacturers in Southeast Asia producing millions of containers annually and has recently established a float-glass facility in Thailand. It is part of the larger Boon Rawd Brewery that is known for making Sing Ha beer. The company’s slogan “Invent to Inspire” reflects a philosophy embracing creative possibilities in the spirit of exploration. With the concept of industry creating a fertile ground for artists to investigate new techniques and mediums, one is reminded of The Studio of the Corning Glass Museum and Kohler artists/residency programs. Bangkok Glass’s unique approach can be seen at the factory grounds, 20 miles north of Bangkok, where their professional soccer team plays next to a sprawling glass factory. Late in 2015, BG’s president, Pavin Bhirombhakdi, and several of the company’s engineers, developed

a plan to build a glass hot shop that would serve as an educational center and workshop in Thailand. They sent a request for guidance and assistance to the Wisconsin artists who had been teaching and working in glass for decades.

The couple has owned and operated Popelka Trenchard Glass studio in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for 22 years. Over the course of their careers they have focused on creating sculptural and functional glasswork as well as providing an educational facility at their studio. The request from Bangkok was a total surprise but a welcomed one. “For us it was a leap of faith. The author Rebecca Solnit says in The Faraway Nearby, whenever you get an opportunity in life you must take it as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. This seemed like that chance,” said Trenchard.

For Popelka, who admired Norman Faulkner’s “Glass India” documentary, the chance to work overseas in a faraway place was an opportunity not to be missed.

Over the next few months the two communicated by email with factory representatives about the necessities inherent to a hot shop. Trenchard assisted in connecting BG glass to potential U.S. suppliers of equipment and materials. John Chiles of Hub Glass, who has experience installing hot glass studios internationally, was contracted to build the furnace as well as other hot shop equipment.

An aura of mystery surrounded the objectives of the Thai glass studio as the couple prepared to board the long flight to Bangkok in January of 2017. Leaving the snow, their studio practice and the small Midwestern town behind, they would wake in a 90 plus degree climate in a city of five million people. After receiving inquiries from BG Glass into the feasibility of making glass trophies, Popelka imagined scenarios where they would be training factory workers how to make art glass production.

It was not until a week before they departed that it became clear through correspondence that they were dealing with art stu-

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Popelka at the bench while being given a water blessing from a Monk during the grand opening of BGC Studio. Photo: Trenchard.

dents. This was a relief to the teachers who realized that communicating through the language of art would transcend the anticipated language barrier.

Months before the installation and firing-up of the Bangkok Glass studio, BG recruited potential students and facilitators for the new endeavor from the premier art school in Thailand. Silpakorn University was established after an edict from King Rama IV to introduce western classical art traditions to Thailand. Corrado Feroci (1892-1962), a classically trained artist from Florence, Italy, was chosen to come to Bangkok. The arrival of the Italian would forever change Thai art history.

In 1937 Silpakorn School of Fine Arts was established with Feroci as the first director. His legacy is reflected in the fact that many important monuments and sculptures attributed to him and his students are located around the country. This year several former Silpakorn University students made a pilgrimage of sorts back to the homeland of their University’s founder to attend the 2018 GAS conference.

Silpakorn University’s motto is “Ars longa, vita brevis” (Art is long, Life is short).

Three recent graduates of the Uni-

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versity, Chattakan Vongsiri, Thanaporn Sukcharoen, and Madammado Roungraungvanich, were hired as full time artists to work in the studio. Five additional art students enrolled in the workshop creating a total class of six women and two men. Professor Jakapan Vilasineekul, an established artist and sculpture professor from the University, would attend the class once a week. His mastery of the English language was very helpful in communicating nuanced instructions and ideas to the class. Professor Vilasineekul’s influence gave validity to the concept that this project embraces an art school model where technique is balanced with creative, conceptual, and other design possibilities.

Part of the plan was that the factory would offer a future facility for the University’s fledgling glass program.

The Wisconsin couple taught the students the basics of glass blowing and demonstrated various advanced techniques over the seven weeks of their tenure.

They managed to communicate with the team through drawings and demonstrations. The go-to guide was a dry-erase board and a chalked translation key on a furnace shield where they could quickly be reminded of the necessary hot shop words, for example: very hot or turn. Often Popelka’s work in the hot shop was balanced by Trenchard’s guidance in the classroom where students could plan and reflect on the day’s activities. Images of

Trenchard demonstrates hot sculpting as Namwan Thanatcha watches. Photo: Popelka

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contemporary glass as well as the history of the studio glass movement were presented during weekly lectures. Popelka and Trenchard became very close to the students, often sharing meals and going on weekend day trips.

“Early on it was clear that the students had their own voices or styles which they could apply to the hot glass with a high level of dedication and commitment,” says Trenchard. It was equally important to focus on basic glass blowing techniques, especially for the three factory employees who would soon be left to their own devices running the studio. The Americans hoped to light a fire in the students, which would potentially inspire a flourishing Thai glass community. Despite technical issues, delays, and the intense heat, Popelka and Trenchard finished up their time at BG glass with a positive review of student work.

The dozens of objects demonstrated varying techniques from the merely functional to elaborate organic forms that reflected the individual struggle with understanding this challenging material while at the same time attempting to communicate an idea.

The combination of the difficult learning curve and working without an experienced glass instructor would be daunting.

The grand opening of the facility was in April of 2017 with a Buddhist blessing and the return of Popelka and Trenchard to conduct a few demonstrations for dignataries and the local media. In addition to

the celebration and the joy of seeing their new friends, they would use the return visit to go over basic skills with some of their former students and to contemplate their next steps. The occasional brief residency of visiting instructors, such Peter Bowls from Australia, helped to continue the learning process.

Osamu and Yumiko Noda of Niijima Art Glass Center, former classmates of the couple at Illinois State University spent a month in 2018 demonstrating new and varied skills to the BG Glass Studio. Several of the University students have continued pursuing working with hot and kiln worked glass. Over the summer of 2018, one student, Araya Phanprom, was invited to work with Popelka and Trenchard in their Wisconsin studio for two weeks before traveling to Corning, New York, after receiving a scholarship for a workshop with Michael Schunke and Josie Gluck.

The first ever Bangkok Glass Festival is scheduled for November of 2018, and it will include many international glass artists from around the world demonstrating and presenting their work.

The universal concerns and dreams of artists around the world transcend borders and culture. Popelka and Trenchard look back fondly at the experience that broadened their horizons and informed their personal artistic visions. Like the Monk’s water blessing, teaching is an act of renewal, generosity, and hope for the future.

Popelka and Trenchard with Pavin Bhirombhakdi, President of BG, (back row, third from the left, BG Executives and the students.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

WILLSON LECTURE

Who in the world am I? That is the great puzzle!

By Silvia Levenson I love travelling and when I’m abroad and have to introduce myself, I often find myself taking part in this dialogue: Question: Where do you live?

Answer: In Italy.

Question: Fantastic! What do you do for a living?

Answer: Uhm... I make objects in glass Question: No, really!? So, you live on Murano?

Answer: No, on Lake Maggiore near Milan.

Question: Ah. But you do blow glass, don’t you?

Answer: No, but... disappointed face of the curious enquirer.

Question: How can you make beautiful vases if you don’t blow the glass on Murano?

Answer: Actually, I don’t make vases, but objects, installations, hand grenades, etc.

Question: But do you at least use Murano glass?

Answer: No... Actually, I use glass made in Portland, Oregon...

Bullseye...

Question: So, you’re not Italian??!!! (with a somewhat irritated expression) Answer: Uhm... well... actually I’m Argentinian.

At which point I invent an urgent telephone call and walk away, not least because I’m tired of disappointing my fellow men and women and their expectations. I move slowly away, thinking that the next time I’ll just say I’m a glassblower living on Murano and making beautiful vases.

The truth is that sometimes we need to label people and things.

If I had to continue, explaining that the only “Italian” artists invited to teach the kiln forming technique abroad are Argentinian (Miriam Di Fiore and myself), my interlocutors would be even more surprised, because Argentina has no glass working tradition.

Coming back to me, I live far from Murano. Coming here has the same effect on me as it does on you and the tourists. I am fascinated by the light, the history, the artists, the craftsmen and the glass working expertise.

But there is nothing of all this in my works. I chose to use this material not for its intrinsic beauty, but for other reasons.

Through my work, I investigate the contradictions and ambiguities in social and family relationships and glass is one of the best materials to express this. For most people, glass represents fragility. I, on the other hand, associate it with resilience, with the fact that in museums we can admire artefacts dating from 4000 years ago. Some of these objects are intact, others reduced to pieces, but they all have a story to tell.

The first time I came into contact with the glass community in the United States, I was struck by the fact that everyone seemed to know each other and I thought “but what strange people, they talk of nothing but glass! Years later, I changed my

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

opinion. I love this community, because it is based on shared passions, experiences and information, all of which can be very important for an artist.

In the past, the production of art, of sculptures, was the pride of craftsmen, but this aspect of production was also a dirty little secret of the art world. Few spoke about production, because they took it for granted that the idea, the concept, was the central part of the work. It’s indubitably still like this today, but for me the material we choose for our work (video, fabric, sugar or glass) and the process we use to create it are never neutral.

I believe that over the next few years, the choices linked to materials and production techniques will be ever more decisive.

Do we use technology to print our works in 3D? Do we choose to make them by hand? Do we use industrial waste? Do we make them in the Third World? What materials? What technology? We really do have so many options.

Last year, Ai Wei Wei presented an installation at the Tate Gallery entitled “Sunflower Seeds”. The Chinese artist had commissioned 150 tons of sunflower seeds to an army of craftsmen who modelled and painted each piece by hand. For the artist, these seeds represented the Chinese victims of famine in the times of Mao, so the fact that the seeds were all worked by hand and so each seed unique was an integral part of the work. Ai Wei Wei wanted to represent the individual diversity of the seeds in contrast with the massification of that society. The idea was that visitors could touch and interact with the work, but after two days, the Tate authorities discovered that when people walked over the porcelain seeds they produced a dust which was harmful to health.

They therefore decided to isolate the perimeter so that visitors could see the installation but not walk over it. This experience posed many questions on the right to health in different parts of the world as well as on mass production and hand production. This experience led us to reflect on the way production methods can change the perception of a work.

There are ever more books which analyse production in the world of art: “The Art of Not Making” by Michael Petry, “Art in the Making” by Glenn Adamson and Julia Bryan-Wilson, “Cast, Art and Objects” by Jen Townsend and Renée Zettle-Sterling and “Manufactured, The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects” by Sateven Skov and Mara Holt Skov.

These are really interesting books where you can see the way artists approach the subject differently. Some artists have no interest at all in having hands on experience of the production process, others are very interested and have even created new techniques. Each artist has an individual approach and luckily there are no rules regulating this process.

As far as I’m concerned, the two actions of doing and thinking

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Top left: ‘Welcome to Europe’, 2015 • Glass blowed on mould • 100 x 20 x 30 cm • Produced in Berlin Glass • Photo: Marco Del Comune. Top right: ‘She flew away’, 2000 • Kiln cast glass, steel • 250 x 36 x 25 cm • Photo: Cristiano Vasalli, courtesy Bullseye Projects. Middle left: ‘13 lb of love’, 2015 • Kiln cast glass • Photo: Marco Del Comune. Bottom left: ‘Recovered Identity’, 2015 • Kiln cast glass • Courtesy Alexander Tutsek Collection • Photo: Marco Del Comune. Bottom right: ‘Still Life’, 2013 • 40 x 40 x 25 cm • Kiln cast glass, found object • Photo: Natalia Saurin.

are intrinsically bound together. In my world, artistic practice is a journey that leads me to discover new possibilities, not just material, but also mental. I am aware that in the end, my choices will have political implications.

Through my work, I investigate my personal story, the condition of women, gender violence, the cosmetics of happiness, migrations, and recently I have also been developing a project of which I’m particularly proud, “Missing Identity”. It is an exhibition pertaining to the work of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo to give back the identity of 500 children who were taken from their parents during the military dictatorship in Argentina and placed in illegal adoption. That exhibition has gone a long way, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Washington DC, Barcelona, Paris, Riga, Tallin, Murano and Portland, and in every city, we have talked about identity and human rights. In my own 36

small way, I have helped publicise the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo’s project by inviting children born in Argentina between 1976 and 1980, with some doubts as to their identity, to contact the DNA bank organised by the grandmothers themselves and take a test to learn more about who they are. Until today, one hundred twenty-seven young women and men gave back their own identity and my installation “ Recovered Identity” formed by one hundred twenty-seven glass baby clothes represent that.

To continue Alice in Wonderland’s reflection: “Who in the world am I?” Am I an artist? Am I Argentinian? Italian? Citizen of the world? Am I an artist in glass? Feminist? Human rights activist? Artisan? Do I belong to another generation? Am I contemporary? At this point, just like Alice, the answer is “that is the great puzzle!”

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LIT TLETON LECTURE

Off the Beaten Path

By Michael Rogers

I was very pleased to be invited to present the Harvey Littleton Lecture at the Glass Art Society Conference in Murano, Italy! I want to thank the Littleton Family and GAS for this honor. This opportunity came at a pivotal and transitional point in my life and career. After eleven years of teaching at the Aichi University of Education in Japan and sixteen years teaching at The Rochester Institute of Technology, I found it time for a change.

Certainly, I am grateful to all my friends and colleagues. I cannot help but think how my friend and mentor Takako Sano would have loved the idea of a GAS conference happening in Murano!

With regards to my teaching, as every educator knows, one finds themselves privileged to be working with such talented individuals. I have been fortunate to develop a program and teach with both Robin Cass and David Schnuckel over the years at RIT. Collectively, we have worked with amazingly talented students who have gone on to make major contributions to the state of the art. For that we are grateful! I have always thought that each student is uniquely talented and that my part as an instructor was to help students find their “voice” with materials. Presenting students with diverse examples of ideation and the skills to be able to develop fluency with visual media also has been an important goal.

I have always thought that if an educational program was doing well that the student work coming out of that program would all be different. I plan to continue teaching and find working with others in an educational environment exhilarating.

I have always been a proponent of the international aspect of our glass community and its exceptional potential for cultural exchange. The visual language of art made with glass is truly an international language. At this point in my career, I have retired from RIT; however, I will still be active as an artist and educator but in

Top: “Abandoned House Collaborative” Participants, Inguna Audere, Imants Kikulis, Kazushi Nakada, Michael Rogers. Site specific work at an abandoned house in the Latvian countryside of Rūjiena, Photo: Imants Kikulis.

Bottom: “Abandoned House Collaborative” Participants, Inguna Audere, Imants Kikulis, Kazushi Nakada, Michael Rogers. Site specific work at an abandoned house in the Latvian countryside of Rūjiena. Michael Rogers engraving the windows of the house, Photo: Imants Kikulis

different ways. I am excited to be on the Board of Directors of North Lands Creative in Lybster, Scotland, an inspirational institution that is developing in exciting ways. Six months out of the year, starting in January of 2019, I have accepted a position as Visiting Professor at The Latvian Art Academy in Riga, Latvia, which will offer me the chance to assimilate Latvia’s unique language and culture, further explore the Baltics, as well as contribute to an arts institution that I’ve always admired and appreciated. I also hope to

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be contributing to The Studio at Corning in helpful ways, as well as Alfred University and RIT. This August, I will emcee the Nexus Forum at North Lands Creative, in September, I will emcee a program along with Masahiro Sasaki introducing important international glass institutions at the Glass Education Network Symposium in Seto, Japan. From Japan, I will travel to the Czech Republic for the symposium at Novy Bor. In November, I will travel to Shanghai, China, to attend the opening of the iglass exhibit I curated for Levant Gallery. This is where I am currently and my plans for the future.

I also want to share with you my research and artwork. I have worked primarily as a sculptor who uses multi-media with an emphasis on the metaphorical potential of glass. I see myself a person who is interested in visual poetry and as such attempts to put objects together in ways a poet might arrange words to create nonlinear narratives. These narratives are more constellations of thoughts and emotions, something like signposts, meant to trigger multiple associations in the mind of the viewer more than they are stories. There is an attempt to relay a feeling. As artists, we are like conduits through which the past, present, and future pass. Intuition is deeply engaged as this collision of influences is assimilated and filtered through consciousness. By putting objects within a particular context and within proximity to each other, there is the hope that more is created than the sum total of parts. I think of the way James Joyce put words together in Finnegans Wake, in an experimental style so that these new words became new inventions and associative triggers. Ultimately, I would like my work to be connected to my life and reflect my experience. I would like to learn something, to be transported from where I am now to a place I have not yet been in my thinking.

There is an attempt to be transformed.

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“Byre Shoes”, cast glass, wool, pins. Part of installation at the Byre, Latheronwheel, Scotland, Photo: Michael Endo

Perhaps making art is my attempt to hold onto, and make sense of, the ephemeral ever-changing aspects of life.

My work involves various processes and materials. Being project-based, the visual outcome of my work is often different from what has come before or will come afterward.

While working in a series, on occasion, I am suspicious of that way of working not wanting to keep repeating myself. Always, life changes and I want to respond accordingly.

Recently, I have been progressively involved in collaborative and performative projects. An example of this would be the Abandoned House Collaborative in Rūjienā a village in the countryside outside Riga, Latvia. This project was in collaboration with Inguna Audere from Latvia, Imants Kikulas from Latvia, Mare Saare from Estonia, and Kazushi Nakada from Japan and Finland. While our work is all different, we all share an interest in multicultural exchange and what it means to explore being one among others working together towards a common purpose. There have been more recent spinoffs of this sort of collaborative effort such as the Saaremaa Project, a collaboration on the island of Saaremaa off of the coast of Estonia, hosted by Mare Saare and Peeter Rudash along with Inguna Audere. Then there is Impetus, a course team-taught with Inguna Audere at The Latvian Art Academy, with an emphasis on combining performance, sculpture, and painting, which engaged students from several EU countries.

The Impetus course was also taught at the Vilinius Academy of Arts in Lithuania. I hope to post more about these happenings in the future. More information on the Abandoned House Collaborative can be found at www.abandonedhouse.lv.

Finally, to see more of my work, please visit my website at www.michaelrogersart.site.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

Fratelli Toso Glass Factory Caterina Toso After the fall of the Serenissima in 1797, Venice and all its islands were deeply damaged by the devastating occupation of Napoleone. Murano as well lived through a dark period which lasted until the middle of the 19th century: many glass factories closed down and many glass masters emigrated abroad. In a short time artistic glass-making techniques and culture were forgotten. The crisis lasted until half of the 19th century, when local glass industry started to rise again.

Fratelli Toso glass factory was founded in 1854 by six brothers, Pietro Toso Cangioro’s sons, Ferdinando, Carlo Nicolò, Liberato, Angelo, Giovanni, Gregorio: they started by producing glass for common use but then they quickly focused on blown artistic glass. They worked hard to recover techniques and know-how to realize precious masterpieces produced by hand prior the Serenissima fall: this is the reason why Fratelli Toso company is credited with being one of the upholders for the revival of artistic glass-making in Murano. They have been part of a process of artistic renewal which quickly involved all Murano.

From these six brothers have descended all the Toso protagonists of the Fratelli Toso story until today. The brothers were all engaged in the family factory; they had common goals but different competencies and skills. They gave birth to a large Toso tribe whose components have been mostly engaged in the family business: skilled glass masters, technicians, gifted designers, clever managers. A large family like Toso “Cangioro” guaranteed a high diversification of competencies and skills and this is probably the reason why rarely we run into “stranger” names in the factory, most of all in prominent positions.

At the beginning Fratelli Toso mostly produced imitations of ancient masterpieces, many traditional venetian chandeliers, traditional glass making style.

Production of objects for common use coexisted with artistic glass production for a long time. Besides classic blownglass objects and chandeliers, based on traditional models, around 1890 Fratelli Toso specialized in another ancient and peculiar glass working technique, the murrina. From that moment on murrina became the real Fratelli Toso signature.

This production became important: there are entire sale catalogues of that time only for murrine millefiori. Murrina production quickly became very profitable and Fratelli Toso kept on producing massive amount of vases with murrina mille-

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

fiori until 1920/1925, mostly for commercial purposes. In the first decades of its history Fratelli Toso participated in national and international exhibitions: around 1910 Fratelli Toso had its first important collaboration with an external artist-designer, Hans Stoltenberg Lerche. The result of this collaboration was the creation of a beautiful line of pieces - art nouveau style - which were also exhibited at Venice Biennale in 1914: Lerche’s designs were all realized by the glass master Vittorio Toso. Fratelli Toso also worked with Umberto Bellotto to realize his line “connection between iron 39

and glass” - exhibited at Venice Biennale and at Monza Biennale. They established another interesting collaboration with Umberto Cadorin: 32 blown glasses, chandeliers and a window glass exhibited at Monza Biennale in 1923.

In the ‘20s Ermanno Toso, the grandson of one the six founders, got into the family business in the artistic department: he was going to become one the most important designers of Fratelli Toso. From the ‘30s until the ‘60s he led the Fratelli Toso artistic department and he managed to continuously renovate it. He designed beautiful lines of murrina vases such as “Kiku”, “Redentore”, “Millepunti”, “Foglie”, “Nerox Petoni”.

In the first part of his career he mostly worked following the tradition, but later he designed innovative and colorful murrinas used to realize modern masterpiec-

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es. Traditional colours and shapes were revolutionized. In 1948 Ermanno Toso hired another designer, Pollio Perelda, who kept on working for Fratelli Toso until 1964. Ermanno always kept his designs closer to the traditional Fratelli Toso style, Pollio got into another direction instead: he never abandoned the use of the murrina but he stretched it, he fused it, he broke it until those did not seem murrinas anymore. Some of his most famous designs are “Stellati”, “Cattedrale”, “Farfalle”, “Liberty” and “Zebrati”.

Even if murrina was Fratelli Toso real strength both Ermanno Toso and Pollio Perelda worked on designs to be realized with other techniques, many exhibited at important occasions such as Venice Biennale. Both of them knew glass material very well: they always worked

along with their glass masters, all their masterpieces have been the result of this close collaboration and interaction.

The last Fratelli Toso artistic director was Rosanna Toso. She started working in the artistic department at the same time than Giusto and Renato, Ermanno’s sons, but unlike them she kept on working with Fratelli Toso until the ‘80s.

The only woman who reached a relevant position within the company when the Murano glass environment was still strongly dominated by men.

Rosanna realized modern lines suitable to the ‘70s: large use of black and white, essential lines, heavy crystal, production for the mass market on a large scale. But she also designed many beautiful lines of murrina, following the family tradition.

In 1980 Fratelli Toso split in two parts because of the contrasts between partners. Rosanna kept on working with her brother Arnoldo and they mostly focused on interior design: hotels, casinos, royal palaces all around the world.

Arnoldo Toso, who has been involved in Fratelli Toso business since the ‘50s, managed to keep together an incredible collection of Fratelli Toso masterpieces and the entire historical archive. He worked many years to value and promote both the glass collection and the archive, which is made of over 30,000 drawings, thousands of pictures, catalogues and administrative documents.

The collection is now cured by his daughter Caterina: the archive has been completely scanned, re-ordered and studied. A complete monograph about Fratelli Toso glass factory is going to be published in 2018, written and cured by Caterina Toso and Marc Heiremans, a work that could not have been possible without all the efforts of Arnoldo, who passed away in 2017.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

Functional Glasses for Glass Art

By Laura Aalto-Setälä

In my lecture, I discussed different functional properties one can add to traditional soda-lime glass. I called these modified glasses ‘functional glasses’ and showed what type of properties they can exhibit. For example, functional glasses can change color depending on surrounding temperature or the amount of light, they can glow in the dark, they can transform from glass to ceramics during heating or into bone when implanted into human tissues.

Glasses with these functional properties have been a topic of active scientific research for decades and they are being used and manufactured at industrial scale.

Still, these materials are barely used in art glass, neither in kiln working nor in glassblowing. The main reason for this seems to be the lack of knowledge on them; most of the information on them is very technical and science-intensive, and glass artists do not know the possibilities these materials could offer. In my presentation, I introduced what functional glasses are and showed with videos how some of them could be easily used in glassblowing and glass art in general, and what kind of new themes they could bring to the field. I showed how these glasses can or could be handled (with pictures and footage) and explained why these glasses can possess the properties they do, how they are different from the soda-lime glass, and what kind of setbacks and advantages these materials have. Unfortunately, most of the available information on the topic requires scientific background and is not aimed at a general audience. I’m happy to provide more detailed information on the topic (I can be contacted at info@ lasifaasi.fi). In this brief text, I present three different types of functionalities that were among those discussed in my lecture. The lecture material is available at www.lasifaasi.fi/GAS2018.

A detail from ‘Blue planet’. The white, rough surface is done by adding glass-ceramic powder onto blue soda-lime surface. Laura Aalto-Setälä, ‘Blue planet’, 2017 • Sphere diameter 20cm • Freely blown soda-lime glass with glass-ceramics powder • Photo: Laura Aalto-Setälä

Bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics

Bioactive glasses are glasses which can be used as implant material. They start to dissolve and transform into bone mineral when exposed to human body fluids. This might sound counter-intuitive, but one should consider that the main ingredients of the even soda-lime glass (oxides of silicon, sodium, and calcium) are elements also present in human body. In fact, the most used bioactive glasses are melted from the same ingredients than soda-lime glass (with small additions of other materials), but with considerably less silicon in the composition. This makes the glasses react much more easily when exposed to right conditions. Despite of having different composition from soda-lime glasses, bioactive glasses look like ‘ordinary’ transparent glasses. The compositions of bioactive glasses are tailored so that the dissolving glass is enhancing the bone regrowth in tissues and enables wanted cellular functions.

The same reason that makes these glasses degrade easily makes them act very differently from soda-lime glass when heated: they do not soften but they transform into ceramics, which is called crystallization. This is a very exciting phenomenon to try out: they crystallize so thoroughly that one can heat them from a transparent glass into a chalk-like piece of ceramics in a very short time.

I find both the idea that glass can be used as a bone substitute material and the idea of transparent glass transforming into opaque ceramics very inspiring. Both bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics were invented decades ago, but still, there is very little knowledge of them within the artistic community. I think that by trying out to use them in glass art one could expand their artistic view on what glasses can be.

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Photochromic glasses

Photochromic glasses were also developed in the in 1960s. They are glasses that exhibit a non-permanent change in color depending on amount of surrounding light. Traditionally, they have been used in sunglass lenses (nowadays the darkening sunglasses are mostly plastics).

The effect is done by striking a suitably chosen glass composition after melting, much in the same way than certain colors are striked. A challenge for using these glasses in glassblowing stems from the fact that if heated too high, the photochromic glass becomes permanently dark and the color-changing effect is lost. I find the color-changing effect very exciting; photochromic glasses could be used for art pieces that change their appearance depending on the surroundings.

Three images of the same photochromic glass pendant, where text ‘drawn’ with a UV light source is fading over time. Laura Aalto-Setälä, ‘I know all your secrets’, 2018 • Photochromic glass, sterling silver • Pendant diameter 4cm • Photo: Laura Aalto-Setälä

Phosphorescent glasses

Phosphorescence is a phenomenon where an object glows in the dark. In order for the glow to occur one has to have a suitable material with right type of light.

This effect can also be added to glasses.

This can be done by using different materials, but I think the easiest way for glassblowing purposes is by adding material called strontium aluminate in powder or frit to soda-lime glass. This material was developed in the 60s. It was the first glow-in-the-dark material that can handle the temperatures of glassblowing and is also compatible with soda-lime glass.

The glass pieces I have tested have shown to glow some hours after the light source (sunlight or UV light) is removed.

A pendant luminaire with phosphorescent glass shown both in daylight and glowing in the dark, mimicking the glow of the northern lights. Laura Aalto-Setälä, ‘Northern lights’, 2018 • Mold blown soda-lime glass with phosphorescent SrA powder. • Width 22cm, height 18cm • Photo: Laura Aalto-Setälä

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

Beyond Legacy

By Gianni Toso

All members of Soceita Conterie e Cristallerie glass factory in Murano, 1920. Grandfather Francesco Augusto Toso in the center with no jacket, top right father Germano Toso in full black jacket, other members are Gianni’s Uncles. Photo: Archives of the Soceita Conterie e Cristallerie

Germano and Gianni Toso, March 1974. Introduced Marvin Lipofsky to my father during this month.

Photo: Marvin Lipofsky

Anzolo Fuga and Gianni Toso, March 1974.

Introduced Lipofsky to the director of fine art at Avate Vincenzo Zanetti, Gianni’s Fine art academy. Photo: Marvin Lipofsky

I was born and grew up in a very rich culture of tradition. This tradition- from both the glass factory and the academyhas given me the possibility to know who I am, and to develop my own unique style and techniques. Tradition helped me earn respect from the glass community in Murano and become a maestro.

Yet tradition cannot emerge without a common culture among a community of people who share values and information. To give you an idea of the culture that formed me, I will tell you a little bit about my early life in Murano. When I was ten years old I began working in the glass factories on the island. The glass factory was a place where diverse personalities melded into teams, all following the lead of the master glass blower and team leader. There were many different glass blowers with different techniques and styles, and after a long day of work they met in a communal area to enjoy food and wine together. As a young man, I was able to watch and learn from the oldest community of glassblowers in Murano. As apprentices, we were en-

chanted to hear about their experiences.

There was a tension between the oldtime glassblowers and the newcomers from outside Murano, regarding both their experience working in glass and their general education; in short, about their position in the communal tradition of Murano Island. The glassblowers from the old Muranese families handed down knowledge from generation to generation; they were reluctant to share their scientific knowledge of glass with any newcomers, regarding their tradition as closely guarded family secrets. In fact, up until the generation preceding me- the generation of Archimede Seguso, Livio Seguso, Alfredo Barbini- any work created by a maestro would only be signed with name of the family or designer, creating a significant problem for glass historians today trying to identify the individual artist of each work.

My own Toso family tradition stretches back seven hundred years; both my father and grandfather were chemists who worked in the factories. Francesco Augusto Toso, my grandfather, is cred-

ited with creating more colors of glass than any other chemist. His notebook detailing the chemical composition of his glass was, like the rest of our family knowledge, passed down from generation to generation and it remains one of my treasured possessions. Yet this tradition goes back even further than my own family. Last year in Israel a railroad line was being extended south of the city of Acco. Construction was halted when workers found ancient remains, and a team of archeologists was called in. They found a 1600-year-old intact glass factory, and a furnace with glass still inside.

Archeologists determined that the furnace was capable of producing ten tons of glass. Chunks of this glass would be sent all over the world, similar to cullet today. Then the glass chunks would be reheated and formed into vessels. A chemist friend of mine, who before his retirement was director of the Centro Sperimentale del Vetro in Murano, acquired a small fragment of this glass and used ultrasound to identify its chemical composition and coefficient of expan-

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Gianni Toso, ‘Carnival in the square of Venice, ‘2008 • Base is kiln glass, figures are a combination blown and lamp worked glass • 14”x14”x 12” • Photo: Justin Foreman

Gianni Toso, ‘Right of Spring in Pulcinella Party’, 1988 • Lamp worked Murano glass, stainless steel • 14”x14”x22” • Photo: Abraham Blank

sion. He sent me a copy of his findings, which showed that the composition of this ancient Judean class is 95% identical to my family’s composition written down in my grandfather’s notebooks.

Another old Murano tradition regards the women, who had a very different role in the family’s glass production. Women worked as designers, accountants, and above all as arbiters of taste in the factories. In a “quaint” tradition, whenever a maestro created a special vessel, he would bring it home and over a beautiful table and with a delicious meal in front of them, the maestro presented this new glass object to the woman of the house.

If she exclaimed over it and extolled its beauty, he understood the commercial possibilities of the design. If, on the other hand, she did not like the glass, he would take it back and recycle it.

The second, equally important source of my culture is from the academy,

tions of Murano and open myself up to other cultures and experiences. One of my first experiences of art beyond the confines of typical Murano glassmaking came in 1967 when I collaborated with Salvador Dali to make five panels of glass surrealistic flowers, “translated” from his water color designs. After that I began to travel throughout America, initially at the invitation of Marvin Lipofsky, as both guest teacher and artist in residence at the new university glass programs springing up in the wake of the Studio Glass Movement. To me, glass is a language, and I have been fortunate in that the discipline, knowledge and skills that I learned beginning at age ten in the furnaces of Murano, combined with my academic explorations and wide-ranging professional relationships and experiences, have allowed me to give form to and communicate all that I have learned in my life journey of seventy-six years.

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where I received a classical education and the title of maestro d’arte. I was privileged to have as my teacher and, later, as mentor, Professor Anzolo Fugo, who for seven years taught me the fundamentals of art. At Abate Vincenzo Zanetti, an art academy for master glassblowers that I attended at night after working all day in the factories, I learned about design, mosaics, sketching for production, etc. These practical skills have served me well, but it was learning art history that had the most profound influence on my development as an artist. Professor Fugo made me buy a book about the nature of art and its place in society called Brevario di Estetica, by Benedetto Croce, one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century. I deeply studied this book. It opened a whole world of thinking to me. Thanks in part to this intellectual experience, I was able to separate myself from the limita-

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

Observations on Roman Cameo Glass

By Richard Whitely My motivation to commence a project looking at methods of Roman cameo manufacture arose from observations of both the surface of my own studio work and that of several cameo fragments that I had been fortunate enough to handle.

As an artist who spends a considerable amount of time carving and shaping glass, I was troubled by the explanations of marking on ancient Roman cameos I had viewed within museums – what I was seeing didn’t appear to correspond with the interpretations of the processes explained in historical accounts, that Roman cameo was formed from a hand blowing and extensively carved surfaces. I was also inspired by the research of selftaught German scholar and artist, Rosemarie Lierke, whom I understand was one of the first to conceptualise a model for Roman cameo that suggested these were not early blown glass forms.

In undertaking this research, I assembled a multi-disciplinary group from across the Australian National University (ANU). They are Dr. Tim Senden, Head of the Research School of Physics and Engineering; Dr. Elizabeth Minchin, Emeritus Professor in Classics; and Dr. Erica Seccombe, a colleague at the School of Art and Design. This collective has been essential in sharing ideas and knowledge with regards to this research.

For the first part of this paper, I will focus on a cameo fragment we have within the Classics collection of the ANU and talk through key results of surface and internal imaging undertaken with a highresolution Computer Tomography (CT) scanner developed by Dr. Tim Senden and his team. Building upon this, in the second part of this paper I will briefly talk about some observations that I have made in relation to the surfaces of Roman cameo fragments currently held within both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum in London.

The initial focus of our research is a fragment held within the ANU Classics collection; it originates from a cameo glass cup and has a maximum height of 58mm (2.3 inches) and width of 49 mm (2 inches). Like many cameo fragments from antiquity, its inner surface displays rotational scratches that are primarily horizontal (Fig 2). Overlaying these are more erratic, multi-directional scratches, some of which are deep and curved and appear to have been made with a substance equating to approximately 30 grit, which is extremely coarse for a vessel with walls that were only 1.5-3mm (1/16th – 1/8th) thick. Viewing these inner surface scratches under a microscope reveals tearing and bubbling along the edges which suggests that they were created when the glass was hot. These scratches are unlike any cold working marks I have seen or been able to create in my studio; they appear different in nature from other small patches of surface marks on the outside of this fragment and appear to have been applied when the glass was cold.

A significant observation on the outer surface is a section at the lower end of

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

the main white leaf motif (Fig 3). The white cameo layer does not extend to the bottom of the design and appears to have been cut off or fallen away. Instead there is a section of blue glass that raises up into the layer of the white to complete the shape of the decorative leaf. If the white glass was gathered over the top of the blue, this unevenness of the blue underlayer is highly unlikely.

This detail demonstrates that blue layer is not even and appears to have been pressed into the back of the white.

Next, we have images provided by the high-resolution CT scanner. The dataset of the ANU fragment reveals distinctly different qualities between the material density of the outer white glass layer and the blue glass underneath.

By tuning out the blue frequencies, we can view the entire inner surface of the white glass at the point of contact with the blue (Fig 4). There are numerous observations to be made here. The first relates to the diverse range of sizes of these bubbles and their flattened state.

Along the irregular edges of the white glass, you can see where some edges are crisp, and others look unworked.

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Occasionally we can see bubbles that have blown through from the blue to the white glass and we can see the occurrence of floating granules of white glass.

There is also a rotational shearing within these bubbles, presenting from left to right, indicating that there was force focused on the back of the white glass from that of the blue. My colleague, Dr. Senden, who is a material scientist with a PhD in bubble theory, states that the white glass was in a powdered state at the time the bubbles were formed.

He observes in an email on seeing this image: “This shows the white paste was applied wet, likely dried, and then tangentially sheared while the hot blue glass transferred heat into the white glass, inducing sintering under pressure. During the sintering the bubbles in the plastic hot white mass were deformed and frozen in their deformed state. This suggests the softened white mass was never really fluid, just a stiff plastic material.”

If we zoom into this corner leaf section of this CT image (Fig 5), we can see these suspended white glass particles clearly enveloped in the surrounding blue glass. The vertical dimension of this area is close to 10 mm (13/32th), with a depth of 2 mm (3/32th). Consistent with Dr. Senden’s observation is the likelihood that is the white glass was applied in a granulated powdered form and then latterly, within this top small section, dislodged at the time of exposure to the molten blue. Our conclusion for this fragment is that the white glass was a form of pâte de verre (granulated glass) when it was applied to the blue.

The blue glass, by contrast, was in a fully liquid state and may have been cast into place because of the swirling of bubbles present within this backing glass.

As mentioned, I have also been fortunate to view and handle the cameo collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum in London and, within these samples, have seen qualities strongly comparable to the

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surface of the fragment at the ANU. The outside detail of this fragment (MET 81.10.349) has several points of interest (Fig 6). Most significant are larger, raised, embossed areas of the red background glass (Figs 7 & 8). Previously attributed to weathering or being left by the cold worker, these sections are raised from the background level pushing ‘up’ into the area where the cameo would have been if gathered. Their irregular shape, and the assumption that they were left by the cold worker when there is such detailed carving close by, is puzzling if we assume this surface was fully engraved. They are unlikely to be the result of weathering, as within the lower areas we can see sections of fine cold working marks. I have seen these types of embossed shapes on the surfaces of castings when glass presses up against a mold that contains bubbles under its surface. These random shapes are formed as the mold material collapses into the bubble under the pressure of the glass on the outside.

Another significant observation from the MET’s collection (MET 16.174.47) relates to the fragment shown in Figure 9.

On its inner side (Fig 10) is a raised fissure of glass which protrudes back into the inner side of the vessel by 1.5 mm (1/16th); 1mm (3/64th) wide and 25mm (1 inch) long, it can clearly be felt by touch.

Significantly, there are rotational scratches on the inside surface and, if these were added after forming by cold working, this fissure would have been removed. The scratches come right up to either side of this fissure. The only explanation I can arrive at is that there was an internal tool that pressed against the back of the glass and this tool had a vertical cavity or crack that allowed this thin section of glass to flow back into this space during formation.

The final fragment I wish to highlight is a small fragment from the Auldjo jug which is held at the British Museum (BM 59 0216.1.b). This fragment has

a revealing feature on the leaf design.

There is a small section of white glass that sits on top of the leaf. This would have been difficult to leave and certainly unwanted by the designer. This raised section is the same glass as the cameo and appears to correspond to the edge of a leaf adjacent to the form as if this small section of glass fell back and attached to the outer section of the leaf during the forming process.

These are an edited summary of a few of my initial findings, and there is more work that needs to be done on this research to confirm the actual method used by Roman craftsmen. I am aware that there are other non-blowing theories that have yet to be published that may shed more light on this subject, and, after speaking to several respected colleagues, it is also plausible that the Romans were simultaneously using several methods of production for cameo glass.

What our research highlights is the need for more makers with an intimate knowledge of glass to work with historians, curators, and archeologists to further our understanding of cameo and possibly other areas of glass production.

Associate Professor Richard Whiteley Head of Glass, School of Art & Design The Australian National University Canberra, Australia Thanks to the ANU research team (mentioned above) and the following people for their advice and support: Rosemarie Lierke (Independent Researcher), Dr. Christopher Lightfoot (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), William Gudenrath (Researcher, Corning Museum of Glass), Dr. Ross Thomas (Curator, The British Museum), Dr Alex Truscott (The British Museum), David Hill (Independent Researcher) & Mark Taylor (Independent Researcher).

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

The Flameworking of Glass Items Until the 19th Century

By Sandro Zecchin Objects worked with glass and a small flame, for example beads, go back to the origins of the history of glass. In this article we shall look at the glass production technique of such objects, defined as follows: By lampworking one means the manipulation of canes of glass that are either pierced along the axis or solid, and softened over a small flame that is pointed at a clearly defined area, to create an object.

Today the flame is created mostly by methane and oxygen gas, but until the mid 1800s it was produced using animal fat and strengthened and directed by air blown through a glass tube with the mouth or pedal-driven bellows.

This technique is mainly used to produce beads, the production of which we shall look at in brief later, but it is also used for the finishing of blown glass works, small animals, flowers, profane and sacred figurines, scientific apparatus, etc.

This technique has been described by several authors in the past, for example Johannes Kunckel in 1679 and D. Diderot and J.B. D’Alembert in the second half of the 1700s. In his Encyclopedia Diderot wrote: The art of the production of glass enamel by means of lampworking is one of the most pleasant, amusing arts I know: there is not one object that cannot be made in enamel with lampworking, requiring very little time, and in a more or less perfect way.

The oldest depiction of a lampworking workshop is a drawing that is believed to go back to the beginning of the 1600s and it portrays a Dutch craftsman at his bench (fig. 1). As one can see, he is holding two glass canes in his hands, moving them towards the flame and blowing with the mouth through a glass tube. In the lower left hand corner one can see a bellows that was used to work large objects.

In Kunckel’s book Ars vitraria experimentalis is a plate depicting three craftsmen at their workbench, each with their own lamp. There is a bellows below the bench with a large funnel above the bench to

collect the foul-smelling fumes from the combustion of the fat, directing them towards the exterior.

When and how did this technique begin? The earliest documentation mentions lampworking in Venice in the second half of the 1500s. From there, it spread to other glassmaking centers such as Florence, Innsbruck, Nevers and Amsterdam.

Venice

In documents preserved in the Venice State Archive one can find an inventory that was drafted in 1577 and mentions small lampworked chains. Three years earlier there is a document reporting the complaint for theft made by the glassworks owner Francesco Caner, against a certain Domenico, who produced lampworked objects, using solid or perforated glass canes. In Venetian documents, it is not until 1629 that the word suppialume appears for the first time in Venetian documents, and refers to the craftsman working with a lamp. Evidence of a production of lampworked beads and chains in Venice in the second half of the 1500s has recently been discovered, with the discovery of several objects in a late sixteenth century grave in the former Chiesa di S. Agostino in Bergamo, which was still under the dominion of the Venetian Republic. Some blown glass beads were found that belonged to a necklace or rosary and also a chain, around 90 cm in length, made of small rings that were about 1 cm in diameter, made from pieces of perforated white and blue/green, curved glass, closed hot with a drop of colorless glass. Some of the glass bead fragments were analyzed to determine their quantitative chemical composition.

The composition of the glass and the techniques used for coloring and opacification are compatible with Venetian glass production in the Renaissance.

There is little information about any other kind of lampworking production

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Fig.1. Drawing with depiction of a 17th-century Dutch lampworker. Attributed to Jacob de Gheyn II. First half of the seventeenth century. 33 cm x 24 cm, Inv. CMGL 121962. Credits: Rakow Research Library, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.

other than beads in the 1600s and 1700s.

In the 1800s the production of spun glass expanded considerably with the production of colored fabrics and diverse objects such as baskets, lampshades and flowers.

Another lampworking production sector in Venice in the 1800s was the production of the figured and millefiori canes by Giovan Battista Franchini and his son Giacomo (fig. 2). Called murrine, the sections of these canes were used by Pietro Bigaglia, the owner of a Murano glassworks in the middle of the 1800s to englobe them in glass paperweights, giving rise to a production that was to reach its greatest expression in France, with the glass works of Saint Louis, Chichy, Baccarat and Pantin.

Innsbruck

We shall now look at the interesting production of lampworked objects in Innsbruck at the end of the 1500s. An admirer of Muranese glass, the Archduke

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Fig.2. Portrait of Vittorio Emanuele II. Giacomo Franchini. 1860. Venezia. Diameter 21 mm.

CREDITS: Museo del Vetro, Murano.

Fig.3. Three pairs of figurines. Lady and knight, two peasants, two street’s sellers. France, second half of the eighteenth century. Max height 9 cm. Inv. 17956-17961.

CREDITS: Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Glasmuseum Hentrich, Düsseldorf / Horst Kolberg-ARTOTHEK.

Ferdinand II opened a glassworks in 1570 called Hofglasshütte that remained active until 1591 in Ambras Castle, where he also asked Venetian glassmakers to work.

Ambras Castle and the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum have preserved many lampworked objects that are believed to come from Ferdinand II’s glassworks, including necklaces with beads and gilded glass, jewels, pendants, panels, and showcases with religious scenes.

center surrounded by the narration of the life of Christ, going from the Annunciation to the Resurrection. The panel is full of lampworked figurines and animals. It may be of Austrian or Florentine craftsmanship, perhaps by Niccolò Landi.

Florence

Florence also played an important role in the production of lampworked objects thanks to Niccolò Landi, who worked in the Medici glassworks from 1591 to 1620.

Florentine documents mention small glass animals, spun glass plumes, grasshoppers, jewels, sea-horses, and flies, amongst other things. He is mentioned more than once in the glass drawings by the Veronese painter Jacopo Ligozzi, with the suggestion of completing the blowing in the furnace with the application of lampworked glass.

The great potential of the lampworking technique was exploited in Florence also thanks to the preparation of measuring tools in the field of the scientific research encouraged by the Medici. A high degree of perfection was reached between 1657 and 1667 in the production of scientific equipment commissioned by the Accademia del Cimento.

In Palazzo Pitti in Florence is kept a reliquary datable to the second half of the 1500s, with a crucifixion scene in the 48

France

France took the lions’ share from the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries with the production of lampworked figurines and panels depicting both religious and profane scenes. The birthplace for this was the city of Nevers where Italian glassmakers arrived in the middle of the 1500s, coming above all from Altare (Savona), which not only produced glass in the style of “facon de Venise”, but also enamel pani and canes. Between 1565 and 1577 the émailleurs joined the enameled glass workers, introducing the art of the shaping of figurines and small objects with profane and religious subjects. This craft then spread throughout France: today one still speaks of Nevers figurines, but it would be more correct to call them dits de Nevers (fig. 3).

Today very few samples have survived that can be dated to the 1500s or 1600s for sure. Most of the examples in private and public collections are from the 1700s. The technique is usually based on the shaping on a metal structure of glass canes that are heated over a flame.

Such works can be attributed to very few French craftsmen. The most famous in the 1700s were Pierre Haly, Charles François Hazard, Jean Raux and in the

1800s René Lambourg.

In the mid 1800s a marvelous production of paperweights (presse-papiers), was developed in France, by the glassworks Baccarat and Saint Louis, in Alsace and Lorraine, and Clichy and Pantin, in the suburbs of Paris.

Germany

In the nineteenth and twentieth century Germany had two craftsmen who excelled at lampworking: Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolf. Originally from Bohemia, at the end of 1850 Leopold began producing glass flowers and between 1860 and 1862 he had made around a hundred. He moved to Dresden in 1863 where he began to work together with the director of the Natural History Museum, making reproductions of invertebrates (from 1876 together with his son), until 1890. In 1887 the couple began a long series of plant models. During their lengthy career they supplied both museums and universities with realistic models of plants and animals. As regards the technique they adopted, the objects are often reinforced with a metal support, sometimes blown, using either colored glass or painted cold with a thin layer of colored enamel or metal oxides.

Note

For an extensive illustration of this topic, see the volume: Sandro Zecchin. LAMPWORKING. Glass items up to the 19th Century.

2018. Grafiche 2am, Venezia.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

The Murrini of Franchini, Moretti, and Barovier

By Giovanni Sarpellon

Is it possible to hold the portraits of Victor Emmanuel II, Garibaldi, and Cavour in a glass disc three millimetres in diameter? The incredible answer is that it is, or at least it was, if your name was Giacomo Franchini, who, between 1845 and 1863 used just glass and a gas flame to create a whole series of glass rods, a cross-section in any of which, at any point along its length, would reveal a portrait. The art of fashioning glass rods so they contain a continuous design is at least three thousand years old; it reached its peak in the two centuries around the birth of Christ with the work of the glassmakers of Alexandria and Rome who were skilled at preparing rods of a great variety of colour and design. These rods were then chopped into roundels which, in turn, were heated and fused together to make saucers, bowls and even vases of exquisite beauty.

With the introduction of the technique of blown glass around the first half of the 1st Century A.D., the old method fell into disuse and did not reappear until the glassmakers of Murano revived it in the 18th Century. The process of making a glass rod containing a continuous design throughout its length is not, in fact, so very difficult if one uses an open-ended mould through which to press a cylinder of softened glass. This is the method adopted in the case of the simple designs - generally a star shape or a cog-wheel - which are commonly known as “millefiori.” A second way used to build up more complex designs is to lay rods together to form the motif desired and then slowly heat until they fuse to form a new rod. The third system is much more difficult and involves building up the core from a nucleus by adding and shaping molten glass directly from the crucible.

Credit for reintroducing millefiori rods into Murano glassmaking goes to Domenico Bussolin, who produced a series of very elegant rods in 1838. Shortly afterward, Giovanni Battista Franchini followed his example and created several hundred extremely elaborate and refined rods, which he then used to make brooches, pendants, and handles for cutlery. Then in 1844-45, Pietro Bigaglia used similar fragments to make the first millefiori paperweights, which were immediately copied by the French glass factories. The remarkable thing about Giovanni Battista Franchini was that he was a bead-maker by trade and therefore worked not in a Murano “fornace” but with simple tools, a flame using animal fat as fuel, and a small quantity of remelted glass. His son Giacomo, building on the experience of his father, decided to attempt the impossible and prepare rods not just with complex designs but also with recognisable portraits. He started in 1845 with the face of a girl by the name of Angelina ( possibly his fiancée?) and a view of IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Giacomo Franchini, Rialto Bridge, 1847, lampwork murrina, Ø mm 11.

the Rialto Bridge as attractive as it was scrupulously accurate.

In 1848, he created a rod containing a portrait of Pope Pius IX and followed this up in 1860 with the face of the first king of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II. He then created a whole gallery of portraits of the famous personages of his time, which included Cavour, Garibaldi, Napoleon III, and the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria.

What would be impossible to believe, were it not for the fact the works themselves embody the astonishing evidence, is the scale on which Franchini worked; the Rialto Bridge is inside an oval just 7 millimetres across, and the portrait of Vittorio Emanuele survives in specimens no more than 3-4 millimetres in diameter. The “secret” of such marvels is easily revealed: it lies in the fact that when thoroughly and uniformly heated, a glass rod can be drawn out, longer and longer so that the design along its core diminishes in size without suffering distortion.

Giacomo Franchini achieved a degree of perfection in his work that no one else could touch, but he was not the only master craftsman in this unusual branch of glassmaking. In 1870, Vincenzo Moretti, a glassmaker with the firm of Salviati (and later of the Compagnia Venezia-Murano), became passionately interested in the fragments of early Roman glass that were then being unearthed in archaeological excavations, and by 1878 he had found a way of imitating the quality of glass to perfection. His work was presented at the Paris International Exhibition of that year and enjoyed resounding success. It was on this occasion that Abbot Vincenzo Zanetti, the founder of

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Vincenzo Moretti, Tulip, 1880, murrina, H mm 35.

the Murano Glass Museum and inspirer of the nineteenthcentury renaissance of glassmaking on the island, coined the word “murrini” to describe the objects after the vasa murrina of which Pliny the Elder wrote in his Naturalis Historia. Since then, in Murano as in the rest of the world, the word murrini has been used to refer to any items produced with the technique properly called glass-mosaic, and murrine to denote the sliced cross-sections of a rod containing any running design. Ambitious to emulate Giacomo Franchini, Luigi Moretti, Vincenzo’s son, fashioned a new series of portraits between 1888 and 1894 including images of Umberto I, Christopher Colombus, Kaiser Wilhelm I, and the Virgin Mary. His work, though undoubtedly fine, did not reach the exquisite heights of Franchini’s because of the less refined method he used.

The famous glassmaking family of Barovier also produced beautiful murrine. After some initial attempts by Giovanni, around 1880, the company’s finest work was done by Giuseppe in the years between 1910 and 1915. He interpreted the new Art Nouveau style in glass and created a remarkable variety of highly colourful flowers, sometimes isolated and sometimes gathered into elegant bunches. Giuseppe Barovier’s masterpiece remains his peacock murrina which epitomises the artistic refinement and technical skill of a master craftsman who is still considered to have been one of glassmaking’s most distinguished practitioners.

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Luigi Moretti, Cristoforo Colombo portrait, 1892, murrina, Ø mm 24.

Giuseppe Barovier, Peacock, 1913, murrina, H mm 28.

All photos by Giovanni Sarpellon.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

GLASS Virtual, Real

By Koen Vanderstukken Why did it take until the mid 20th century to see glass being used within contemporary or modern art?

Looking at historical sculpture, I couldn’t find any example in glass that even came close to sculptures made of media such as wood, stone, metal or ceramics. SO, WHERE WAS GLASS? In order to answer this question and in an attempt to figure out why I pose seven questions: 1. The first question, we have already answered. Historically, no glass sculptures of significance can be found although glass resides in craft, functional art, and decorative art.

2. Why did this change in the mid-20th century? In order to be able to answer this question, we have to ask ourselves: 3. What else changed in the mid-20th century? I argue that it was the rise of a post-modern society that was the catalyst for this change.

4. Does that mean that glass is a postmodern medium? Yes. But since glass’s popularity seems to keep rising and since we’re no longer living in a post-modern society, there must be more to it.

5. In order to figure out what this “more” could be, it is important to ask oneself: what is the fundamental quality of glass? I claim that it’s not its transparency nor its fragility, but the fact that glass is a state of matter.

6. So why did it take us over 4000 years to understand this? This is where I reason that we needed the insights of the digital age in which we are living in order to be able to fully understand this definition.

7. I end my thesis by asking is glass the ultimate medium for our digital age?

So, no glass sculptures? In all honesty, there are some, mostly Egyptian. You find them in Egypt’s most valuable treasures as

GLASS Virtual, Real, Published Dec. 2016, Black Dog Publishing, London, UK

they believed that glass was a natural semiprecious stone related to metals like gold or silver. Glass stones were considered recreations of semi-precious stones.1 Unlike Egyptians, Romans used glass to imitate quartz or other semi-precious stones. Glass continued to have a very rich tradition but the emphasis of the object’s value shifted from the medium itself to the craftsmanship.2 And that is how it continued.

Stained glass is the exception, but looking at it more closely, it can be argued that painters - not glassmakers - were considered to be the artists. In my book, I even claim that on an artistic level, painters were investigating glass more in-depth than glassmakers.

By the mid-20th century, however, there was a sudden increase in the artistic use of glass. Often, the explanation is that Harvey Littleton introduced a small furnace so artists could experiment with this fascinating “new” medium in the comfort of their own studios. Studio glass was born, and glass art was introduced to the world. I certainly don’t want to minimize Littleton’s, or any other artist’s, efforts but more things were happening with glass - Marinot, a French painter, had been working with glass since the 1920s; Jean Sala had a glass studio in the Beretta, The Alchemy of Glass pp 15–17, 21–22.

Fleming and Shafer, “Glassmaking in Roman Times” 3 Byrd, Joan Falconer, Harvey K. Littleton: A Life in Glass, New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2011, pp 14, 46–47.

1

2

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

heart of Paris and was Littleton’s inspiration;3 René Roubícek won a gold medal with Glass – Substance – Form – Expression at the world expo of ’58;4 in the US, Edris Eckhardt5 and Claire Falkenstein began working with glass in the 50s. Egidio Costantini had his furnace in Murano and worked with artists like Chagall, Arp, Picasso, Braque and many more; and even glass factories like Daum in France worked with artists like Salvador Dali.

Furthermore, there were many artists who worked with glass but didn’t want to be associated with craft. They mainly used industrial glass: Ana Mendieta, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Joseph Kosuth, Adolf Luther, Christopher Wilmarth, César, Luciano Fabro, Mario Merz, Robert Smithson, Larry Bell, Dan Graham, and the list goes on.

Almost all of these works started appearing within the same decade, often totally independent of one another. So, there had to be more than one artist introducing a small furnace or the idea of glass to North American universities.

Investigating further, it occurred to me that Post-Modernism might be the missing link.

Modernism and Post-Modernism are very complex terms which are open to interpretation. Due to editorial limitations, I can only point out the most essential characteristics.

Ricke, Neues Glas/New Glass, pp 20–21.

“Edris Eckhardt”, New Bedford Museum of Glass, accessed May 2014, www.nbmog.org/EvePage.html 4 5

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According to Greenberg,6 Modernism is based on a strong belief in rational principals and the ability to make the future happen with direct experience being the true source of knowledge. It is a linear movement characterized by an idealistic positive attitude and faith in the future.

Post-modernism7 is not linear but a network. Everything is connected.

Alongside objective criteria, it also uses subjective criteria. Post-modernism is dominated by the conviction that we cannot know the truth and that we cannot represent reality. There are only appearances. Everything is a farce.

I can only see transparent glass when there’s light. But even lit, glass can remain hidden. Sometimes it is only perceived through reflections, dust, scratches, etc.

But even then, simple physics tells us that light is distorted by glass. These distortions not only change the reality of what’s behind the glass but also the visual reality of the object itself. We see the object not as it is but as a refraction of light. What we perceive is an unreal image of the real object, a virtual object.

Although based on pure optical evidence, the conclusion surpasses the merely physical dimensions of the material: it means that on a visual level, glass not only refers to reality but also virtual reality. And as a consequence, it confuses and questions all our powers of perception.

It appears to me that modernist objectives cannot be reconciled with these qualities. Glass definitely relates to the qualities of Post-Modernism. It was the necessary catalyst for the breakthrough of glass as a sculptural medium.

In my book, I delve much deeper into this matter and use Henry Matisse’s Chapel of the Rosary and Marcel Duchamp’s The Large Glass as examples.

But post-modern days are over and the use of glass within contemporary art continues to increase. So other things must be at play. Of course, there are initiatives such as Glass ’86 in Leerdam and people like Adriano Berengo who with his Glasstress exhibitions keeps pushing glass.

But what’s the force behind all this?

Harrison, Charles, Modernism: Movements in Modern Art, London: Tate Gallery, 1997.

7 Van den Braembussche, Denken over kunst: Een kennismaking met de kunstfilosofie, pp 282–300.

6

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Koen Vanderstukken, Artificial Crossbreeding, 2002, blown glass, taxidermic chicken, Photo: Koen Vanderstukken

To answer this question, we need to look at the definition of glass: “Glass [is] an inorganic product of fusion that has cooled to a rigid condition without crystallizing.”8 This means that glass is not defined as a material but as a state of matter. It also means that many materials can be turned into a glass, even metals.

Glass is a state of matter! Could it be that we missed the true essence of the medium by not fully understanding its definition?

In several articles, I read how transparent glass objects can be seen as immaterial objects, in other words, an “immaterial materiality.” This viewpoint is often regarded as a unique feature and used as a justification for using glass in art or to help substantiate a philosophical view.

However, glass is a “material immateriality” because the object is real but the state of matter does not refer to a material. This approach applies to all glass, not just clear glass. It allows us to delve into the true immateriality of glass, not just the perceived “immaterial materiality” of transparent glass. Whereas in the past, glass was mainly used for questioning our visual perceptions, now we are also questioning our intellectual perception.

I began seeing new links which had escaped me. This new approach encom-

passed the whole being or non-being of the medium itself. It makes glass the perfect “in-between”9 between materiality and immateriality, between being and non-being. It made me realize that glass is the ultimate interface between reality and virtuality, not only philosophically but also in reality.

Finally, it dawned on me that at the same time as Post-Modernism appeared, the digital age in which we are living also introduced itself. While Post-Modernism came and went, the digital age is just beginning.

It all made sense. Ever since computers and cellphones established themselves in our daily lives, people started perceiving and understanding things differently. Whereas 50 years ago, it was hard to imagine virtual structures, simply because we were not familiar with them, they are now the most natural things in the world. The digital revolution needed glass as an interface in order to develop.

At the same time it allowed us to visualize and understand complex structures. It surely helps us to better understand the immaterial nature of glass as well. The circle is closed. My point is made.

For book information: GLASS Virtual, Real, Black Dog Publishing, London, www.vanderstukken.com

ASTM Standard Definitions 1990, p 212, cited by von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk, Dedo, Glass of the Alchemists: Lead Crystal–Gold Ruby, 1650–1750, Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass, 2008, p 315.

9

8

first used by Henk Oosterling in “Het Glastijdperk” at TU Delft on 18 November 2002.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

LECTURE

Lampworking

By Cesare Toffolo My lecture at the GAS Conference in Murano reflected on and presented the realization of my new lampworking books. The entire work is composed of three volumes, Volume I was written by Sandro Zecchin and deals with lampworking from the beginning to the 19th Century while Volumes II and III were written by me and deal with lampworking from the 20th Century to the present day. The Volumes have been written in Italian/English and total 1070 pages dedicated to this discipline.

The books that deal with lampworking are not many, if we exclude those connected to beads and those that treat glass from a scientific laboratory, there are very few and almost all strictly monographic. We, therefore, felt the need to contribute these volumes which will help, at least partially, to overcome this gap.

A large part of what we have presented has never been published before. Stories and facts that, with time, would have been forgotten forever are in our books described and made available to those who, today or in the future, want to deepen the remarkable history of lampworking glass.

The volumes are the result of years of research, travel to key places, and forty years of activity in the field. Realizing that lampworking is present today, even in a sporadic form, on almost every continent, research was limited to places that have contributed predominantly to the development of the technique. Seven countries were taken into consideration, some are important for the diffusion of this discipline while others are the homeland of illustrious performers of this art. It is possible to see how all of these countries have “contaminated” each other, how the techniques have spread and have given rise to unexpected developments. Each country contains its own stories, and many of these are described in these volumes as they were “heard.” Direct and personal involvement with many of these stories is not denied, but this closeness has been deliberately revealed in order to convey the emotional part of those who wrote these lines. Being a glassmaker, I tried to enrich the narration by sharing some technical reflections that I think can help the understanding of some mechanical problems. Of course, the success of the research carried out in these countries is the result of the participation of several people who dedicated time to this project. I had known some of them for several years and was aware of their expertise on the various subjects, but others I had the pleasure of meeting during my pilgrimage in search of information. Among them are curators and directors of museums and libraries, collectors, teachers, researchers, and artists. Some of them were even present at the historic GAS Conference in Murano.

Lampworking in the XX and XXI centuries have seen an extraordinary evolution; the appearance in 1893 of borosilicate glass and the new flames enriched with oxygen have increased the glass panorama of new and various technical and artistic

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Glassblower - Jules Gaildrau 1870

Deer hunting - Lauscha, 1935 - H. about cm. 30 - Archive: Museum für Glaskunst Lauscha

possibilities, creating, at times, turning points. Looking at the recent past, we often find an inadequate consideration of lampworking, the discriminating motivation is mainly in visual comparison to the working at the furnace. The imbalance between the two techniques is evident - the impact of the giant fire of the furnace, the large mass of incandescent glass, and the large swirls performed by the master assisted by a team have “inevitably suffocated” the small flame, the minuscule mass of molten glass, and the almost static nature of the lampworker.

Furthermore, as this practice is much cheaper than the furnace, the lampworker has covered a lower segment of the market for a long time. Production costs have inevitably helped to create boundaries. As a result, a product produced in a furnace has generally had a higher price than a lampworking product, so for a less attentive audience, the price reflected the actual value of the object regardless of the accuracy of the craftsmanship. The

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low-end markets and the large quantity of poor-quality glass objects produced with this technique in the 20th Century did not help the revaluation. Not infrequently, some European and overseas lampworkers have been able to stand out and, with their refined artifacts, have helped revive this discipline bringing it to the interest of attentive observers, collectors, gallery owners, and museums. A key role has been played by glass schools, which gradually developed lampworking courses directed to students of various levels which have contributed to an exchange of technical knowledge that was at one time unimaginable. The revaluation of this discipline, ignoring some very rare cases in the past, began towards the end of the 20th Century and continued gradually until today. The collaboration developed in schools has contributed in a powerful way to the expansion of knowledge and technical growth of lampworking. The most significant contribution has certainly come from the teacher-artists who came from various parts of the world, opened up the community, and generously shared their knowledge with new generations.

The contemporary lampworker uses advanced burners and temperature maintenance kilns with controlled thermal descent; these new technologies have enriched the technical instrumentation but have not changed the image of the lampworker working alone, seated in front of his flame intent on creating an object that is, above all, the result of technical skill and individual intellect. Today’s young lampworker often has art school training, stays up-to-date on the global professional scene, travels, and takes part in international events. He also shares images of his creations online where there are no secrets, everything is shared, and he receives immediate gratification. The lampworker is still alone in front of the flame but is no longer isolated; he is part of a large community and is aware that sharing information is done for the benefit of all.

The manual torch was imported from the chemical suffering, and gradually the dimensions of the lamp-shaped objects were dilated out of all proportion, the only limitations now are the size of the kiln and, of course, the potential of the maker. Thanks to constant research and inventiveness, lampworking has evolved over time, and in the last forty years, it has appeared in art galleries, has enriched museum collections and, moreover, the appreciators of this art have become so many. The combination of creativity, intellect, and skill has helped remove the obstacles that had formed over time. Many of the people who contributed to this evolution are mentioned in my books, and the written words tell this story starting in the early years of the 20th Century, with some small incursions into the 19th Century, up to the present day.

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Cesare Toffolo

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LECTURE

Extruding Glass Across Millennia

By Michael Stern

Introduction

In 2014, a multidisciplinary team at MIT developed the first hot glass 3D printer capable of printing parts which could be used as architectural scale components.

This project required a diverse set of resources, including access to a glass facility and people with experience designing and building glass equipment; mechanical and software engineers who could design a working printer and computer interface; materials scientists to characterize the behavior of glass in a printing regime; and designers capable of thinking in new material forms. These and more were all necessary, leveraging the interdisciplinary culture and access at MIT. This project was enabled by a collaboration between MIT’s Media Lab and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science departments, who together combined the wide range of perspectives and skills necessary to achieve the project’s goals.

3D printing molten glass, while a novel idea, is not from a materials perspective without precedents. To the contrary, the fundamental mode - “drawing” - has been used in many glass manufacturing processes for centuries. Pulling cane is a method of drawing glass. The Fourcault “up-draw” process, developed in the early 1900s, involved a continuous method of forming window glass by pulling it vertically, while molten, through a narrow channel in a rapidly cooling and solidifying ribbon where it could then be cut.

Glass tubing and optical fiber are made today using modernized “down-draw” processes. So while the MIT printer is capable of making shapes that have not been seen before with a machine that is the first of its kind, the underlying fabrication principle is a long-understood and utilized process.

Brought to life in the MIT Glass Lab, the prototype printer designated G3DP, demonstrated the possibilities and future challenges that emerge when printing

Three printed glass components radius of curvature of 150mm, 30mm and 12.5 mm (left to right). Credit: The Mediated Matter Group.

molten glass. The new system created unique forms unlike anything fabricated in glass before, and with them, came a discovery: when illuminated, these printed glass objects, inherently lens-like in structure, generated spectacularly intricate patterns of light caustics. However, this new technology was not without serious challenges. The complex thermal requirements, fragility of high-temperature equipment, and custom experimental machine tool paths all frequently led to failures of prints or the printer itself.

Building upon the successful demonstration of G3DP in 2015, the team began the development of a second-generation platform redesigned from the ground up. The goals of G3DP2 were to increase the size of the print volume and the speed of printing while improving precision and enhancing the reliability of the system. The new platform improved upon the original by doubling the print volume, more than doubling the print rate, achieving sub-millimeter accuracy, and system reliability that lasted weeks instead of days.

Initial Testing and Design Space Exploration

With the completion of the new printer designs, the team generated a series of tests to establish a set of operating conditions and to begin the process of understanding the capability of the new system. These experiments then informed the operating parameters of the system. A Material Reservoir contains and conditions the molten glass at 1090C. After printing is initiated, the molten glass flows down through an alumina nozzle held at 800C. Finally, the nozzle deposits the glass in the Build Chamber, held at 480C, where a build plate moves relative to the nozzle at 10mm/s as it continuously traces out, in one single path, the form of the object in 5mm layers.

The team also conducted an initial study of curvature, printing radii as small as 12.5mm and as large as 150mm. By fabricating samples of different geometries and then carefully measuring the results, we were able to gain an understanding of the capability of the system. The machine exhibits its highest fidelity with radii above 20mm, so this threshold was maintained during the future design phases.

Milan Design Week 2017

From its initial conception, the development of the G3DP2 platform had, as a goal,

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the deployment of 3D printed glass at the architectural scale. The team considered carefully the impacts and opportunities of each design decision against the ability to fabricate at this large scale. The first product from the G3DP2 platform leveraged the attributes of the printer: scale, speed, accuracy, and reliability. A series of 3-meter tall glass columns were designed to express the machine’s abilities and the material’s structural capacity.

Inspired by the stone columns of Antoni Gaudì, they morphed in a cross-section along their height. To achieve the 3-meter scale of the columns and the morphing cross-section, each column was assembled from fifteen unique components stacked one on top of another and held in compression by an internal steel rod.

In demonstrating the structural capabilities of the glass, we tested scale and full-size samples in both bending and compression to understand the limits of 3D printed soda-lime glass. Our results showed that the effects of printing on the material properties of glass were relatively small; 3D printed soda-lime glass behaved similarly to soda-lime glass fabricated by other processes. As expected, the compression strength of the glass was exceptionally high, a design requirement of the column concept.

Three columns were exhibited for the first time during the Milan Design Week in April 2017 at the Triennale Museum.

This exhibition incorporated the further addition of motion-controlled lighting, which, in concert with the morphing cross-section of each column, painted the space with a sea of ever-changing patterns of light and shadow.

Conclusion

The development of the second-generation glass printer, G3DP2, dramatically expands the design space for 3D printed glass. Over the last year, we have been conducting research to explore the limits of this manufacturing process and resulting design space. We have just begun to scratch the surface of the design

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Glass II. Overall view of the columns. Designed and constructed by The Mediated Matter Group, MIT Media Lab. Credit: Paula Aguilera and Jonathan Williams. Courtesy of The Mediated Matter Group.

potential for 3D printed glass, and we are excited to continue the development of this technology and to explore the diverse possibilities of the emergent design space and applications.

Our team has a multitude of interests for future projects, and we are excited to announce that, in addition to continuing the research with the Mediated Matter Group at MIT, a subgroup of the team has recently founded a company, Vetriforma Inc., which will focus on commercializing the technology.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mori Building Co. Ltd, for their initial support and funding for the development and invention of the G3DP2 platform, Lexus Design for their support in producing and hosting the first architectural installation in 3D printed glass, as well as GETTYLAB for their continued support of research into 3D-printed glass. We would like to thank Andrew Magdanz, Susan Shapiro, Mary Ann Babula, DJ Benyosef, and Robert Phillips of Almost Perfect Glass for hosting the team and providing invaluable hard work and insights in glass making. We thank Spiral Arts Inc., Nikon USA, Smart Ceramics, Skutt Kilns, Teknic Inc., THK, Bell-Everman, Deltech Furnaces, Engineered Ceramics, the MIT Central Machine Shop, and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger for their technical support and collaborative development of the glass printing technology. We thank Front Inc. and Pentagram for additional contributions to the installation La Triennale di Milano for hosting our exhibition. We thank the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms for the use of their facilities and The Mediated Matter Group for their continuing teamwork and help at every stage of the project.

Project Contributions

Design and development of the G3DP2 platform was led and conducted by Chikara Inamura1, Daniel Lizardo, Michael Stern, Tal Achituv1, Peter Houk, Sadie Whitcher3, Niels LaWhite3, and Professor Neri Oxman1. Fabrication and installation of the glass columns for Milan Design Week was completed by the platform development team along with Giorgia Franchin, Nassia Inglessis, Tomer Weller, and Owen Trueblood. Image credits go to Paula Aguilera, Jonathan Williams, Andrew Ryan, and The Mediated Matter Group.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

D E M O N S T R AT I O N S

Katherine Gray and Nancy Callan during their demo at the San Pietro Church Field

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H O T G L A S S D E M O N S T R AT I O N

Double Standards

By Ned Cantrell and Vidar Koksvik

We have worked together in various situations since we met at art school in England in 1996. We have always had a lot of fun working together and take it this is the reason we were invited to demonstrate in Murano together.

Our thought is that the meeting between us as individual artists brings us further and develops our minds through expanded possibilities. We have a similar dry sense of humor and a mutual desire to develop creativity through play and experimentation.

For creativity to flourish, it is important to make space and time to try new things, break routines, make mistakes and have fun. As we are both kept busy with our own studios in Norway and Denmark, in partnership with our respective spouses, it can be a challenge to find this room for play. Our friendship has been important for our growth as artists and craftsmen through shared knowledge and ideas- as much as being able to laugh at our mistakes.

Since we began blowing glass, we have both looked to Venetian glass with great respect and awe. We were both seduced at an early age by the intricacies of murrini, filligrana and goblet making. Amongst a small selection of books in the school library, was a catalogue from a Dick Marquis exhibition.

His work captivated and inspired both of us stating “Technique is not so cheap”.

This was, of course, before YouTube, so learning these skills actually involved a pilgrimage to Venice to watch and talk to the Maestros. The way they blew glass was very different from how we learnt in Scandinavia. Despite that the exchange of knowledge with the studio glass movement was well underway, the techniques were, for us at that time, shrouded in mystery.

What could we then possibly contribute to this conference on Murano?

There was little point in showing off

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Ned Cantrell and Vidar Koksvik demoing at NasonMoretti

our virtuoso technical skills or making a performance of macho glassblowing bravado. That wasn’t going to cut it. We felt we had to be smarter than that and therefore spent quite some time considering how our demonstration could contribute anything.

Ned’s recent work has evolved around popular cultural phenomena such as high brow/low brow, pop art and cartoons. One example is a crow eating from a McDonald’s basket of fries surrounded by rubbish.

Vidar has recently taken a detour from blown, decorative glass to an exploration of the relationship between the attractive and the repulsive through a series of glass pieces depicting raw meat, skinned

animals and broken bones.

Undermining the inherent beauty of glass is common ground in both of our work. Or perhaps, finding beauty in unexpected places. This was an interesting theme for our demonstration.

We have both developed aspects of traditional Venetian techniques in our own work. Reinterpreting tradition in combination with new tricks. Our initial idea was to make one piece each, demonstrating how Venetian glass has influenced our personal styles and join them by the end of the demo.

We decided to make a piece where Ned’s crow was feeding off a fleshy bone made by Vidar.

At NasonMoretti we were met by

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

positive and helpful people and a factory with many possibilities including eight furnaces with glass in different beautiful colors. NasonMoretti makes the most beautiful tableware but are not necessarily set up for sculpting.

There is also an attraction in the challenges posed by the limitations. In Murano, we got a fair amount of both.

Realizing that the crow would be impossible to make, we had to rethink our idea. In despair turning to our wives for help proved wise as usual. They suggested making a cartoonish bird rather than the realistic crow, thus saving our bacon. Ned, with unusual foresight, had even brought some cute eye murrini with him. The stylised bird would be more feasible to make without the use of a hot-torch and we could take advantage of the colored furnace glass. We felt the contrast between the bird and the bone would become more striking and the piece more interesting.

Along with attempting to make something with equal additions to the final artwork, our goal was to keep our audience focused, entertained, and awake by having two different pieces develop simultaneously, leaving a bit of mystery to what it would become.

The demo started with a simple chalk drawing on the floor, the common way for glassblowers to communicate and make a plan of action. Also letting the audience know what was going on.

Then we began making our individual pieces, the bird and the bone. Towards the end, we swapped pieces allowing Vidar to add bits of meat to the bird’s beak and for Ned to add the bird’s claws. Eventually, we joined the pieces, the cute bird sitting on top of the meaty bone.

Many thanks to GAS for inviting us, to NasonMoretti for their generosity and to Jonas Niedermann and Tanja Burkhard for assisting!

Top: Vidar Koksvik. Sheep and Wounded Reticello, 2018. Blown and hot-sculpted glass. Head l. 27cm, vase ø.

26cm. Photo credit, Vidar Koksvik

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H O T G L A S S D E M O N S T R AT I O N

Channeling of light

By Veronika Beckh

I was quite surprised by the invitation to give a demonstration at the GAS Conference in Murano. Can there be a greater honour for a glass artist than working in this traditional place?

Where for centuries the best glassmakers in the world have developed techniques and helped the art of glassmaking to an incredible variety? And then in front of a professional audience with whom I share my deep passion for this material. I felt very honoured, pleased and at the same time a little nervous. Of course! What should I introduce there? What aspect of my work do I want to present?

My work, a combination of hot glass and cold work, very time-consuming and minimalistic, is not very suitable for a demonstration in front of a large audience.

In my work, I am concerned with combining simple, reduced forms into objects. With the help of grinding and polishing, I create projection surfaces and make them translucent for the “mystery of light.” Predominantly, I use simple shapes like spheres, cones, and cylinders. Individual forms or groups of forms are brought together and complement each other in their refraction of light. In this way, spaces and insights can be created, and light can be channelled. The transparency and surfaces of the objects are influenced by hours of cold working, often in the night hours when it is quiet, on the grinding machine or by the mere rubbing with different grain sizes of abrasive. In endless detail work, I adapt freely formed segments to each other. And so the glass opens up new dimensions of light becoming translucent for completely new light experiences. After the cutting work, the individual elements are joined together. Placed one inside the other, one on top of the other, bonded or strung together in an elaborate manner.

In this way, various simple forms are combined to form complex structures. These structures also allow different incidence of light and thus lead to new, surprising refractions.

How can such a manufacturing process be presented in the lively, fast atmosphere of a GAS conference in Murano within two hours? This is impossible! In my working method, the completion of a work takes days, sometimes weeks. On the installation Feld I have worked 1 ½ years. So I was faced with a real challenge by this wonderfully honourable invitation, which I gladly accepted.

Murano is famous for its artistic murrine technique. During the long years of my work as a glassmaker I often stood admiringly in front of many pieces, which were manufactured in this wonderful technique. During my apprenticeship I enjoyed working with this traditional technique, but then I did not work with it for many years.

I wanted to use the invitation to Murano to get inspired by this traditional technique. Instead of just copying it, I want-

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Top: untitled | b·s·g, 2017 • 20 x 11cm • free formed glass, cut, polished. Middle: Conical Variation 01 | Deep Inside, 2013 • 48 x 39 cm • free formed glass, cut, polished, assembled. Bottom: Conical Formation 02 Blue, 2015 • 50 x 50 x 50cm • mould blown, puntiled glass, cut, painted, base assembled, placed loosely on top of one another double-sided mirror, varnished MDF. Photos: Peter Hübbe

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

ed to develop it further in a form for my work. Rather than assembling solid glass segments, I pulled hollow tubes, cut them into small segments, picked them up again on the blowing pipe and gathered glass on top. The arrangement of the rings forms angular and round air inclusions. In combination with coloured powder or overlay, colour condensation occurs which brings a new colourfulness in my work. The cut edges capture the light in the works and, depending on the wall thickness, play with the optical properties of the glass and perception. New dimensions of light and play with shadows arise that have not existed in this form in my work before. So I was inspired by the old masters from Murano and they led me to a new side of my use of form.

In the run-up to the GAS Conference, I prepared all the time-consuming elements. I have sawn long glass tubes into hundreds of small rings. I blew some hemispherical shapes which serve as a container for the ring shapes. So that in the short demonstration I could at least give an insight into my working method, even if the complete manufacturing process could not be represented. The prepared moulds were preheated on site and then picked up with the blowing pipe at the beginning of the demonstration. When the glass rings were well fused on the glass post, the post was gathered several times.

The glass was blown into a round shape, puntied and made into the final spherical shape. During this process, the air inclusions in the tubes increasingly expanded and provided for an optical play in the transparency. The arrangement of the tubes in the semicircular form creates the possibility of air inclusion in the first place. This is not the case with the traditional form of murrine work to which I refer in this work.

There was truly no better place to apply this continuing technique than Murano. Already on my way in a vaporetto to the NasonMoretti glassworks, I felt the greatness of this moment for my path as a glassmaker in the tradition of these great masters. It was a great honour for me to visit the factory and to actually be allowed to work there! As a young glassmaker I would never have dreamed of this when I reverently visited Murano 25 years ago - but some dreams may also become reality. And I got such a warm welcome. Right at the beginning Piero and Marco Nason, two directors of the glassworks, showed me the place and helped me to find my way in the factory and to prepare my demonstration. I was also shown the exhibition on the history of the glassworks, which was not even open yet at that time. I was impressed by the long history of the family business and the many glasses that were manufactured there and presented in the exhibition.

Even before my demonstration on Saturday of the Conference, I was happy to see many friends from all over the world again. What a pleasure to meet my companions from the times of my apprenticeship at the Glasfachschule in Zwiesel, my studies at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design in Eng-

IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

land, from Pilchuck and during my residencies at North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland and the Corning Museum of Glass!

Only at the GAS Conference does the large, international glass family come together. People with whom I share my love for glass and to whom I, therefore, feel connected in a very special way. The whole stay of the GAS Conference was carried by this beautiful feeling.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my dear friend and colleague Korbinian Stรถckle for his assistance in the execution of the demo. And also Simone Fezer, who spontaneously expanded our team of two at the last minute and helped us a lot.

Many thanks to our Muranese colleagues who opened the doors of their workshops and welcomed us all so hospitably.

Last but not least, a very special thanks goes to the Committee of the GAS Conference and Natali Rodrigues, who invited me to the Conference and made this enriching experience possible.

Veronika Beckh working at the Glassworks Gernheim, 2015. Photo: Martin Holtappels.

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H O T G L A S S D E M O N S T R AT I O N

Venini Experience, 1972-1973 and 2018

By Dan Daily

Ambassadors from America.

In 1972, I went to Italy on a Fulbright Fellowship to work with the Venini Glass Factory on Murano. Having never been out of the USA, it was an eye-opener to experience Italian culture. The Fulbright scholars to Italy for that year all met in Rome at the American Academy where we studied Italian for two weeks and received an orientation. Among our small group were historians, writers, a musician, a mathematician, a scientist, a bronze sculptor from Texas, and me.

We attended classes every day but traveled out of the academy to learn the language by going to a laundromat and using the machines, going to a restaurant and ordering food, going to a tabaccheria to buy gettone to operate public telephones, taking buses and asking the driver practiced questions about our destination, etc.

Following the time in Rome, we all moved to Bologna to study Italian politics at the university. The classes were in Italian, and most of us learned by supposition more than clear understanding. It seemed that all debates ended with a great pasta dinner and plenty of wine, so differences faded and the pleasure of each other’s company was most remembered.

Factory Introduction.

Ludovico Diaz di Santillana, head of the company, welcomed me when I first arrived at Venini. The factory had just experienced a fire that had destroyed many things in the showrooms, archives, and office areas. I helped out in whatever way I could and began gathering trash and cleaning spaces, and organizing found items.

It was a good way to meet the people at the factory and learn some Italian vocabulary that would become very useful.

The idea I had as an artist in an Italian factory was to make functional art in response to the established identity of Italian design. My graduate thesis exhibition at RISD had been to produce a group of sculptural lamps; quasi-functional as devices to illuminate a space, but mainly sculpture that lit up. I planned to continue this approach at Venini and began to draw ideas and blow the glass parts to make them real. They set up a bench for me and gave me basic advice about the etiquette of the floor and just let me start blowing shapes. Once in a while, someone would come over and tell me how to do something, or take the pipe away and help for a bit, but most of the time they watched me make the parts alone or assisted when another pair of hands was necessary. Nobody ever criticized my lack of traditional skills except to joke about it, and they were all very respectful.

The Factory Experience.

The molleria, the batch rooms, and all the separate departments of the business intrigued me because I had never thought much about that aspect of glass forming. In many ways, Venini inspired 64

my creative process with an awareness of the potential the factory offered. Watching the process of designs on paper becoming works in their showroom gave me many ideas. I never intended to be a designer of products, but over the past 40 years, I have done that with some success at different factories in other countries.

Once in a while, I marveled at the glassblowing skills of certain people at Venini. Mario Tosi, “Grasso” (Fat Mario) to his friends, was renowned for his abilities and his sensitivity to the exact lines that Carlo Scarpa or Tapio Wirkkala and other Venini designers had drawn in their sketches for the blowers to follow. Other people like Checco Ungaro were top maestros at the time, producing excellent work consistently. Their skilled work both allowed and depended on the designers to invent works that engaged the Italian and greater European design world in their particular way. Venini has stood apart from other Muranese factories for most of its existence because they incorporated traditional techniques with contemporary attitudes in such a distinctive manner.

Most of the working guys had high school educations or less and were committed to a life working in a factory, yet there was a sensibility I did not expect that often struck me as distinctly cultural and unlike my experience in American society. I was making some parts one day when the guy who loaded the finished pieces into the annealer for Checco’s team stopped to look at the piece

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

on my blowpipe. He said, “Dan, you’re using the wrong green.”

I was surprised because it was a guy on the team and he had thoughts about the aesthetic choice I had made. He was correct, and I began to use a different green that looked better with the coral color of the other parts for that lamp.

They would do entertaining things, like put a full glass of wine on my bench at 7 AM. It seemed like a gesture of kindness because they drank all day so why not me? The Coca Cola vending machine had beer in it. After drinking a little I put it aside, and somebody filled it right up again, so it was obvious what they had in mind. Sergio, the manager of the molleria, asked me to go for coffee with him, and I thought it was a time I would get to know him a bit. He ordered two espressos at the café next to the factory. When the coffee arrived, he drank his in one gulp and said “torna a lavoro” (back to work) and left. We never talked in conversation until a few days later in the factory. Little experiences like these provided a window to the year ahead in the factory as I worked with many of the men and women there. The cultural divide between my American open-minded and diverse educational and work experiences contrasted starkly with their very traditional: “this is the way it is done” attitude and expectations of life as factory employees.

“These are Mad!”

Ultimately I completed 14 or 15 lamps over the year at Venini. I made the metal elements in a shop on Murano that had a working relationship with the factory. All of the cold work was done by me or someone Sergio assigned to the task in Venini’s molleria. I assembled and wired them in my studio in the apartment I rented in Venice. It was very satisfying to see the studio fill up with the lamps as they were completed, and made me feel a part of the place since I had figured out a way to be productive there.

During that year, I had a commission to make a pair of sconces for a palazzo owned by two Swedish women, and I made some vases for a Russian woman, all ex-pats I met at a butcher shop or hardware store in Venice.

Near the end of my stay, I made a presentation of the lamps to Ludovico in one of the Venini showrooms. Ludovico walked around and looked intently at the lamps for about ten minutes without saying anything; then he started smacking his forehead and saying “these are mad!” He explained that they looked like they were Venini because of the colors and materials, but they did not look like Venini at all because the shapes were so strange.

He had many compliments for me but said my designs wouldn’t work for the company. However he said he wanted to keep two of the more conservative lamps and consider production, but the others were mine. I had the lamps I would keep shipped to the US Embassy in Rome and had a show there with the artist from Texas who had been busy in Florence. Then the lamps were IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

shipped to me in Boston, and I showed them again in New York, eventually selling most. I wish I had kept a few.

The Long Term Effect.

Moving to Italy to work with a glass factory began a serious commitment to a way of working that I continue today in my studio with assistants. It set me up to work with Daum in Nancy and Paris, France for over 30 years, and to work with Fenton in West Virginia and Steuben in New York and Waterford in Ireland. In each factory, I approached the facility and workforce in ways that enabled me to make things well beyond the capacity of my own studio, and have produced many tons of glass castings and other types of work that depended on their particular strengths.

Understanding their capabilities and gaining their confidence and friendship has been essential to good working relationships.

One profound effect of the time in the factory was to inform me in numerous ways how I could set up on my own and realize ideas through multiple processes. The traditional techniques and processes of Murano were the stimulus for my art because my interests and inspirations come from other sources. Yet since I observed the way things are made there, some aspects of form and pattern showed up years later in some way to characterize an object I was making. From the start I never wanted to own all the processes; for example, owning a glassblowing studio makes no sense for my art because it is only one method of creating forms I use to bring the drawings to reality. Hence, I developed working relationships to work with friends who have glassblowing studios; Ben Moore, Michael Schunke, and Mark Weiner, and friends like Rich Royal whom I have worked with since 1980, who come to work with me when I’m in Seattle. Most of the cast glass parts for my work are made by my son Owen in his Connecticut studio. I send drawings out to machine shops and plating companies and other specialty workshops. My studio is set up in a somewhat flexible way, for adaption to various projects being built. Multiple assistants have specific skills, allowing me to draw while knowing what the possibilities are as I imagine forms to express thoughts. These working habits came from experience in factories, which began for me at Venini.

When the opportunity to work again at Venini in 2018 was offered, I jumped on it enthusiastically. Working in the factory for six days was intense and rewarding. The attitude of the people was similar to that of my past experience with everyone sincerely interested and making an effort to understand my desire for the look of the piece and working to achieve the best results.

The strength of Venini’s working group is evident, and they have much potential. Looking over the collections in their archive and showrooms reminded me of the distinctive style they have established over their 97 years of existence. Venini is inspiring new thoughts again.

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H O T G L A S S D E M O N S T R AT I O N

Working Borosilicate Glass at the Furnace

By Simone Crestani

Like many flame-workers, I found myself many times talking with friends and colleagues about how lampworking is less considered if you compare it with furnace working.

True! But, why? What are the reasons?

There are many, I think! First of all, I believe watching someone doing a public demonstration at the flame can be very boring. You will for sure agree with me if I say that watching a 1-hour demo at the furnace, maybe with a big piece of glass and many people working together is much more attractive than watching a solitary man that in the same amount of time makes a little piece at the torch.

Most of the flame-working processes are very slow, a finished piece could require many days of work to be done and the scale of the final product is often not very impressive.

Since the beginning of my career in glass, I have always been trying to do things judged “not possible,” techniques not common because I find it fascinating to cross the borders. My goal was to find the right way to bring my work to a considerable dimension.

Doing that, over the years, I was able to develop my own way of working with borosilicate glass, my own language at the torch that brings my artwork to a bigger scale and complexity. But the process is still long and very difficult to be done, especially working alone - AND not very interesting for a public demonstration.

Analyzing these problems a few years ago, I started to think about trying a new way to work. Use some of the furnace methods and facilities and combine them with what I usually do and know. Due to its properties, borosilicate glass is not the right glass to be used on a melting furnace. It is very hard and cools down very fast which makes it very difficult to use starting from the liquid glass. But it is very well resistant to thermal shocks, and it can be reheated easily which makes it the perfect glass to be worked with the flame.

So, this was my idea: Attach a big tube of borosilicate glass on a glass blowpipe and use a reheating furnace like a torch for melting the tube.

Then shape and sculpt it using a combination of torches and tools, using the glory-hole to keep the piece warm. I thought I would have an advantage working at the bench with a crew of people to help get to a new and bigger scale.

I tried a few times and it seemed to be not a very bad idea.

Deciding to go deeper into it, I applied for a residency at The Corning Museum of Glass. I got the residency in 2016 and there I had the chance to experiment and try different ways

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of working. In the end, I was very surprised by the wide range of new possibilities we could develop with this new technique of working with borosilicate glass.

Technically, in few words, this is what I did for my demonstration at the 47th GAS Conference in Murano: Before the demo, I attached a piece 150 x 5mm tubing (about 10” long) to a 28mm glass blowpipe using a glass blowing lathe in my studio. Then, during the demo, I slowly reheated it and used the glory hole to melt the glass in order to blow and shape it. I blew a long oval shape and flattened it with corks like it is usually done when working at the furnace. I used a propane and oxygen torch to heat some lines on the surface of the glass and then used tools to shape and sculpt it to be the base for one of my Glass Bonsai. After the last “flash,” I started to connect the tree that I previously made in my studio and carefully fused the connection all around. This part is usually very tricky because it is not possible anymore to fit the piece in the reheating furnace to keep it warm. I used a propane torch to keep the piece hot enough to be able to finish the last moves and bring it to the annealing kiln. This final part is possible only because of the good properties of borosilicate glass.

At the moment, this is still an experimental project because I do not fully understand the right process, yet. As always happen when you try to learn something new, I came across many unexpected issues, and I need to work more in order to find solutions.

I’m not sure what direction this project will take, but I will keep experimenting more in the future.

After all, this is what I like about my job and my life.

It was an honor to have been invited to do this for The Glass Path. I want to thank GAS and everybody that worked to make this conference such a great event!

Left top and bottom: Simone Crestani demoing at the 47th GAS conference.

Right top: Simone Crestani working broro at the furnace. Right bottom: Simone Crestani portrait with one of his artworks. Photo: Alberto Parise.

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H O T G L A S S D E M O N S T R AT I O N

Capriccio Glass in Context

By Tom Moore The term “capriccio glass” comes from the Galileo Museum in Florence where it has been used to refer to a small collection of astounding glass objects produced between 1570 and 1620. The Museum defines capriccio glass as the “style of glassware dating from the early seventeenth century and inspired by the vogue for fanciful and bizarre artefacts.” 1 The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term “capriccio” as “a sudden sportive or fantastic motion; a prank, trick or caper...a thing or work of fancy... a composition of lively character and more or less free in form.” 2 There is a view that this characteristic is somehow innate to Renaissance hot-worked glass, whereby “luxuriousness of decoration is combined with all the capriciousness to which the material lends itself.” 3 The few examples of capriccio glass preserved in the Galileo Museum correspond to a wealth of design drawings held in state archives in Rome, Florence, and Venice. There are many instances where almost identical drawings appear in several of the design books produced in different locations and in time periods.

It is likely that drawings and objects were borrowed and copied between collectors.

My particular interest in this topic focuses on making objects that integrate decoration and form to create humorous representational vessels such as figurative goblets or animal-shaped flasks. My intention is to create narrative objects that explore the troubling terrain of human interactions with plants and animals.

While searching for examples of historical zoomorphic glass, I was led to the four volumes of Giovanni Maggi’s Bichierografia – produced in Rome in 1604 comprised of 1600 drawings. The books contain designs ranging from orthodox symmetrical vessels to more unexpected, humorous and bizarre forms.4 Bichierografia includes many drawings related to the well-known, early 17th century Spanish “trick” or “joke”-glass,

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Figure 3. Left image: Trick Glass, Venice/Spain 1600-25. CMOG. Right: Drawings of Capriccio designs from the Giovanni Maggi Bichierographia, Vol. 2. 1604.

now housed in the Corning Museum. “Such vessels were intended to be an amusement for drinking games. As one drinks from this glass, the liquid in the tubes and bulbs suddenly rushes out, dousing the drinker.”5 Diverse modes of play and humour had wide popular appeal in Italy between the 14th and 16th centuries. These modes were described by a rich variety of similar terms that “shaded into entertainment or diversion at one end of the spectrum and at the other into tricks and insults.”6 The multitude of illustrations showing different configurations and orientations suggests that variations of this rare drinking vessel were once produced in abundance. It is likely that the surviving capriccio glass objects are a tiny portion of the huge quantity of unusual glasses produced between the 15th and 17th centuries.7 Literary evidence describes wonderful and absurdly shaped glasses, for example: in 1621, the Jesuit Father Etienne Binet wrote: “Venice has a good time to amuse thirst, filling Europe with a thousand and a thousand gallantries of glass. We drink a ship… a gondola… we swallow a pyramid… a barrel, we drink a bird, a broom, a lion, all kinds of beasts.” 8 These fanciful forms all correspond to drawings in the design books, amongst hundreds of other representational vessels.

In order to understand how and why Bichierografia was created, it is necessary to see it in the broader context of Medici patronage, collecting and, commerce. The manufacturing enterprises of the Medici Archdukes brought to Florence a host of master craftsmen working in close proximity with diverse materials and fostering a lively exchange of creative ideas. 9 The workshops functioned as “gift factories charged with the production of elegant and precious artworks to be distributed through the Medici diplomatic and political networks.” 10 In 1569, activities expanded to include skilled glass blowers from Murano. The variety and innovation of glass designs suggest that the designer’s mission was to spur the glassmakers to attempt ever-greater feats of novelty and extend their range beyond conventional practices.

Jacopo Ligozzi was one of the principal artists who undertook various projects of documentation, decoration, and design for the Medici court. Ligozzi distinguished himself as a remarkable zoological and botanical illustrator. His designs for glass vessels were certainly informed by keen observations from life 11 but they also satisfied the prevailing desire for bizarre and fantastic invention.

Capriccio glass was designed in a cultural context infused with metamorphic imagery. Ancient Roman decorations depicting human, animal, and plant hybrids were rapidly reinterpreted and popularized in the late 15th century. This decorative style now adorning countless Renaissance interiors was termed grottesche because the subterranean ruins were reminiscent of grottoes. The imagery is consistent with the tradition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where “the classes of forms… are porous, and morph into one

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

Vitreous Interface, 2017 • Photo: Grant Hancock

Twiggy Goblet, 2017 • Photo: Steve Wilson

another… fuse and meld…rocks, flowers, trees, every variety of beast and fowl as well as human beings- are transformed one into the other.” 12 The ability of mythical matter to morph and recombine brings to mind the infinitely re-meltable property of glass.

Medici workshops were lively sites for a symbiotic exchange between glass blowers and alchemists. Glassmaking was seen as akin to alchemy, whereby ash and crushed pebbles could be transformed into an altogether different, transparent material that could be readily formed into valuable objects. Processes such as reticello were perceived to be a triumph of virtuous human

control over nature, verging on the miraculous. Reticello objects sat in cabinets of curiosity alongside carved ivory, rhinoceros horns and nautilus shells worked into elaborate cups signifying the merging of the works of man and god.

In the 16th century, the Venetian glass industry became a major supplier of affordable luxury goods to an eager market of affluent city dwellers. The dramatic growth in demand for glassware coincided with a more general cultural shift toward materialism.13 Biringucchio’s Pirotechnia, published in 1540, included a chapter on glassmaking in which he suggests that glass has inherent beauty and artistic potential above all other materials but that it should not be given too much love due to its intrinsic impermanence.14 There is an obvious comparison to be made between “the fragility of glass with the humana fragilitas.”15 The metaphorical connection between the breakage of glass and the transience of human life has new significance in our own time of environmental crisis exacerbated by hundreds of years of industrial activity.

I believe that the complex history and pyrotechnic nature of glassmaking imbue it with unique communicative potential for illustrating and thinking creatively about present challenges. Capriccio glass design is a rich and relatively unexplored area worthy of further study.

1 Website, MG 2015 Capriccio Glass 2 Oxford University Press, OED online 2018 “capriccio, n.”

3 Lucie-Smith, E 1981, The Story of Craft: The Craftman’s Role in Society p.160 4 Maggi, G & Barocchi, P 1977, Bichierografia 5 Page, J-A & Doménech, I 2004, Beyond Venice: glass in Venetian style, 1500-1750 p.127 6 Burke, P 1997, Frontiers of the Comic in Early Modern Italy p.62 7 Heikamp, D 1986, Studien zur mediceischen Glaskunst p.25 8 Ibid. p.29 9 Ibid. p.206 10 Biagioli, M 1994, Galileo, Courtier: The Practice of Science in the Culture of Absolutism. P.48 11 Tongiorgi Tomasi, L & Hirschauer, GA 2002, The flowering of Florence : botanical art for the Medici p.41 12 Warner, M 2002, Fantastic metamorphoses, other worlds : ways of telling the self p.3 13 McCray, P 1999, Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice : the fragile craft p.4 14 Biringuccio, V 1540, Pirotechnia (Translated from the Italian by Smith,C.S and Teach Gnudi, M) 1943 p.126 15 Heikamp, D 1986, Studien zur mediceischen Glaskunst p.44

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The Color Wheel

By Claire Kelly

Working with Effetre 104 COE, aka Moretti

“This demonstration will provide an excellent and appropriate venue to showcase Kelly’s explorations with Effetre glass and its unique properties. It will provide attendees an opportunity to gather information on Effetre glass and encourage them to consider this specialty glass as a possibility for their own projects” I worked as an assistant for Toots Zynsky from 2008-2019. Toots uses 104 glass from Effetre to create her signature glass threads which she fires and fuses to create her glass sculptures. This project began when I looked at the colored glass stock and said “I want to blow glass with THAT.” I then submitted a residency proposal to the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass to work with Effetre glasses.

The term Moretti is interchangeable with Effetre, as they are melting formulas developed by the Moretti family for generations, most notably, Carlo Moretti. For the Corning residency we purchased the crystal cullet for furnace melting directly from Effetre. I also chose a selection of ½” opaque glass rods as my color palette. Effetre manufactures colored cane of all sizes as well as many different variations of filigrana and murrine.

I used the rods to pull flat (ribbon) cane to be cut for mosaic projects. Some of the hurdles I ran into stemmed directly from how I made the cane. I know now that the some of the raw colors needs to be encased with crystal glass to prevent bleeding and muddying of the colorants reacting.

During the last days of experimentation I wanted to concentrate on one aspect of this glass that I could pinpoint as its best feature and that was a signature of the residency. I started compiling a selection of “spectra”: repeating combinations of 5-6 colored canes.

I conceived of a landscape of sleek and simple Scandinavian style forms that would describe a carnivalesque fantasy world populated with glass animals.

I assembled final design into a landscape called Geospectra, and had an exhibition of the work at TOKEN in Red Hook, Brooklyn this past fall.

Apres-conference notes.

Currently Effetre does not manufacture color rods as we are familiar with, but during discussions at the conference I was informed that it is something they are in the testing phase of. They did have two rod colors available; a stiff white and a stiff black. One factor

Claire Kelly; Parallax: Busy Forest, 2019 • Variable dimensions • 15 ¼ x 16 x 36” • Photo credit: Claire Kelly

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Claire Kelly working with Effetre canes at Effetre factory, Murano. Photo credit: Robert Dane

that sets Effetre apart is color compatibility: however “Moretti” purchased by another manufacturer is not guaranteed to be compatible with Effetre. The behavior of the colors is also a factor in choosing to use Effetre for certain projects. While compatibility over multiple firing is relatively safe, there a colors that will evolve over firing to become incompatible and being a very soft glass, there are certain colors of green and turquoise that I found to be almost unworkable due to their viscosity when hot.

Being a guest at the Effetre factory and included as a demonstrating artist at the conference was an astonishing honor.

I wholeheartedly thank Effetre for their hospitality and the conference attendee that came to my demonstration.

I worked with Effetre glass again at a residency this past fall at Salem Art Works in Salem, NY and twice more with at the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass.

I had hoped to have the 104 crystal either batched for me or as cullet from Cristalica as a way to budget the clear glass. However that option wasn’t feasible with the timeframe. I continue to use cullet from Effetre. However, I’ve put out feelers for 104 batches and welcome further input from the glass community.

If anyone has interest or questions about working with 104 glass I’m happy to answer any questions. Included below is the contact information for Effetre.

Effetre Murano s.r.l. +39 041 736744 www.effetremurano.com Barbara Dona: Comm.murano@effetremurano.com

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E N G R AV I N G D E M O N S T R AT I O N

A Moving Point – Tradition and Innovation

By Alison Kinnaird Wheel-engraving is often seen as an old-fashioned and small-scale technique which has not much to offer the modern artist. Indeed, the technique itself has not changed much in 2000 years, apart from the addition of an electric motor to power the equipment. It is still done with a range of copper, stone or diamond wheels, each of which will make a different cut, and it is by blending these different cuts together that the engraved design is achieved.

I reckon that a technique which has lasted for 2000 years must have something special to offer! Wheel-engraving carves into the glass and gives an amazingly 3-dimensional, sculptured effect. None of the other engraving techniques can achieve this. So it is important to use each technique for the designs that they can best express. If you want distinct, flat geometric shapes or gentle shading, then sandblasting is best. If you want delicate curved lines, then you would use a small flexible-drive bit or acid-etching. Each method has its own character. Wheelengraving is peerless for rounded, modelled shapes – I myself work mainly with the human figure, often unclothed, because of the wonderful, subtle modelling of muscle and the velvety sheen of skin that wheel-engraving produces. I usually rough out the images with diamond wheels, and finish the detailed engraving with copper wheels, which gives the most beautiful surface.

I can’t stress enough how important good drawing is for an engraver. Of course, it is possible to transfer standard designs or photographic images onto the glass. But if you want your work to be distinctive, it is really necessary to have the option of creating your own images – it opens up so many more possibilities, and though many people say that they can’t draw, if you work and practice any technique regularly, you will get better at it!

Although the jewel-like detail of wheel-engraving is one of its special qualities, I sometimes feel rather restricted by it. Over many years, I have gradually ‘loosened up’ the way in which I express my imagery, by combining more than one engraving technique. I remember one Guild of Glass Engravers meeting, many years ago when someone suggested the name of a prospective member. At that point, a voice said loudly, ‘But they are a SANDBLASTER!’. (Horrified gasps!) Luckily, things are more relaxed these days, and many different techniques are appreciated!

When I am doing my figurative work, I first draw the subject using chalk, paint, or charcoal from a live model or sometimes from a photo that I have taken. I then prepare the glass, which is usually an optical glass sheet. I use wood-glue as a resist, and paint it on with a fairly stiff paintbrush. I like the brushmarks that result when this is sandblasted very gently, giving shading in places. I then engrave the details with the wheel, either copper or diamond, depending on whether I want a smooth or a rougher surface. After that, I often put in small touches of drill engraving – I enjoy the scribbled marks that you can get with that. In the IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Bed of Roses I, 2016 • optical glass, wheel engraved, LED lighting with dichroic colour • 50cm x 60cm x 15cm • Photo: Robin Morton

end, the effect is much looser and more painterly than one could achieve with wheel-engraving on its own.

I began to put light into my engravings, purely in self-defense!

Glass doesn’t come to life unless it has light coming through it.

So often, after working on a special piece for weeks, one would send it off on exhibition and find it displayed in a cabinet in a dark corner with a spotlight on the front from 40ft away or standing against a white wall in a white box of a gallery with bright ambient light. This is death for engraved glass! In 2002 the Scottish Arts Council gave me a Creative Scotland Award which allowed me to take some time to experiment with putting light into my engravings, first with optical fibres, and subsequently with LEDs – a technology which is developing fast, and which offers many possibilities. Edge-lighting the sheets of engraved glass traps the light wherever the surface is interrupted. This is fairly basic technology – it is used in EXIT signs. But it has many more possibilities – if the sheets of glass are layered, or if colour is used in the lighting. It has taken me a long time, with the help of my husband, Robin Morton, who has useful technical knowledge and skills, to work out a system of constructing panels which can be free-standing, so that they can be sent off on exhibition complete, only requiring to be plugged into electricity, and which also elegantly hide all the necessary structure, heat-sinks and wiring. Each project is slightly different, and I have been able 71

to work on an architectural scale with panels of up to 12ft in length, one of which is in the permanent collection of the Scottish Parliament.

Architectural projects often stretch my techniques to discover something new. I have learned not to react immediately and turn down a potential commission because it is large-scale.

When I was approached about a Cathedral window, 15ft high, and was about to reject it, Robin pointed out that large windows are composed of smaller windows, put together. So if you design the project carefully, it is quite possible to create very large projects composed of sections that are still small enough to take to the engraving lathe. One also has to take into account that some of the artwork must be seen at a distance, as in the portraits that I was asked to include in the Donor Window for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. On this occasion, I came up with a new way of engraving on both sides of flashed glass, which meant that the modelling and the shading of the images stood out strongly at a distance against the light sky beyond.

My most recent project is a large Nativity Window measuring 6ft x 10ft along with doors for the same beautiful and ancient Anglo-Saxon church in Kent, England. Again, these demanded a new approach, and I asked Derix Glasstudios in Germany, with whom I have worked before, to experiment with an innovative technique which I suggested. I call it ‘double-engraved reverselamination’ – a bit of a mouthful, but which describes the method of laminating my engraved flashed glass to keep both the modelling and the shading. This allows the creation of large architectural installations without the use of leading, which has many practical benefits.

I am keen to demonstrate that wheel-engraving is not a limiting technique. It can be taken forward artistically in the choice of subjects. Glass is in many ways a mirror for humanity. Engraving can adapt to different methods of expression – figurative or abstract; detailed or loose. It can work on a very intimate scale or impress with a huge architectural installation. It is slow and demanding, but I love the meditative, exacting pace of the work. And though I have made my living as a wheel-engraver for nearly 50 years, I still find its potential hugely exciting.

I’d like to thank the organisers of the GAS conference for inviting me to talk about my work and the glass artists of wonderful Murano, who have been so generous with their welcome.

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Icarus, 2012 • optical glass, sandblast and wheel engraved, LED lighting with dichroic colour • 50cm x 30cm x 15cm • Photo: Robin Morton

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F L A M E W O R K I N G D E M O N S T R AT I O N

The GAS Conference in Murano - When a Dream Becomes Reality!

By Matteo Seguso The glass is part of my life. Not just for the fact I was born in Venice, and from then I live in Murano. But I think due to the fact that my father Bruno was an engraver, my uncle Mario was an engraver, and I hope my sons will be engravers. Probably, I am a glass engraver because I have it in my blood; I haven’t decided to be one! Simple!

When, years ago, during a daily discussion with Lino Tagliapietra, he asked me, “...do you think there are the bases to hold the GAS Conference in Murano?...” the first words I told him were, “Yes, I think it will be possible and amazing, but it will not be easy.

It will be very hard!”

Three years later, this daring idea has become the most epic and historic conference ever.

I am very lucky to be one of the few engravers in Murano (not more than ten), and even more lucky to have had the opportunity to teach some classes in many important glass schools all around the world. I think that for this reason, when the Italian Committee started to help the GAS board plan the conference, I was involved as the person in charge for the engraving, putting down a list of engravers who could give a demonstration during the conference. In the meantime, with a lot of pleasure, was asked to make available my cold shop, my lathe, and all my tools for all the engraving demonstrations. And, I have had the honor to be invited to give two demonstrations.

I have always been very enthusiastic to be part of this fantastic conference, even during the hard moments, because I think that these kinds of meetings keep alive the love for the glass and helps people to share and grow professionally and humanly too.

In a special way, I think these events help me let people know, as many as I can, my little-known work, my passion, my life, the engraving on glass. An art often forgotten, but that has had an important role in glass history, here in Murano but also around the world.

My first demo was based on the comparison between the “artistic” engraving and the “production” engraving. I tried to let my guests understand, showing side-by-side, the differences when you have to make an engraving. To do that, I have chosen a butterfly. I started showing the “artistic” way, spending not less than 50 minutes to make the drawing and then engrave just one wing. Then, I headed to the “production” way, and in 30 minutes I engraved a complete butterfly. This demo focused on the fact that in “production,” you must save time, for sure, without loss in quality by just reducing the details and using some tips to achieve the result.

In my second demo, I wanted to do an experiment, and involve the visitors in the demo. After the introduction, I put a brown vase on a table, and I asked the guests, who of them wanted to draw something on the vase and guide me during the engraving.

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Matteo Seguso during his Artistic vs. Production demonstration at NasonMoretti

During one hour and a half, six guests have drawn on the vase six different drawings and guided me to create the engraving based on their interpretation. After each “engraving” we spent time to discuss what they drew and the way they guided me.

It has been a big pleasure to have been part of this amazing conference. I am honored to have shared my studio and my art with amazing artists, engravers, and decorators such as Alison Kinnaird, Jaroslav Šára, Edmond Suciu, Nicola Barbini, and Lucia Santini. I want to tell you thank you.

I want also to tell thank you to the Glass Art Society, to the board, to all the people who have worked to let this happen, to all the friends I met, and to all that have been part of this dream.

I conclude with a note. I am still walking on the same streets where all of you have walked, I am still going to the hot shops you went to; I am still attending the parish where the main area was sited, and I am still drinking the spritz that you drank. Often my mind returns to the GAS days, and I feel the sensation that normally people feel after the last day of holidays, when you are coming back home, something mixed between melancholy and happiness.

See you next time!

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Piccadilly | Lino Tagliapietra | 2018 | 17.7 x 18 x 5.2 | Blown Glass

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Yusuke Takemura | Kareha Lotus | 2015 | 480 x 430 x 400mm | Blown and carved glass

Andre Gutgesell | Familie | 2014 | max hight 160 cm | Sodalimeglass, steel, MDF | Flameworked | Photo: Lutz Naumann

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Simone Crestani | Rooted-Uprooted | 2015 | 150 x 75 x 100cm | Borosilicate glass and rope | Photo: Ella Leshman

Matteo Seguso | Vendemmia | 2015 | 10 x 23cm | Blown and engraved glass | Photo by the artist

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Richard Whiteley | Absent | 2016 |300 x 250 x 140 mm | Cast and carved glass | Photo: Greg Piper

James Mongrain | Adriatico Series | 2014 | Blown and hot-sculpted glass | Variable dimensions (from 23.75 to 34 inches in height) | From the George R. Stroemple Collection | Photo: Scott Mitchell Leen

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Claire Kelly | Spectra | 2016 | 13 ½ x 8 5/8 x 8 5/8 ” |Glass: Blown, sculpted, assembled and string

Richard Wheater | Twenty Whites | 2016 | 13 D x 90 W x 44cm H | Neon and powder coated aluminum | Photo: Artist 78

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Matt Eskuche | Oranges | 2017 | 12 x 22 x 15” | Flameworked glass

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A Beadmaker’s Journey

By Alessia Fuga Glass beadmaking has always been a very important side of the history of Murano glass.

Perhaps not everyone knows that among the huge production of colorful chandeliers, elegant vases, goblets, and amazing blown sculptures, glass beadmaking has played an important role in the development of Murano glass as we know it today. It also helped keep the glass industry alive through the darkest years, literally saving it with the production of glass rods and the murrine used to create beads.

We all came together on this amazing glass path here in Murano, both those near and far, and it has been a huge honor for me to represent the “bead side” of the glass art world.

My demo focused on my current work: big sized dotted beads. I performed one of my “Fenice” beads. This series is mainly composed of unique pieces, and they are characterized by the sparkling look of the base (like a sparkling stone) due to oxidized 999 silver leaf. During my demo, I also spoke of the history of Murano glass beads and beadmaking, comparing the traditional way of making them with the contemporary way.

The process I use to make each bead takes several repetitive steps, dot after dot, paying close attention to the heat control.

The first thing I pay attention to when I do this kind of beadmaking is to choose an appropriate mandrel. It should be perfectly straight and thick enough to support the weight of the bead itself.

Lampwork glass beads should be made on a metal mandrel. In ancient times, some steel chopsticks were covered with a mix of plaster and water or sometimes lagoon mud and used as mandrels. In the ‘50s the Moretti family, a famous name in the history of Murano beads,

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Fenice beads by Alessia Fuga

introduced the use of a copper tube as mandrel. The advantages of a metal mandrel in the production on the traditional beads was a lot: metal provided a good resistance to the heat of the traditional torch but allowed the hole of the bead to be completely clean when taken off. Plus, no more bead release dust on the precious metals like gold leaf and silver leaf largely used in the traditional beads.

I started the bead by melting the glass and shaping the base: I usually shape my beads free hand only using the graphite marvering pad on top of the torch and/or a graphite paddle (my favorite tool, second only to the flame).

Venetian glass beads have been made in millions and have been shipped all over the world in the past centuries especially during the colonial era and probably we will never know how many of them have been produced and left Murano and Venice. Venetian glass beads have always been made more for the foreign markets than for the locals. First the beads were made to be sold in the far east markets, where precious stones were famous. When the first Venetian merchants, e.g. Marco Polo, came back to the city, they pushed the glass makers to try and produce a glass similar to the precious and semiprecious stones. This was the beginning

of the production of the large number of colors that made Murano glass so famous back in centuries. We still have today a reminder in the names colors have: topaz, amethyst, turquoise, ruby, lapis, etc. The beads were then strung in strands usually divided in same size and pattern. To be able to produce such a large quantity of beads, a parallel production of a metal shaper was developed on the island.

Basically, you can find a shaper for every shape and every size you have in your mind and if it doesn’t exist yet, you can ask a skilled metal craftsman to make a personalized one. That said, it’s quite easy to understand why the traditional Muranese lampwork station is developed to maximize the production.

Once the base of the bead is shaped (this one was a long torpedo - 12cm in length and 3cm thick) I covered the base with silver leaf and

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then started the decoration with dots.

The first dot is the one with the bigger responsibility. It is the one that determines the position of all the others, so I always hold my breath when I place it. I have trained myself in these years to find the center of the bead by only looking at it, but I will only be sure if it was in the right spot at the end when the last row of dots will be placed.

My decoration is a “dot over dot” sequence. First color is ivory, covered with aqua. Cover opaque dots with a transparent always gives you more control when you melt them in, and because I love to work with symmetrical designs I need all the control I can get.

In between each layer of dots I have melted them in, all at the same time paying attention to give to all the bead and to all the dots the same heat.

The torch I use is an oxygen/gas torch and the flame it makes is quite hot (from 800C° to 1100C°). It allows me to control all the little details I put on my beads, but this kind of torch is modern. The traditional Muranese or Venetian torch used to make glass beads works with gas and air and makes a quite fluffy and large flame that reaches a temperature between 750C°/800C°. At this temperature range, Murano glass starts to soften and melt. While it is too low to easily work glass, this is a range of temperatures that

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makes happy a lot of colors sensitive to an excessive heat like ruby gold, transparent red and the sparkling avventurina not to mention gold and silver leaf.

In order to reach a higher temperature a small refractory kiln is built in front of the torch to collect the heat and melt the glass faster.

My demo continued adding alternately ivory dots and avocado dots creating a sort of spiral design.

Last, but not least, I added clear dots over each colored dot. Adding the clear allows me to create some depth in the design even if I work with opaque colors.

It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to finish the bead.

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Mind in Glass

By Mauro Bonaventura

I was honored to be invited by my friend Cesare Toffolo to give a demonstration during the 47th Annual conference, Il Percorso di Vetro, The Glass Path in Murano, Italy.

Certainly, the most interesting experience in taking part in this conference has been the sensation of belonging to a big family, whose main common interest was to exchange and spread knowledge about glassworking techniques from the point of view of both the artisans and the experts. Time was very short during my demonstration so I had to make half of it in my studio in advance and complete it on location, but what’s this half about?

For the demonstration during this very important glass conference in Murano, I wanted to pay tribute to the great master Pino Signoretto who had recently passed away, as we all know, a few months before, leaving a great hole among the greatest glass masters in the world. So sometime earlier I went to his furnace to have a brain blown (with the same mould used for an exhibition that I had with Pino in 2005 - Pas de deux) that I would have caged inside a head with my lampwork technique.

My recent works were just glass heads flameworked with soft glass but instead of the brain, I like inserting the most common imaginable objects ( drills, scissors, airplanes, irons, etc.). Lately, I liked working on the human mind which I consider essential to understanding how things work, an attitude that my friends and people who know me are aware of.

It might be curious but I chose the pastel red because a dark/black cooling for several seconds would have allowed me to avoid unpleasant burns during my demo.

Taking parts in these stages and conferences is getting more and more involving and I always have the chance to meet interesting people who appreciate my work and invite me to take part in their work-

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shops. In recent times I have also started classes in my own studio in Venice-Mestre, to have nice, interesting experiences exploring techniques and ideas.

I would like to thank everyone who has worked to realise this project and has given people like me the opportunity to express themselves and to get new, important knowledge about the art and craft of glass. Thanks to my participation I could once more understand what hard work must have been necessary to organize a conference of such importance on Murano Island.

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Love for Nature.....Passion for Glass

By Vittorio Costantini

Garden Eels • 5 x 10 cm • Photo: Maria Marzia Minelli

Starfish • 9 x 9 cm • Photo: Gian Mauro Lapenna

At last, the Glass Art Society Conference has been held in Murano, the “Glass Island.” This was the first time in Italy, and it really was a great success! I want to thank all the people who made this truly exceptional event possible. It was a unique experience! I really appreciated all the efforts of both the committees!!! It was a huge job!

The atmosphere was unusual. Murano is always crowded with tourists, fascinated by the huge quantity of glass factories, galleries, and shops. But this time, there was a peaceful invasion of glass artists and attendees from all over the world! And, as usual, it was a great pleasure to see a lot of people (glass artists, friends and acquaintances) that I already knew from previous GAS conferences or exhibitions in Europe, United States, and so on.

It was a great honor that a lot of admirers of my work attended my demo. For the first time, my son helped me during my demo and he was amazed by the great collaboration among artists using different glass techniques. The first piece I made was a hummingbird with open wings. It was a bird that I had tried to make several years ago, experimenting different ways to avoid all the pieces breaking (sometimes working with Effetre glass coe 104, it is frustrating, but the colors they can make are incredible).

For many months before the conference, I trained myself in order that everything was perfect during the demonstration. I prepared all the pieces I needed to make the hummingbird body, then the wings and the tail and I have joined them to the body. It was not possible to make the trunk, but

Butterflies with Murrina • 5 x 5 cm • Photo: Renzo Tortato

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I brought a finished piece to show to the audience.

I believe this conference helped young people working with glass, to know new realities, open new horizons, and in some ways, change their mentality. I work with glass since I was a child. I am almost 74 years old... There are moments in which I think about stopping to work; in the glass world, you can have a lot of satisfaction but also some disappointments.

But after a little time...I believe that there is something else to be discovered and to create, and the enthusiasm returns.

A thought to Pino Signoretto, artist and friend, missing too early. He still had much to give to the world of glass.

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The Journey of an Italian Glass Flower

By Carolyn Baum

Inspired by the use of wire in the creation of glass flowers and jewelry during the mid-nineteenth century in Murano, my presentation was meant to inspire contemporary glass artists to use wire in their work in many ways.

By demonstrating my own use of wire in interpreting glass flowers, I hope to inspire others to do the same. My presentation included examples of antique glass pieces as well as the techniques I have developed over the years to add detail and realism to glass flowers. By using a variety of different wire gauges and making the most of the tools available the opportunity for expansion of our ideas is endless. The use of wires in our work adds strength, flexibility, and beauty.

We, as artists, can learn things from the history of glass. It has much to teach us about techniques, traditions, effects, and affects of social change. Our appreciation of the past will only help us to bring a better future to our expressions in glass.

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Glass Figurines

By Jitka Havlíčková

Left: J. Havlíčková with Brychta’s clay sketches on the table, Palestra, 2018. Right: J. Havlíčková flameworking demonstration, Palestra, 2018 • Photos: Stanislav Sekela

To the GAS Conference in Murano, I brought clay figurines of Jaroslav Brychta. They were five little models of glassblowers that had never been made in glass. Their dating is unknown, but they probably are from the 1940s. With the consent of Mrs. Jaroslava Brychtova’s family, I brought them to Murano, and during my flamework demo I created Mr. Brychta’s little clay glass blower in glass. I remodelled five original clay glass blowers in plasticine and clay and put them on the working table next to me. I also showed several finished glass pieces for a better understanding of the process. Working with a clay model is not common. It is a time-consuming method, and I decided to present this process to the public at the conference because I consider it unique.

Jaroslav Brychta ( 1895 – 1971 ) was a sculptor and a designer. He was asked to become one of the founders of the glassmaking program in Northern Bohemia in the 1920s. The first students often came from glass making families, and their parents were craftsmen in glass production. At the time, Jablonec nad Nisou and Železný Brod were lively centres of glass imitation jewellery production. As far as I know, glass figurine making techniques originated in France, Italy, and Germany. In the Czech Republic, lampworking absorbed these diverse influences, and people found their own methods and style, typically very simple and economical. In 1920, there was not more than the bead making developed, and Professor Brychta gave aim

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to the not yet developed flamework technique. Czechoslovakia celebrated worldwide success with Brychta’s glass figurine installations in Paris and Bruxelles in 1925 and 1935.

Figurine products have always been logically connected to the type of glass used and the types of burners. Torches have changed as time passed, and burners were often “home-made” providing different types of flames although they looked similar.

To Murano, I brought my Czech glass rods as well as all my instruments. I used materials from Lučany nad Nisou and Desná glass factories and a Gregor burner from Říčany CZ. This torch is built to mix gas and compressed air. While it produces an easily adjustable flame, I rarely change the flame while working. I would rather change the position of my glass heating spot. This is, as I see it, our main difference from “the world.” It is hard to compare glass and methods in my opinion.

Our Czech glass is rather “short.” Compatibility is not a matter of course. A good example of a Czech tool used for figurine making is a piece of cast iron called a “glass maker’s brick.” It is used to preheat the glass rods and temperate more detailed components like heads or more complicated particles.

After my performance in Palestra, the hot cast iron brick did not allow me to leave the working table. It was too hot to take it away.

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Left: Jitka answering technical questions, after the demo, Palestra 2018. Right: Murano with Brychta’s figurine in hand, 2018 • Photos: Stanislav Sekela

My Palestra demonstration:

On Saturday, May 19, I came to Palestra two hours before the action. The different types of hoses and connections were kind of a mystery to me, and my specific burner needed advance testing.

I was curious about how my burner would work with propane gas. I usually use only bottled propane-butane. For an air supply, I brought my own low-pressure air blower. For the correct fitting, we exchanged my gas hose with a local gas hose, and I turned on my torch. A tremendous shot came out from the burner. There was no harm or danger, but it surprised me. I have heard that such a thing may happen, but it was the first time in my life. The second try to ignite the flame caused another gunshot. It was a thrilling start. When I started the actual demonstration at 2 PM, however, everything went smoothly.

Regarding the colours, the original intention for the clay figurines is not known. I chose four different colours. Transparent light yellow, amber, light rose and white opal. As I was adding bits of different coluors step-by-step, pulling the figurine limbs was not as elegant as if I was working with one colour. I went back to the model a couple of times to compare and correct the whole shape. Sometimes I used the tweezers when it was necessary. Before finishing the little glassblower, the figurine fell on the table. The warm figurine’s head gathered small glass pieces from the table. I picked it up and saved it. I finished the

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figurine, holding it in my left hand.

I was aware of the danger of the air circulation in the Palestra Hall. Along with stress and my attention to the overall conditions, the heating process was not ideal. While working, keeping the whole figurine warm and not coming back with the flame to the finished parts is the most important. The figurine is all right, though, and it survived our journey back to Prague.

“My father was not a joke teller,” Mrs. Brychtová told us once when we visited her. However, Brychta’s humour is very much expressed in his figurines. I like Brychta’s figurines humour very much. I, too, try to record diverse social phenomena and tragicomic situations in some of my glass figurines. It was an honor for me to present the history of Czech figurine making.

Nowadays, there is “an army” of glass bead makers in my country. At the same time, there are some figurine makers who have kept producing the traditional figurines. I want to mention the exceptional Mr. Mareš and his glass orchestras. I probably represent a somewhat disappearing group of figurine making in the sense of rebuilding the tradition in the Czech flameworking.

I appreciated being part of the Glass Art Society Conference in Murano, and I want to thank everybody, who helped me to realize it. I send special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Toffolo, Mrs. Janis Miltenberger, and Stanislav Sekela.

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Cane Work in a Flame Way

By Laurence Brabant & Alain Villechange

Flamework: Alain Villechange • Design: Laurence Brabant & Alain Villechange • Bowl with unique filigrane patterns, 2016 • Borosilicate glass • Photo: Xavier Nicostrate

We were very honored to be invited to show our latest work at the GAS Conference in Murano. We have been designing and blowing tableware products on the torch for 15 years now. At first, we focused on clear vessels playing with the link between the content and the container, the idea being to display the vessels featuring the specific possibilities offered by flameworking. The design of our utilitarian pieces favor the subtlety provided by flameworking.

With the development of borosilicate color rods in the USA, we started to use the flamework technique called “stickstack” five years ago. This transposition of the roll-up opened a new field of expression in our work. At first, we used only pure rods of borosilicate colors made in the USA. This was our way of getting acquainted with the process before going further. With it, our vessels grew rich of tonal decorations. Transparency, translucence and opacity got involved in simple and graphic motifs. The dimensions deliberately underlined the impact of the dynamic vocabulary. With evocations of the heraldry and signs, the rhythms and colored combinations made a strong visual impression of movement and vibration.

For a long time, Alain was very inspired by the Venetian way of working with cane, and he was eager to incorporate it into his practice. For two years, he tried to create a specific “flamework writing”

using traditional cane work. He began the making of complex canes like zanfirico, ballotini, etc. Then, by reworking those canes at the flame, he was able to create new patterns which can only be made using a torch. For example, pulling zanfirico canes then working them again, heating and twisting them the opposite way in small areas with a tiny flame to create a unique and discontinuous pattern. With this process, an infinite range of new patterns is possible while using a single style of traditional cane as a base.

For those who have never seen our work, Laurence and I designed clear line bowls, put them on a massive clear base, and enhance them with a black and yellow twisted lip-rap. Because the making of the canes is very time consuming, Alain focused his demonstration on the blowing process of one of those bowls.

Alain came to the demo with 25 canes (11 cm long and 7mm wide). He also brought 3 cylinders with a diameter of 50mm (2 open and 1 closed), one cylinder with a diameter of 40mm, and one 3 mm length of black and yellow twisted cane.

He began with fixing the 25 canes around the 40 mm tube with a V2A stainless steel strap letting them exceed 7cms. After having melted the free end of the canes, he fused one 50 mm tube to it. Then he removed the 40 mm tube and started melting the canes together by heating, marvering, and constricting

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the canes with graphite jacks. He finally fused the other 50 mm opened tube on the open side of the cane tube and totally melted it to obtain a nice and smooth 50 mm tube of canes. He suppressed one clear part, closed the cane tube and put it in the garage. He started making the massive glass bottom by melting the closed 50 mm cylinder. When ready, he connected it to the bottom of the cane tube and started the blowing process.

Once the bowl shape was achieved, he partly opened it with the flame and jacks and then cleaned the lip with the sheers.

Then he applied the black and yellow cane on the lip and finished the opening with the graphite jacks. Finally, he grabbed the bowl with a flask holder and finished the massive bottom of the bowl. The process of making the bowl required around one hour, but the making of the complex filigrane canes required around four hours.

Having the 47th Annual GAS Conference in Murano with the theme The Glass Path was a perfect opportunity for us to share this specific research about traditional venetian techniques applied to flamework.

We thank the GAS staff, the board members, and those on the conference planning committee for the gift of this wonderful opportunity. Thank you also for the fabulous four days we spent meeting, sharing, and learning with glass lovers from all around the world!

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Vessels of Memory: Glass Ships in Bottles

By Dr. Ayako Tani It is a little-known fact that Sunderland, in the North East of England, was the world capital of glass ships in bottles manufacturing between the late 1970s and the early 2000s. In fact, there are many people who remember working for the ships in bottles factories, but perhaps by being too close to the phenomenon, they are not aware of the wider significance of this boom. As a practice-based researcher, I have taken it as my vocation to archive the local history of glass ships in bottles and preserve the making skills for the future. Over the past several years, through my Arts Council Englandfunded project, Vessels of Memory, I have interviewed former makers, collected antique items and uncovered various aspects of this history. As an Artist in Residence at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland, I have learnt how to make glass ships in bottles from former scientific glassblowers and developed a new series of artwork inspired by this history and the associated techniques.

It is difficult to specify exactly where glass ships in bottles were first made, but the basic techniques and designs had been established by the 1960s. Sails were invariably made of tubes sliced into small sections so that the curved surface of the original tube lent itself to the depiction of billowed sails. It was a clever innovation to make sails in this way, because not only did the shape match the design, but unwanted off-cuts could also be used efficiently.

How to make a glass ship in a bottle:

(1) The production starts from cutting and sandblasting the sails. Some patterns can be added by sandblasting, and they are sometimes fumed with gold. (2) Take slender rods, typically 3 or 4mm, and attach the prepared sails. It is important to lamp-anneal them before proceeding, and strong heat should not be applied to the sails beyond this point. (3) Take a thick rod and make the ship’s body. Vari-

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ous home-made hand tools can be used to emboss patterns to represent windows and the like. For example, metal files and screws can make very effective textures. (4) Fuse the masts with the sails onto the ship’s body. It is vital to make good joins. (5) Bridge the top ends of the masts together, and replace the work handle here. (6) Remove the handle from the ship’s body and heat it evenly, making sure that there is no significant stress left. On the bottom of the ship, where it will connect to the bottle, leave three short legs. The middle one has to be substantial, as it is going to be fused onto the bottle. The other two work as supports. (7) Add the rigging. Extra attention has to be paid so that the sharp flame does not catch the sails or the ship body. (8) Leave the work to cool. It should not break if the sails and the body were lamp-annealed accordingly and all the joins are good. (9) Hold the ship’s body by hand and remove the excess

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length of the masts and add flags on top.

(11) Make a bottle, leaving the bottom open. (12) Place the ship inside the bottle via the open bottom, and hold it in position with corrugated cardboard if necessary. (13) Check that the central leg on the ship is touching the bottle wall and ready for fusing. Heat the spot very well on a vertical flame. (14) Repeat the heating several times until the join becomes smooth. Check from all angles, making sure that no deep creases or sharp ends are left. (15) Lamp-anneal around the join. If there is a grey stress-band visible, flash it with a slightly hotter annealing flame until it disappears. (16) Close the bottom of the bottle.

In Sunderland, the people who led the glass ships in bottles boom were redundant scientific glassblowers from James A. Jobling Ltd, the local Pyrex factory. Historically, Jobling had become established as a pressed-glass maker, but this visionary company later shifted its focus to borosilicate glass. It acquired patent rights from Corning Glass Works to manufacture and market ‘Pyrex’ in the British Empire, excluding Canada in 1921, and scientific glassblowing began in 1932. Production grew during and after World War II, where there was a demand for radar tubes, laboratory apparatus and various components to supply other industries. Each colliery in the region had a small on-site laboratory to analyse gas, and consequently, there was much work making and repairing glass equipment until the 1970s. However, reflecting the decline of heavy industry, the Laboratory Division at Jobling started shrinking in 1972.

The decline of scientific glassblowing was, in turn, the dawn of the glass ships in bottles business. The newly redundant scientific glassblowers, including my mentors Norman Veitch MBE and Brian Jones MBE, applied their lampworking expertise to making glass ships in bottles.

As many as ten individual studios were established in Sunderland by former scientific glassblowers, and they produced almost exclusively glass ships in bottles

Flying Dutchman, 2018 • Lampworked and latheworked borosilicate glass, filled with Krypton gas. • 10cm diameter, 50cm length.

throughout the 1980s. The business grew from a cottage industry into a successful commercial enterprise, generating employment for former Jobling lampworkers, as well as the local community.

In early 1990, one of these ships in bottles makers, Mayflower Glass, established a mass-production system. Records suggest that Mayflower was able to make more than 40,000 ships in bottles per month at peak production. Its products were exported to more than 40 different countries, and the firm received the Queen’s Export Award in 1992 and 1993. Mayflower’s success, however, caused severe price slashing and a decline in quality. Glass ships in bottles, which had been luxury giftware sold at jewellery shops in the 1970s, finally became seen as consumer kitsch. Other smaller studios could not compete, and they ended up making other types of ornaments or eventually closed. Mayflower outsourced production to China in 2005, which marked the demise of the ships in bottles boom in Sunderland.

Yancheng Mayflower Arts and Crafts in China, the joint venture founded by Mayflower UK and a Chinese factory in 2005, uses machines and tools transported from Sunderland. The volume of

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production reached a peak in 2010, when they made 30,000 ships in bottles per month. However, it is noteworthy that the scale of mass-production in China never exceeded that of the 1990s in Sunderland. Mayflower UK was liquidated in 2017, and now ironically, Yancheng Mayflower Arts and Crafts is its only surviving descendant, keeping the legacy of glass ships in bottles mass-production alive. Today, the business is very quiet, and 2000 ships in bottles is a large order for them. Since these orders are often too small to warrant running the massproduction machines, the factory has returned to manual production for some processes. Whether this will lead to a return to quality, or the ultimate degeneration of the industry, remains to be seen.

Demonstrating at the GAS conference in Murano was an excellent opportunity, allowing me to introduce the history of glass ships in bottles, and show the making process and techniques. It was also a chance to raise awareness of this largely neglected aspect of our shared history and pay homage to those pioneers whose skill and resilience launched the ships in bottles boom. Now, it might be our turn, as lampwork artists, to take the tradition of glass ships in bottles to the next stage.

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Coldworking Intricate Forms

By Yusuke Takemura & Richard Whitely

The Glass Workshop in Canberra has established itself as an international centre for the cold forming and finishing of glass.

For the last thirty-plus years, there has been a sustained thread of knowledge and experience within this area that is evident both within the culture of the university program and the local glass community; each generation of students and staff appear to have tapped into this and contributed to its evolution. I had never fully articulated this until last year, when (whilst teaching at Corning Museum of Glass) I began to discuss it with Susie Silbert, who agreed, observing that the majority of artists from Canberra employed cold finishing as a key part of their practice.

Much of this emphasis on cold finishing came from the direct legacy of the first two Heads of Workshop, Klaus Moje AO (1936-2016) and Stephen Procter (1946–2001). Cold working was a critical part of their own practice, method, and consequently teaching.

Moje was a journeyman glass cutter within his family workshop after the war in Germany. As a young apprentice, he was a brilliant glass cutter, and then subsequently turned his attention to pursuing glass as medium for expression. Moje embodied process, not as a destination, but as a medium to think through his ideas. He taught all of us, myself included, many important lessons about our relationship to material. One was in my first year of study when he said: ‘when glass comes out of the kiln or the lear, it is but a blank and then the work can really begin.’

It was through these words that I came to understand the transformative power of cold forming and how it can create such a different array of qualities and feelings within the material.

Although I never studied with Procter, I was fortunate to know him as a colleague and understand that his relationship 90

with material was no less powerful than Moje’s. Procter was also a master cold worker, and many of his works were defined by his thoughtful and meditative approach to life and glass. Despite Procter’s palette of clear glass being so radically different than Moje’s celebration of structured color, both artists shared an extensive understanding of the potential of coldworking to be used within their work as a tool for students of glass.

The idea for this talk today came from my co-presenter, Yusuke Takemura, who is a Master of Philosophy candidate within our program in Canberra. Yusuke is also a master cold worker in his own right and developed his skills working for artists, and on his own work, whilst living in his native country of Japan. Yusuke’s work requires a high level of cold working skill and he has needed to adapt existing knowledge and modify tools to find new solutions to finishing problems. Yusuke works in my studio and together we have applied the same approach to problemsolving on large scale work.

Given the space constraints of this paper, Yusuke and I will share some overarching thoughts and a couple of key recommendations from our demonstration.

Most of the tools we use are not specifically designed for the glass industry, and we have spent many years in dialogue with manufacturers and suppliers to understand and adapt tools for cold working applications. In this regard, there is not one tool that we recommend over others as so much depends on the application of the tool and the desired qualities of the work. This may sound obvious, but we are regularly asked to recommend one tool, and this really requires us to look quite closely at what the individual in question is doing within their studio.

We spend a fair amount of time adapting tools (such as building different backing heads for air tools) to be able to accommodate

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a particular curve or to achieve a particularly flat surface. Even when working by hand, the backing surface to any cutting process is as important than the cutting surface itself. This is because what lies in back of the cutting surface effects how the tool cuts the glass. This is why the same cutting head on a softer back will give a finer finish. We often change the backing pads by adding neoprene (commonly used to make wetsuits) to make the surface softer or to profile a specific curve. We have also removed all backing materials to achieve a flatter finish. We have done this by peeling off both layers of Velcro (which is the attachment method used on most industrial disks) and re-sticking the disk to a hard metal back. This only removes 2mm (5/64 inch) of Velcro, but we have found removing this soft material can achieve a much flatter finish when using an air tool. Rubber cement is the adhesive we use to secure all these modifications.

The cutting head itself is also an important consideration. The main cutting abrasive used for the majority of industrial disks are diamonds. These don’t change in hardness from manufacturer to manufacturer; however, the shape of the diamonds, how they are sifted, combined with how they are bonded, makes a huge difference to their functionality on glass. This subject is a lecture in itself, but, generally speaking, disks that have a more porous matrix (or resin bonding) are usually better for use on glass. This is because the disk is able to breathe. Another way to say this is that the cutting surface can get more traction and open up to the dense material of glass. As mentioned earlier, most of these disks are designed for stone. Even the densest stones, like granite, have more porosity than glass, which is basically zero. Disks that are designed for stone, to be used in either a wet or dry capacity, generally have more porosity. With glass, always use these with water and also dress the surface of the disk every 10 IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

minutes or so of cutting time. Dressing means holding a piece of natural stone to the surface of the running disc for approximately two seconds. Use a natural stone that has a grit size close to the cutting disk you are using. This action uncovers a fresh diamond matrix in the disk, and it may also remove fine swarf (fine glass particles) that clog the surface of the disk and slow its cutting. The type of disk, glass, and speed of the tool all affect how often this needs to be done. One of the biggest issues with most diamond disks is irregular scratches that are often created on glass. These are quite troublesome when polishing as they are hard to see as the cold worker is progressing and then invariably too deep to be removed when polishing. In recent years, we have moved to the 3M electrostatic disks for pre-polishing. These disks have a short life span because they only have a single layer of diamond. However, these diamonds are dodecahedrons in shape (rounded) and, as such, leave significantly fewer scratches, as we have observed under a microscope. We only use these disks for the final two stages (400 grit and 600 grit equivalent).

The speed of the tool and how the tool is held are also important factors in the effectiveness of the cut. It is often a misconception that the faster the speed of the tool, the faster the cut.

Medium speed, of about 3,000-3,500 RPM on a 75-100mm (2-3inch) disk seems to be optimal for most resin-bonded disks that are effective for cutting glass.

Our demonstration covered many more topics and issues that we are unfortunately unable to delve into within this paper.

During the demonstration, there were also many knowledgeable artists and suppliers within the audience who shared their own ideas and observations. We thank them all, as well as GAS, for the opportunity to share our knowledge.

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Metamorphosis of a Vase: Glass from Another Point of View

By Franco e Mauro Panizzi First of all, we want to say that it was an honor for us to be invited to do a demonstration at the GAS Conference, and we also want to thank everyone, the organization, the volunteers, and the committee that made this possible. It was a very emotional thing because it gave us the opportunity to express to many people both in the demonstration and in the tours our “philosophy” of glass.

We have always been fascinated by the possibility of modeling glass at will, according to our idea but not with fire but with cold processing.

The ability to change and shape the glass surface, not only with the heat but also with the natural stone and diamond tools (technical knowledge that has been handed down to us by our father), has generated various ideas and led us to realize many projects that, with the passing of time, have been refined to eventually build the project we presented at the GAS conference.

We took a simple and linear “cylinder” shape. We tried to blow it very thick, and we succeeded thanks to the master’s skill. Using this form we tried to create, according to our interpretation, an architectural structure taken from the real world, a tower of a famous Venetian palace “Scala Contarini del Bovolo” with the most famous spiral staircase in Venice, adjacent to the building that gives the name.

As a first step, we dug a deep wedge-shaped band in the shape of a snail on the whole vase with a round diamond wheel diameter 8 cm and quite coarse-grained overlapping several times to leave a deep groove.

Afterward, we went over the excavated surface with a finergrained wheel to smooth the surface. Then we engraved vertically inside the previous engraving with a small “U” shaped wheel.

All these incisions were made next to each other without leaving space. These grinds represented the arches that run along the entire staircase. In the end, we showed that from a simple glass cylinder you can create something fascinating and different and how it is possible to see glass from another point of view “metamorphosis of a vase.”

black soul, 2016 • (exhibition Murano glass museum “Murano oggi” 2016/2017) • 13 x 40 cm ; 22 x 20 cm

Skyline, 2017 • (exhibition “opale” Bugno art Gallery in Venice Glass Week 2017) • 45 cm high - 25 cm high

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“Hot Printing” frit de verre - Books of Disquiet

By Anne Peters Starting an article always feels like sitting in front of a massive puzzle. Thinking about Murano now, two months after the conference, brings a whirlwind of memories - fragments of blue sky, even bluer water, a visual overflow of fairytale beauty, and bright, colorful glass in the uncountable glass shops on Murano and in the back of the Effetre Factory. I still felt like being on a rocky boat days after being back in London from the numerous rides on the vaporettos. I hear fragments of conversations with friends over a spritz or “two,” emotional discussions about where glass as an art form is headed today, and how we have to strengthen connections and communication between us as artists and schools and institutions, especially in Europe.

I have been to two conferences as a visitor before presenting in Murano, and as always, meeting up with old friends, putting faces to names, and to have such a creative, energetic bunch of people in one place for some days still leaves me with the feeling of being part of something very special.

For me, presenting at the GAS conference in Murano was an unforgettable experience. I think this conference proved how international and community-driven the glass scene is; and how it thrives from inspiring each other and embracing change as a new start.

I was the only kiln presenter in the entire conference, which I only noticed when I got there. It was a bit of a surprise for me that there were not more kiln demonstrations considering how much inventive kiln work there is out there now.

The Berengo kiln studio was a fascinating place to work. Setting up my demo under an Ai Weiwei sculpture, and every once in a while peaking in the busy mould-making studio (managed by the amazing Alan Horsley) full of waxes for pieces by artists such as Thomas Schütte, Tony Cragg, and Jaume Plensa was truly amazing.

The demonstration I proposed to GAS drew from a specific kiln forming/pate-de-verre technique which I started to explore during my MFA studies at Alfred University, NY (2009-2011). This process found recognition internationally because it offers new possibilities in working sculpturally with glass, using traditional craft methods in an inventive, contemporary way, rethinking the unique physical, aesthetic and metaphoric qualities of glass.

I started to research the process looking for an immediate, expressive way of bringing imagery and text onto glass without undergoing a complex, rigid photosensitive process like silk screening or rayzist-photo-masking. It is a kind of intaglio, hotprinting technique. I use a flat plaster-silica mold as a canvas on which I draw and write. I then trace the imagery and carve into the mold. The carvings are filled with colored, fine glass powder (mostly white) over which I sift a thin layer of clear glass frit.

During the firing process, the clear glass fuses onto the imagery.

At a temperature of about 740°C, I open the kiln and peel the

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Books of Disquiet I/II, 2017 • glass • w 30cm x d 13cm x h 9/11cm. Photo: Anne Petters

ice-like glass skin, together with the imagery, off the mold. In recent projects, I froze the pieces directly after shaping them by crash cooling the kiln.

The half-controlled/half-random organic form freezes and keeps its unique shape. This body of work was inspired by the concept of conserving transient moments of thought and other ephemeral phenomena. I was interested in a fleeting fast way of drawing as a way of picturing the kind of randomness that lies in the flow of our thoughts and the space of imagination.

For my demonstration at the GAS conference, I chose to show the process of how I make my current series Books of Disquiet.

Here, every “page” is pre-fused in a separate firing. About 1012 sheets are then stacked with kiln paper in between so they can only fuse on one side. I prepare various fibre-frax shapes which are pre-heated in the same kiln. When the desired temperature is reached, I start to open the book page by page, applying the fibre-frax pieces between them, so they keep the folded, windy shapes. I repeat this process until all desired pages are “flipped.”

This process sometimes takes more than three hours.

Books of Disquiet is an ongoing series of work reflecting the desire to control the fleeting thought process and to freeze moments of this liquid space. The books are physical manifestations of the intangible phenomenon of imagination. The writings are personal poems and thought fragments that run through my mind at the very moment of recording them.

These marks seem to contain information and draw the viewer into a secret but at the same time they elude themselves in the ephemeral space they came from, just like the slippery performance of ideas themselves which enter our consciousness like random, welcomed guests or haunting parasites. The handwritten text and drawings on these pieces are very subtle and cryptic so although they are very personal, they function more as a visual comment on imagination rather than a source of information.

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PANELS

Venini Panel: Benjamin Moore, Toots Zynsky, and Philip Baldwin

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Four Women Artists: Their Unique Approaches and History to the Media of Glass

By Amy Schwartz Our panel showcased the work of several wonderful woman artists. There are many women working in the field of glass and many who have achieved success. In the last five years, The Studio has hosted an equal number of female and male resident artists. Advanced glassblowing classes are often taught by men, however kiln forming classes are more likely taught by women. I think people in jobs like mine, who provide opportunities for artists, must be vigilant to offer opportunities to women and artists from diverse communities. We have to work hard to reach out and notice who is doing good work and help them along.

Jen Blazina

Historically glass has classically been a male dominated field. However, I have seen the field explode with talented women working in a variety of techniques in glass.

I came to glass in a non-linear avenue.

My training originally is in the fields of printmaking and photography which I still use in my work today. Once I left graduate school, I was employed at a glass gallery in Washington, D.C. Working in this gallery opened my eyes to the material and how I could incorporate it into my art.

Since being involved in glass, I have seen how many women have begun to question this media and their approach to it as a means of expression. As a woman artist, I have felt welcomed by the glass community especially by other kiln casting artists. The challenges I have faced mostly have come from people not involved with the media and in academia. In academia, I have been questioned if my position has been obtained as a woman and not based on my talent or my qualifications. Because of these challenges, I encourage and mentor young women who would like to become artists when they leave school.

In my own work, I incorporate glass,

Jen Blazina, ‘Recollection’, 2009-present • Cast glass, screen-print, steel, found material • Varied installation Photo: Jen Blazina

printmaking, photography, and metals to express concepts of narratives and place.

My work is influenced by family commonplace objects, fashion, familial narratives and photographs which evoke an ephemeral sense of past memories. By preserving objects through casting and fabrication, I recall their history as part of my current voice.

As an artist, I have always been intrigued with the idea of what might be precious to one person will be discarded by another. Whether this object is found in a second-hand shop or in the trash, I am always influenced and attached to certain lost beauties of these objects.

Amber Cowan

My pieces are made by re-working discarded, up-cycled or unwanted pressed glassware produced by some of the best known, but now-defunct glass factories in America. In my practice I rework objects currently relegated to the aesthetic dustbin of history and reincarnate them to into ornate abstractions that pay homage to the glass itself but with a reminiscent sentimentality for times past. While still containing the original spirit of the vintage glass, the well-defined characteristics of color and pattern appear transformed into natural texture. I identify some of my pieces like paintings, highlight-

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Amber Cowan, ‘River Green and Mint’, 2015 • Glass and Mixed Media • 15” x 17”x 8” • Photo: Matthew Hollerbush

being given to women. Around the country new positions are opening up from a previous generation of department heads (primarily male) retiring. I am starting to see female leaders being placed in these key roles which could have a lasting impact on the dynamic of the glass community for generations to come.

Susan Taylor Glasgow Susan Taylor Glasgow, ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ Chandelier Dress, 2016 • Fused, slumped glass, mixed media • 72” x 36” x 36” • Photo: Nathan Shaulis/Porter Loves Creative

ing the wonderful lost color of the cullet that I have salvaged from the old factories. And some of my pieces I see as stories which utilize special characters such as figurines and animals I have collected and saved.

The work that I have become known for was started as a series during graduate school at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. At Tyler I was fortunate to have been surrounded by not only a strong female head of department but also by a force of female faculty members. I am now part of the department and have seen how influential and encouraging the dynamic can be for our majority female student body population.

To be surrounded by not only female instructors but also leaders in the field can make a lasting impact on the next generation of artists in glass.

In the academic field I have recently witnessed a new wave of leadership roles 96

Thank you to Jen Blazina for organizing the panel, and Amy Schwartz for moderating.

The Murano 2018 GAS conference was an amazing experience.

The topic of Women in Glass is a bold subject in an environment historically considered all-male. Even currently, there are few female glass artists working in Murano. I often address the dichotomy of women in the household within my work, so to have the occasion to share my approach with an audience in Murano felt significant. Our presentation and discussion allowed each panelist to share her individual journey and achievements. We were pleased to have a standing-room-only audience with engaging discussion during and after. Amy Schwartz, as moderator, asked questions of us relating to gender and professional opportunity. While Amy knows the hot-shop well, Amber Cowen, Jen Blazina, and I work either on the torch or in kiln-forming, so our work environments as individual artists vary greatly. I pursued kiln formed glass for its methodical process and solitude. But there was discussion that other female glass artists may have decided to work on the torch or in kiln-forming as an alternative to uncomfortable hot-shop dynamics. But things are changing. The old guard is slowly being replaced by men accustomed to working in mixed gender studios. Women now expect a respectful work environment. The “Me Too” movement brought to light behavior, since the beginning of time, was defended as “just how men are” and “this is how things work around here”. Hopefully, recent re-enlightenment will set a new standard for the way people treat each other in the workplace and beyond.

During the panel discussion I shared that in the USA the glass community is extremely supportive and nurturing to female artists. I have many women peers and many administrative positions are held by women, as well as curative posts. Personally, I’m living the dream. I have an amazing studio, I create what I want, I’m honored with residencies regularly in environments that are respectful, and I have very supportive business partners in Habatat Galleries, in Royal Oak, MI, and Heller Gallery, NYC. Thank you again to Jen Blazina, Amy Schwartz, and Amber Cowen for an engaging and insightful discussion about Women in Glass.

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The Glass Path and the Visual Culture of Glass: What Does All This Glass “Do” in the World, Anyway?

GAS 2018 Education Panel, Friday 18 May, Abate Zanetti, Murano Dr Jane Cook, Chief Scientist, Corning Museum of Glass, USA Dr Vanessa Cutler, Senior Lecturer in Product Design, University of Chichester, UK Inge Panneels, Senior Lecturer, University of Sunderland at National Glass Centre, UK Moderated by Dr Jeffrey Sarmiento, Reader in Glass, University of Sunderland at National Glass Centre, UK

Glass has fundamentally changed our cultural landscape over the last one hundred years. Yet, the aesthetic qualities of glass have predominantly been the preserve of designers, makers and artists and its discourse mostly limited to the field of art history. Collaborative creative thinking in the fields of art, technology, and science has yielded a synergy that transcends the fields. We are led down the “glass path” by the questions of how glass science and technology have contributed to the visual culture of society and how glass has influenced how we perceive culture. We hope that this will be the opening of sustained dialogue around the idea of genuine collaborations as a means of being better equipped for future challenges. This discussion is rooted in an exchange of ideas among the three panelists at Glass Reflections, the 2015 Society of Glass Technology conference, in Cambridge, UK. A brief history of glass as a material, which has profoundly shaped Western science, will not only put glass in a historical context but also explain how it has fundamentally shaped how we “see.”

Glass technology played a critical role in the development of western civilization and the development of western science in particular. Alan Macfarlane & Gerry Martin (2002) argue that the use and knowledge of glass through experienced glassmakers led to the hegemony of western science over China, whose scientific knowledge at one time far exceeded the West. Glass is inert. Its resistance to temperature and corrosion led to its use in alchemy and then chemistry as the choice material for laboratory equipment. Most

importantly, its transparency made it the prime material for observation; as used in the barometer, thermometer, and vacuum jar. Observation is a key tenet of modern science. Inge Panneels choose the word “modern” carefully. The modern period started in the early 16th century, and there is still critical debate on whether we are currently in the postmodern era or not. The optical quality of glass to refract and magnify drove the invention of lenses, microscope, telescope, and the photographic camera. Photography itself became a key part of a new type of telescope, recording images from space onto light-sensitive plates. This negated the need for human eyes scanning the sky, which are prone to being tired or simply missing things in a blink. Glass thus played a critical role in allowing us to see beyond our human limitations. Learning to see is both a neurologically learned cognitive process and also a socially and culturally defined ability. How we see and what we see is thus worthy of further critical examination.

The advent of the Anthropocene—the era of man-made impact made visible and evident in climate change—has engendered huge debate about our material culture.

Critical thinking around climate change is asking, “What does all this stuff do anyway?”

Panneels posed the question: if the way in which we “see” the world was significantly altered by glass, then can we alter our perception in the Anthropocene by shifting the way we “see” once more? Aesthetics is a powerful tool. Going further, Panneels asked: What are the images that we collectively create in glass? What do they say about us as a

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society? How do these images reflect us?

What do they make us “see”?

Observation in science by the trained eye, or the sublimely conceived and made scientific instrument, provides a record of causality seen or refuted. Something is predicted, an action is taken, a result is recorded, and with analysis new structures of reality are revealed and communicated. Glass in an artist’s hands is glass in action, seen through an artist’s eyes.

Jane Cook argued, “Where there is action, there is change and the opportunity for observation.” Though not conceived as a scientific experiment, glassmaking, when observed with science’s eye, is always teaching science. She argued that the so-called “science-art divide” separates only the gross motivations of the professions, not the actual mental processes that are responsible for creativity.

While principal motivations in the scientific/technical realm are the quest for precision, the balance of risk and cost for mass manufacture, and the fine-tuning of utility, the artistic pursuit of aesthetic goals is no less demanding. The oft-venerated scientific method, taught with a first step to “generate a hypothesis,” is a pithy testable pronouncement of a possible bit of truth. This too often leaves out the essential “zeroeth” step: play. The element of “serious play” is what Jane Cook argues is the key role of creativity and contribution artists make in art-science collaborations.

It is perhaps no coincidence that all the panelists hold a PhD, a period of training in research that provides access to thinking time, workshop and laboratory facilities unobtainable within the normal confines of a studio practice. Research, and the ubiquity of maker spaces, has promoted digital technology and science

as a tool for the glass artist. Universities help fund its development, much like the Medici’s patronage in the Renaissance. This results in both individual creative outcomes and scientific impact. Jane Cook discussed her role as scientific advisor to the Specialty Glass Artist-in-Residence program. Corning Museum of Glass and Corning Research and Development Corporation annually select an artist with a track record of innovation with the goal of profound engagements with scientific methods and content. There is no commission attached to the residency and no requirement for a body of work. What is expected is a deep, fruitful sharing of ideas, philosophies, and minds between the artist and the technical community, and that those experiences be put forth to the broader glass community. In Cutler’s experience of engagement with industry, outcomes are not exclusively mechanical. She argues that artistic, or perhaps more human, approaches can be useful to manufacturers: “The molecular structure of what we use is already established, so are we modifying an established norm making something individual that draws on material capabilities.”

In parallel to Cook’s “zeroeth” step, Cutler’s research expands the possibilities of material knowledge through a methodology of “informed play.” Waterjet technology brought a new language that cross-referenced from engineering and sciences into a creative enquiry into glass. Lacking research models in creative practice, glass art research degrees are often evaluated against well-established science practices. Yet, artistic approaches in practice-based study are bringing new perspectives and methodologies to research in which play is vital. However, Cutler warned that current UK government policy (under the guise of austerity and focus on increasing productivity) is separating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) from STEAM where the A stands for Arts. What is crucially important is the development of new hybrid models in the glass classroom which stimulates artistic curiosity underpinned by scientific understanding of the material. This is an emerging tendency generates both the possibility for innovation as well as encouraging awareness and engagement with the broader, global context.

So what does all this glass do in the world? Glass has fundamentally changed science over the last five hundred years how we observe and see our environment, but has also significantly changed our physical urban landscape. From glass-clad skyscrapers to the agricultural and communication revolution and space exploration, glass has been a cornerstone material of the 20th century. Going forward, the role of glass within medical science and climate change discourse and the growing need and availability of solar power generation will see its role undiminished. Artist and critic Beth Carruthers made this plea: “Even in this day some eyebrows still rise, or concerns appear at the idea of art being pragmatic, functional and useful. I counter by saying that art is always active in the world. Art does something, it is not passive.

Were that the case, it would not have been burned, banned and forbidden by dictators throughout history. While we always need the voice of art and artists, we need it now more than ever. This is critical, engaged and passionate praxis at a time of global ecocrisis.” The panelists argue that this genuine collaboration, where scientific method and technology are coupled with creative play, will equip us better to tackle the challenges of the future.

1. Alan Macfarlane and Gerry Martin, Glass: A World History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002) 2. Beth Carruthers, “Why Art?: A Statement from Beth Carruthers Our Newest Environmental Arts Advisory Committee Member”, Community Arts Council of Vancouver. 27 November 2010. [Online] Available at: Source: http://www.cacv.ca/beth-carruthers/

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Murano, What a Future

By Piero Nason For the last twenty years, we have been observing a persistent downfall in Murano glass activity and its mass production. Consequently, we lost most related activities and professions. The artistic artisan/industrial vocation of the island, at its top during the 70s, considerably changed during the last decade: from high-quality mass production to cheap creations very low in quality and poor design. Island and Islanders’ interests changed and began to focus on developing touristic structures and facilities. Visitors still come to Murano because of its millenary glass history, but now they can also sleep and spend holidays here, we have new hotels and new restaurants and will probably soon have more Islanders opening new glass shops, and (sadly) they often sell glass whose origin is not Murano. On the other hand, services and facilities for locals are slowly disappearing.

For our future, it is important not to give up. We have to face this new challenge and strive to keep the two souls of the island together: the touristic and vacation one (as it was during the Serenissima) and the one linked to the glass art. We should exploit new techniques to renew our production process with particular attention to the environment. Nobody would spend holidays in a polluted island, and we do not want to be polluting. It is extremely important to create new projects, to bring new ideas to the world of glass, and communication and marketing strategies are imperative as well.

Murano, a look into the future.

Nothing is more telling, being in this place, than a crystal ball. But we have many possible “futures,” and we should also have many crystal balls. We have to be aware of where we are now, in order to understand the future. Future is growth, nourishment, training. The future is delivered to younger generations, this is passed down with an important, slow and careful exchange. Investing in new generations is the best thing we can do, it is what has to be planned and designed. It is necessary, even in as wide a context as Murano, to recover and promote with strength and determination a “projected vocation” that nowadays seems fragmented and episodic. A wide project starting from glass’ charm itself and then spreading to sustainability, production systems technologies, process and product communication themes, to the city and the opportunity to think of Murano as an inhabited creative industrial district.

Glass has so many qualities! It generates from the sea; it is unstable and fragile, as fragile as Murano island and the Venetian lagoon system. Starting with these qualities, we undertook a formation course with our “studenti del corso di Design del Prodotto” from IUAV University of Venice. A path based on experimentation, encouraged and supported by youthful impudence because Murano is not only memory and historical archives. The formation with a future vision is based on experiences exchanged to develop along an experimental itinerary. Enter into the production and understand, elaborate, and exchange with the workforce that creates masterpieces and object production.

Observe the outcome and look for possible new solutions, trying to undertake alternative contemporary ways able to respect tradition while moving it toward the future. Imagine how a 2080° glass furnace could be inclusive in the experience and without secrets, space where the diversity melts down in a unique value. Secrets are out of time; future is built on alliances, sharing and exchange, proficiency and “multidisciplinarity.” These values enlarge the borders, and Murano is not an island anymore but looks for ability, technical competences, and specificity in a huge territory that offers a highly elevated manufacturing experience. Murano has to change and to become

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the place of planned training as a future founding value, a better and glass-like transparent future.

Murano has the chance to become the top quality choice, the alternative to the chaotic “bite and go” mass tourism, attracting a selected public, people truly interested in discovering the island and its art, its history and culture, and its capacity to introduce innovation where the traditional rules. Wearing new clothes with no fear of competing with foreign glass production (as we know, original and striking glass is made all over the globe).

The direct and immediate consequence could be the attraction of focused investments, directed to illuminate our excellence and to organize events like the GAS Conference, in a permanent way, hopefully, every two years.

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The Venini Panel

By Phillip Baldwin

Venini: a company, an icon, a story of creative innovation and originality; Design, Art, Craftsmanship; A symbol of the best in glassmaking for almost a hundred years; Always tuned to talent from far afield, wherever it may come from, ready to embrace evolution and change, to experiment anew; A special place in the American Art Glass story going back to the 1960s.

The Venini Panel, Background

It is almost a hundred years now since the Milanese lawyer Paolo Venini set up a glassblowing factory on Murano with his partner Giacomo Cappellin as artistic director. Innovation, the reinterpretation of ancient styles and techniques, and the presence of outsiders (starting with the founder himself) all marked these early days of the company and have continued to do so right up to the present day. Very early on, Venini began to work with artists from Scandinavia, architects, and people outside the traditional Venetian venues. Success and acclaim came quickly, and never went away. When Paolo Venini died in 1959 and his sonin-law Ludovico de Santillana took over (forced home from Paris where he was happily teaching at the Sorbonne), the tradition was ramped up still further as Ludovico was open to the outside and pursued engagement from the best designers in Europe.

Tapio Wirkkala from Finland marked the glory days of early sixties Venini, but the list is long and impressive.

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And then there was this brash young crowd of starry-eyed kids from America, newly turned on to the art of glassmaking. With Dale Chihuly in the vanguard, they came knocking on the Venini door. In the context of the times it was rather incredible, and much credit goes to Ludovico de Santillana for his great openness. Four of our panelists composed the more illustrious element of this cohort, bookending a moment in time running from the late sixties right up to the end of the seventies. What meaning did these experiences have for them, and how did their experiences, much in the spirit of Venini itself, influence the larger story around studio glass and its international, almost universalist bent over time, transcending traditional national boundaries?

After the Venini family sold the company in the mid-eighties, ownership was varied and short-lived. There have been four owners since the early nineties alone. The company, however, was blessed to have the engagement of a young Milanese architect(!), Roberto Gasparotto. Roberto has held the reins as design director for a quarter of a century, through a lot of personnel and ownership changes. He has held true to the company’s philosophy and overarching goals providing a line of consistency throughout. What relative weight does a company like Venini hold today? What role of influence in culture, design, and glass?

Is such an extraordinary entity capable of surviving the future?

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The Future of Glass Colour

By Caterina Toso

Research group members:

Michele Back – Kyoto University Cristiano Ferro – Effetre Glass Factory prof. Francesco Gonella – Ca’ Foscari University Sandro Hreglich – former researcher for SSV Murano prof. Antonio Pires de Matos – Universidade NOVA de Lisboa prof. Carlo Pantano – PennState University prof. John Parker – Sheffield University prof. Setsuhisa Tanabe – Kyoto University Caterina Toso – association InMurano Nowadays local artistic glass centres, including Murano, are threatened by the consequences of new international regulations regarding substances that may pose a health or environmental risk. Many glass factories do not have the budget needed to adapt their production facilities to meet these new regulations aimed at safeguarding public health and the environment.

Glassmakers do not have sufficient finances to engage in research to find suitable replacements for the recently declared toxic and forbidden compounds in colour glass compositions.

Furthermore, there is a general lack of clarity concerning the research done so far regarding both the best structural changes to be introduced in the glass factories, as well as which compounds and substances are likely to become forbidden soon.

Systematic shared knowledge and accessible information regarding the state-of-art for specific coloured glass production is, in turn, lacking, along with data regarding health and environmental issues. This severely hinders an effective national and international response and investigation to identify suitable solutions. Information sharing is critical for identifying clearly specified problems and addressing possible solutions through experimental activity, both in academic laboratories and Murano furnaces. In fact, no long-term collaborations exist at present between glass producers and scientific/academic world that could either support or implement experimental research aimed at the creation of new colour glass compositions, both environmentally and economically sustainable ones.

The situation involves several aspects ranging from environmental and socio-economic to scientific issues. The goal of the round table was to properly and fully address the nature of the problems related to glass colour and of the present situation due to the prohibition of the use of some toxic compounds. There is no sufficient reliable information regarding the level of real danger, how the environment pollution can be controlled, and if solutions are possible without killing the local art glass industry. Health and environmental issues are highly relevant, and international regulations are now set to take care of related dan-

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gers. Traditional and ancient production centres, such as Murano, have been the core of artistic glass production not only economically, but also socially and culturally. It is worthwhile to engage in serious and appropriately structured research to determine if it is possible to offer suitable and sustainable solutions to preserve artistic production centres with their important cultural heritage, while at the same time, satisfying urgent health and environmental requirements.

This group of international scholars, together with local glass experts aims to give a clear image of the present situation and analyze all possible solutions for the future of local artistic glass centres such as Murano. They will keep on collaborating and working on a long-term structured projected after the round-table.

The main goal is the identification of new compositions and techniques to eliminate toxic compounds used to colour glass, but the research will also consider what structural adjustments can be implemented to reduce pollution levels during glass melting.

Yellow glass: cadmium sulphide (CdS) has been the choice of glassmakers to obtain bright yellow coloured glass. However, cadmium is extremely toxic and is classified as a carcinogen. It is listed to be banned in the next few years.

Orange/Red: A solid solution of CdS-cadmium selenide (CdSe) has been traditionally used to obtain hues of orange and red glass by tuning their band gaps with the composition.

No acceptable solutions to substitute cadmium have been identified so far.

White opaque glass and opalescent glass (used for filigrana and other complex traditional techniques): arsenic has already been

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forbidden and since then glass factories achieved the preparation of glass with new compositions without arsenic-based partly on recipe books and on other opaque glass used now in the industry. But lower quality colour and opacity have been detected, uncontrolled modification of the degree of opacity and staining of glass during complex glass processing that requires repeated heating and cooling of the artifact, longer glass processing times of the same glassware.

The research group will search for alternative raw materials to those already banned or in the process of exclusion by ECHA (European Chemical Agency) such as arsenic oxide, cadmium sulphide, and potassium dichromate. In particular, alkaline phosphates were identified in place of arsenic for the production of opaque glass and copper oxide as an alternative to the use of selenium and cadmium sulphide for the red colour. Researchers need to assemble a list of possibilities to produce a yellow colour.

By considering the replacement of the yellow/orange/red glasses based on the solid solution of cadmium sulphide and selenides (CdS-Se), the development of new pigments with suitable colours and low toxicity is an important topic which deserves to be explored. The peculiar optical properties of CdS-CdSe pigments, arising from the unique spectral shape of absorption, make their replacement still a challenge. In this view, in the last decade, new inorganic yellow/orange/red pigments with interesting features have been proposed. An overview of the most promising classes of pigments, such as oxides and oxynitrides, will be addressed.

It is also worth considering the glaze industry (for pottery): their glass bases have quite different compositions, and different colour palettes may be available. Temperatures used are much lower, but their reds are also currently CdSe based, and it may be useful to consider the solutions they are adopting.

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As a further source of alternative solutions, old recipes books are going to be considered: it is important to know that cadmium, used for red/orange/yellow glasses, started to be used at the beginning of the 1900s. Arsenic and lead, used to give brilliance to white glass and smalto, began to be used at the end of the 1600s. Many old glass compositions and documents (such as the Ricettario Darduin) can help to find sustainable solutions for glass production without toxic substances.

The association InMurano is the promoter and coordinator of this research project. Thanks to the initial collaboration with prof. Francesco Gonella and prof. Antonio Pires de Matos, we managed to involve many different professors and international institutions available to join this critical research project, necessary for the survival of artistic glass centres such as Murano. The round-table at the GAS conference in Murano intended to be a starting point; we wish to get funding needed to carry on the project and to start serious research in labs and furnaces.

InMurano is a nonprofit cultural association. We work to safeguard cultural and artistic heritage related to Murano glass making and also to promote the creation of a network between local glass masters and glass factories: we want to help to raise the image of Murano as a centre of high-quality glass making, not only of the past but also of the present and of the future. The association was founded in 2014, and it is still led by myself Caterina Toso, Emanuel Toffolo and Elia Toffolo: all the members are glass artists and glass passionate.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

SPECIAL EVENTS

Festive conference attendees enjoy the Closing Night Party

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SPECIAL EVENT

Pre-conference Reception at Tagliapietra Studio

The pre-conference reception, a fundraising event sponsored

by Tagliapietra Studio, was a truly unique affair. The event was originally conceived as a small gathering at the studio and gallery of Lino Tagliapietra but was reimagined in response to the overwhelming interest by conference attendees. To accommodate all who expressed interest in attending, Tagliapietra Studio generously agreed to first add the hot shop with a demonstration by Lino’s team and then to add the garden to welcome even more guests.

In addition to opening up his studio for this special event, Lino also donated a beautiful piece, Piccadilly, that was on display throughout the weekend and sold to Bob and Melinda Hord. All proceeds from both the pre-conference reception and the sale of Piccadilly went to the Glass Art Society.

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

SPECIAL EVENT

Rosin: The Strong Side of Glass Documentary

By InMurano Archive The InMurano Archive is a collection – constantly growing - of videos, documentaries and short personal interviews about Murano glass factories and glass masters, both of the past and of the present. The Archive aims to tell the story of Murano, its art and its glassmasters directly by its protagonists’ perspective, through the eyes of who lives it daily and knows it better than anyone else.

This year for the occasion of the GAS conference in Murano, we presented the second of our film- documentaries: it is titled “Rosin: the strong side of glass”. Rosin is a surname deeply related to Murano artistic glass: over the years Rosin family managed to command, better than anyone else, a specific kind of glass which requires a highly complex composition; the chalcedony glass. It was Loredano Rosin, back in the ’60s, to develop their unique style and technique and today the tradition is carried on by his brother, glassmaster Dino Rosin. Tradition and innovation are mixed in Dino’s incredible sculptures, realized in solid glass; he is a humble artist who always managed to show his strength in his life as much as in his job. The documentary is about him, his art and all the challenges he had to face in the past and he has to meet in the present. His son Diego also appears in the movie: he represents the new generation who do not give up and intends to carry on the family tradition in the best way possible.

Back in 2016, we realized the first of our film-documentaries titled “Murano: the unbearable lightness of glass” presented at GAS conference 2016 – Corning (USA). The movie is about Murano and its art told through lives, words, and works of six of the most skilled Murano glass masters: Lucio Bubacco, Vittorio Costantini, Davide Salvadore, Pino Signoretto, Lino Tagliapietra, Cesare Toffolo. It is a story written through their eyes to tell the story of an isle in crisis, but that does not give up. It is the story of men passionate about glass which becomes art through their hands, the story of those who work every day to carry on an ancient tradition looking at the future instead of being closed off in the past. A journey through Murano of glass to better understand, through the eyes of who knows it very well, problems and hopes and to identify the path to re-launch Murano in the future. Also a strong message for new generations who will be in charge of giving to Murano and its art a brilliant future.

Besides these two documentaries the Archive is also composed of many short personal interviews, video and pictures to local glass-masters; a collection to show what Murano is today, a world where traditions and innovation are mixed. Interviews are also transcribed to further divulge all the collected stories. So far we have about 15 interviews and videos: all of them are going to be edited and made available as a sort of presentation of each of the glass-masters interviewed. Moreover, some of them will also be used to realize new documentaries we are already working on.

The InMurano Archive will keep on growing in the next years: in the future, we hope as soon as possible, it will be made available to the public through DVDs and also online.

We believe that videos are a strong and powerful mean of communication; it is a perfect way to pass a message both to the international glass-community but also to “not glass experts”. It helps us talk about Murano, our traditions and cultural heritage, to explain what the glass-making reality was in the past and how it is in the present: Murano is a very peculiar environment and it is easier to present it by using images and directly through the words of the local glass-masters. We hope that this project will be useful for the international glass community to better understand and know Murano glass making, but we also hope that it will serve as a way to attract new generations to glass making. In Murano, there is still the idea that working with glass is a hard and poorly remunerated career. In the past, it was seen as a punishment for young guys who did not want to go to school

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anymore. We need to pass the message on to new generations that it can be exciting work, full of satisfaction and thrilling experiences. In a moment of crisis, it is necessary to renovate our artistic environment by involving young people.

The Archive is a project fully realized and auto-financed by InMurano association.

We can develop it thanks to our members and to the fundamental help of many volunteers who engaged with us in this project.

Finally, we would like to thanks GAS for the opportunity of screening both our documentaries at GAS conferences.

InMurano is a nonprofit cultural association; we are a group of young people all based in Murano and involved in the artistic glass sector. We work to safeguard cultural and artistic heritage related to Murano glass making and promote the creation of a network between local glass masters and glass factories. We want to help build the image of Murano as a centre of highquality glass making, not only of the past but also of the present and of the future.

The association was founded in 2014 and is led by Emanuel Toffolo, Elia Toffolo, and myself. All members are glass artists and glass enthusiasts.

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SPECIAL EVENT

Murano Glass Fashion Show in Boats

By Laura Donefer In 1988 the Glass Art Society approached me with a plan to hold their first international conference in Canada. At that time I was the president of the Glass Art Association of Canada and would become the coordinator of the conference, along with my friend and mentor Daniel Crichton. Jumping at the chance to be involved in this historic event, I proceeded to plan out how to put on a truly memorable conference. What wacky but unforgettable happening could I present to the audience that brought artists working with glass out of their separate studios and into the spotlight? After cajoling my glass friends to make costumes, I took a chance, renting the magnificent Royal York Hotel ballroom in Toronto, and in 1989 the first GLASS FASHION SHOW was born. It was a smashing success! The crowd went wild and just like that my fate was sealed.

Fast forward to 2017 with the Italian component of GAS cajoling me into doing my 13th GFS, but this time with a twist!

Without the luxury of time to properly prepare, I agreed to organize a “Glass Fashion Show in Boats” going down one of the main canals in Murano. What a daunting prospect! In the fall of 2017, I boarded a plane to Murano to better understand what planning a GFS show on water entailed. Normally a GFS takes about 3 years to organize, and my time was very limited from start to finish dealing with the complexities of overseeing this water event. While in Murano I did my best to persuade a number of amazing Muranese glass artists to make costumes, and once they realized that I actually was not crazy, agreed to jump on board! The rest of the participants I hand-picked from my loyal and very talented band of costume makers, begging them to drop everything to create fashions worthy of Italy, with an emphasis on headwear so that the crowds on the shore could see everyone in the boats.

Organizing this unique GFS was definitely a team effort, with Cesare Toffolo, Teresa Toffolo, Lucio Bubacco, Nicola Dona and Marina Tagliapietra co-ordinating in Murano. Lino and Lina Tagliapietra gave me the key to their backyard and cabana, where we could store costumes, and change on the day of the show.

My favorite part was the afternoon of the GFS when there were over 30 semi-naked people squashed into the small backyard, all trying to get their crazy glass costumes on when Lino strolled into the fray with this wide-eyed look on his face!!!!! Shaking his head in utter amusement, he agreed to be photographed with various glass fashionistas, what a good sport!

This GFS was truly an international affair, with joyous participants coming in from Australia, Canada, Belgium, Japan, Turkey, the USA, Spain, India and of course Italy! Getting the fragile glass costumes to Murano was quite the nightmare, and very very expensive. What I would like the GAS audience to know is that all of the glass artists created their costumes as labours

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Laura Donefer and The Mighty Dave leading the Murano Glass Fashion Show in Boats wearing costumes by Nancy De Dubois

of love, born out of a desire to excite and entertain their fellow glassies, no matter what the hardship! Charlynne Lafontaine bought an extra seat on the plane for her uber fragile Wolf Head, Sally Prasch went to the airport every day during GAS to see if her lost costume box ever arrived, Eunsuh Choi had to spend hours in Cesare Toffolo’s studio fixing her smashed-up headpiece, Kathleen Elliot had to drag this humongous BOX from California to Italy (and then on vacation too!) and Jen Detlefsen was detained by Homeland Security for so long that she missed her flight. (Why was she transporting a bizarre pink unicorn thing across the Atlantic??) The dedication of the merry band of glass fashionistas is the stuff of legend!

The result was an amazing, epic, fabulous journey of 33 glass costumes down the historic Vetrai Canal, with the sidewalks full of the cheering clapping GAS audience, and the windows above crowded with Muranese citizens shyly waving at this exceptional spectacle! The Carolina boats used to transport the Glass Fashionistas, normally used for racing, had never carried such a unique cargo and the Venetian rowers were having the time of their life!

The Glass Art Society’s 47th conference, Il Percorso di Vet-

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

ro, The Glass Path, was such a profound experience for everyone involved. Glass in Murano has been around since the 13th century, and for contemporary glass artists to be a tiny part of this illustrious history is very humbling. The wonderful hard-working artists who participated in the “Murano Glass Fashion Show in Boats” made history as they were rowed down the glass path of water, down one of the most famous canals in Muranese history, Fondamenta Vetrai. Meeting our glass idols on their own turf was truly an honour, and being able to entertain everyone in such a distinctive way was unforgettable. Thank you to everyone involved! I was told by so many Muranese natives that in all of their lives they had never seen anything like our Glass Fashion Show in Boats and they would never forget us! Well, we will never forget you either, and I hope that all of us will return to Murano again and again and keep the glass lifeforce strong!

I would like to thank the following artists who made the costumes: Rob Stern, Davida Licata, Lea de Witt, Eunsuh Choi, Alex Chew, Jen Detlefsen, Julia Rogers, Charlynne Lafontaine, Erina Kashahari, Chiara Lee Tajiorl, Andrea Penzo, Cristina Fiore, Davide Penso, Igor Balbi, Agnese Costi, Marina and Susanna Sent, Anushka Bayens, Muriel Balensi, Kit Paulson, Kathleen Elliot, Agostina Ros, Omur Dudek, Carrie Strop, Sabina Boehm, Carolyn Baum, Ruth Allen, Beth Hylen, Radhika Raghuraman, IL PERCORSO DI VETRO, THE GLASS PATH

Laura Donefer, Sally Prasch and Nancy De Dubois.

Thank you to the Mighty Dave for keeping me semi-sane and to my mom Vera Donefer, who at almost 86 had the time of her life and did not fall in!

The lovely models Giula Lombardo, Valeria Cecchinato, and Margherita Conto in Bubble Dresses by the beloved Muranese artists and designers Marina and Susanna Sent

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SPECIAL EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS Pre-Conference Reception Fundraiser Lino Tagliapietra Studio Wednesday, May 16, 6 pm - 9 pm An intimate evening in the studio and garden of Lino Tagliapietra. Prosecco and traditional Italian delicacies were provided while people strolled through the beautiful glass artwork on display. A special silent auction of a Tagliapietra sculpture was held.

“Ali di Vetro” Glass Wings Lino Tagliapietra Studio Various dates and times Exhibition of glass art suspended around the garden. The Glass Wings accompany visitors into the studio where a screen with images of the “Maestro” and Murano were projected and light and music surrounded those in attendance.

Sculptures by Lino Tagliapietra, installation by Alessandro Vecchiato.

Venini Demonstrations Venini Furnace Various dates and times In the early 70s and 80s, Murano’s longstanding tradition of shielding the glass makers’ world from outsiders was broken when Venini started serving as a learning site for American artists eager to learn the secrets of Murano glass masters.

Over the years, Venini has hosted American-born talents all of whom ultimately helped to expand Murano’s fame beyond Italy. GAS was honored to create a new moment during the conference when four prominent American artists demonstrated their work together with the Venini team.

A Concert with Bill Gudenrath San Pietro Church Chapel Thursday, May 17, 6:30 pm - 7 pm Bill Gudenrath has always been interested in art as time travel. Before he became a glass blower more than 30 years ago, he

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Benjamin Moore and Richard Wortley at the Pre-Conference Reception held at Lino Tagliapietra’s studio

trained to become a concert pianist and studied harpsichord at Julliard where he played Bach and Scarlatti on the instrument to, as he recalls, “get closer to the music.” Gudenrath is the resident advisor at The Studio, a glassmaking school at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.

23rd Annual Goblet Grab Palazzo da Mula Friday, May 18, Noon - 1 pm A long-standing tradition at the GAS conference, the Goblet Grab is an exciting, whirlwind event that supports the GAS operations.

Keynote Address: Fabrizio Antonelli IUAV - Glass in Imitation of Other Material Palazzo da Mula Friday, May 18, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Osservatorio Vetro is a disciplinary research unit born from a scientific agreement between IUAV University of Venice and Pentagram Stiftung, a Swissbased non- profit foundation. It takes

advantage of the collaboration of IUAV scholars from the Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi-LAMA (Dr. Elena Tesser and Prof. Fabrizio Antonelli, scientific leader of the project) and Design Area (Dr. Rosa Chiesa and Prof. Raimondo Riccini). The main objective of the working group is to develop strategies for the enhancement of architectural glass (slabs, windows, glass brick, mosaic, etc.) and the relationships between design/ functional glass and design/artistic glass assuring scientific knowledge is included in the didactic and cultural promotion and heritage of historic and contemporary Venetian glass.

Gallery Stroll Meet at San Pietro Area and tour galleries around Murano Friday, May 18, 5 pm - 10 pm This evening allowed conference attendees the opportunity to stroll through the streets of Murano and visit the many galleries and studios the historic city has to offer. Participants gathered and wandered at will.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

SPECIAL EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS show. Students who were unable to ship their artwork or unable to attend the conference were still eligible for awards, as all artwork was juried in advance.

Le Stanze del Vetro (Rooms for Glass) Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, 1, 30124 Venice, Italy Open every day, from 10am to 7pm.

Special opening for GAS Conference tours, Wednesday, May 16.

Vera Donefer enjoys the band at the Closing Night Party

“Maestri per sempre” - A Muranesi Evening San Pietro Church Field Friday, May 18, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm An event for the Muranese people, this evening comprised a hot glass demonstration on the main stage at San Pietro Church Field with an award ceremony for “Maestri per sempre”, Maestros forever.

Entrance to this event was complimentary for the people of Murano.

GAS Silent Auction Abate Zanetti Saturday, May 19 - First table closing at 3pm The GAS Auction has become one of the highlights of the annual conference.

Donations and purchases support GAS operations and help keep conference registration and student fees affordable.

Glass Fashion Show On the Canal-Murano Style!

Saturday, May 19, 6:30 - 7:30pm Conference attendees gathered on the

banks of the canals of Murano for a truly special glass fashion show on colorful Caorline boats featuring models donning glass creations. Produced by the wonderful Laura Donefer this was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Closing Night Party San Pietro Church Field, NasonMoretti & Berengo Museum Saturday, May 19, 8pm - midnight After three full days of thought provoking and awe inspiring lectures, demos, and other conference events, the conference culminated with the Closing Night Party at the San Pietro Church grounds, the center of activities.

EXHIBITIONS GAS Student Exhibition Abate Zanetti May 16 – May 19, 2018 The Glass Art Society holds a Student Exhibition each year. All artwork is submitted via an online application, then juried for awards and inclusion into the

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Located on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, this exhibit was a joint project of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Stiftung, a Swiss not-for-profit private foundation. The exhibition space of Le Stanze del Vetro was renovated in 2012 by Selldorf Architects, NY, to host a series of solo and group shows featuring international artists and glass manufacturers from the 20th and 21st centuries to illustrate numerous potential uses of glass. A monumental sculpture, Qwalala by Pae White, was on display in the courtyard.

Liceo Artistico Statale M. Guggenheim Venezia Student Exhibition Abate Zanetti May 16 - May 19 Heir to an ancient glass institution, Abate Zanetti is the meeting point between the past and the future of glass art and the perfect setting for the student exhibition. This special exhibition with high school students from the Liceo Artistico Statale M. Guggenheim Venezia was aimed at showing the talents of emerging young glass artists.

Special Exhibitions at Ex Chiesa Santa Chiara Ex Chiesa Santa Chiara Fondamenta Manini, 1, Murano Muranese Exhibition Opening: Wednesday, May 16 at 5pm An exhibition of selected works by the

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SPECIAL EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS Muranese artists participating in the GAS conference. This event was held in the renovated area of a beautiful thirteenth century church. The exhibition remained open until May 25.

The Ex Chiesa Santa Chiara Experience Friday, May 18, 2018 7pm A newly restored medieval church on the island of Murano, Ex Chiesa di Santa Chiara Murano offers visitors an experience of authentic Murano glass and Venetian arts and culture that does not exist anywhere else in Venice.

Event attendees enjoyed delicious food, an exhibition of Italian artists that were part of the GAS Conference, hot glass demonstrations, music, and dancing.

Fondazione Berengo Campiello della Pescheria, 30141 Murano LUX-LUMEN May 1 - November 25

that allowed attendees admission at a discounted rate to the following museums:

The beautiful and revered chandeliers of Murano have fascinated the world for centuries. LUX-LUMEN, hosted

by Fondazione Berengo in its Murano space, celebrated that history following a path from Rezzonico to LED in an exhibition that presented contemporary interpretations of the classic chandelier by some of today’s most renowned contemporary artists.

Vetro Illuminato/Illuminated Glass May 16 -19 This exhibition was only open during the four days of the 2018 GAS Conference at the historic Fondazione Berengo Museum on Murano and featured artists who work with glass and illumination.

Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia Discounted Pass The Glass Art Society partnered with Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia to offer a special discounted museum pass

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Bill Gundenrath at a special concert held at San Pietro Church Chapel

Doge’s Palace (St. Mark’s Square Museums) Piazza San Marco 1, 30124 Venice 8:30am - 7pm

Museo Correr (St. Mark’s Square Museums) S. Marco 52, 30124 Venice 10am - 7pm Archaeological Museum (St. Mark’s Square Museums) S. Marco 52, 30124 Venice 10am - 7pm Monumental Rooms of the Biblioteca Marciana (St. Mark’s Square Museums) S. Marco 7, 30124 Venice 10am - 7pm Cà Rezzonico - 18th century Venice Museum Dorsoduro 3136, 30123 Venice 10am - 6pm

Palazzo Mocenigo Museum of Textiles and Costumes Santa Croce 1992, 30135 Venice 10am - 5pm Carlo Goldoni’s House Museum and Library of Theatrical Studies San Polo 2794, 30125 Venice 10am - 5pm Ca’ Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art and Oriental Art Museum Santa Croce 2076, 30135 Venice 10am - 5pm Glass Museum Fondamenta Giustinian 8, 30121 Murano 10am - 5pm Lace Museum Piazza Galuppi 187, 30142 Burano 10am - 5pm Natural History Museum Santa Croce 1730, 30135 Venice 10am - 6pm

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

CONFERENCE TOURS tor Luigi Benzoni. He has an ongoing business relationship with some of the most famous stylists such as Etro, Fendi, Missoni, Trussardi, Blumarine, Mariella Burani, and Alviero Martini.

Amadi can boast of a broad public appreciation and appears in design magazines (Vogue, Vogue casa, Elle Decor, Maison Française). Fabiano Amadi has been called “the Popeye” of the glass of Murano island due to the size of his vases, which are thick and heavy and made of a colourless crystal and gold leaf or shiny black. The size and weight of these vases require a notable amount of physical strength mostly because he uses traditional working methods.

Participants enjoy the Blowing Glass Path tour

BLOWING GLASS PATH The Blowing Glass Path tours featured the furnaces of Lino Tagliapietra, Davide Salvadore, Salviati, and Fabiano Amadi. These studios belong to some of the most important glassblowing artists on Murano, one of the furnaces dates back to the year 800 AD. Each of these tours showed a different production method and history despite being derived from the same technical background.

Blowing Glass Path venues include: Salviati was established in Venice in 1859 by Antonio Salviati and has been creating top quality world-renown products for over 150 years. Ever since it was established, Salviati has been committed to preserving the tradition and craftsmanship, which have always set Murano glass art apart, through formal research and state-of-the-art production techniques. It is considered one of the oldest and most prestigious art glass factories.

Fabiano Amadi is one of the most acclaimed glass masters on Murano island. He was born in 1962, and he lives on Murano island where he has owned his glass factory since 1995.He was only 14 years old when he has started working with glass under the guidance of two prominent glass masters: Francesco Barbini and Ennio Compagno “Orfeo”. He can create classic art with his technical ability and his chromatic sensitivity, while at the same time expressing his creative side through his contemporary glass that is both original and innovative. It is through his contemporary works that Fabiano shows his real talent, especially when it is combined with the sensitivity of the best designers and architects, such as the architect Gennaro Avallone and the sculp-

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Lino Tagliapietra has held the title of Maestro for 60 years.

He is renowned internationally for his contribution in the glass world as both an artist and an educator. Lino began teaching in the 1970s, sharing his craft and strong work ethic all around the world. Since 1990, Lino has become a free artist expressing his very peculiar aesthetic quality. Both creator and executor of his works, his creativity is upheld by production skills that come from a life of experience.

Through his continued creative experimentation and mastered skills, Lino has developed a very personal style that is unmistakable and easily recognized.

Davide Salvadore is the 11th generation on his mother’s side to continue the glass tradition dating back to the 1700s. He started following his grandfather into the furnaces of Murano at a young age eventually learning from several masters including Alfredo Barbino and his mother, Anna Mantoan in her jewelry studio. In the 90s Salvadore made a conscious decision to turn away from traditional functional glass work and was introduced to the American Studio Glass movement of which he embraced and became an active part. In 2012, Salvadore founded his own studio, Salvadore SRL, where he continues to work today with his two sons, Marco and Mattia.

LAMP WORK PATH This tour featured four unique experiences and four outstanding methods. The Lamp Work Path took attendees on a tour of the studios of four famous lamp workers on Murano – Cesare Toffolo, Lucio Bubacco, Igor Balbi, and Dario Frare.

Lampwork Path venues include: Cesare Toffolo comes from a family of renowned glass masters and his relationship with glass began at the age of 14. He has been considered a leading representative of glass art work at the international level for several decades. His glass works are exhibited in many museums and among the most accredited private collections. Since 1991 he has held courses and conferences in a number of glass schools around the world, conceived and is a founding member of Centro Studio Vetro (a non-profit cul111

CONFERENCE TOURS tural association founded in 1997), and is the creator and founding member of “Vetro” magazine. For three years he was the artistic director of glass courses organized on S. Servolo island in Venice (2000-2003). He is also the author of the book “Il Vetro a Lume” (publication April 2018). His atelier is located in Murano, in an old palace of the XIV century along the street Fondamenta dei Vetrai.

Lucio Bubacco began playing with glass as a small boy, making animals, beads, and other typical lampwork objects. At fifteen, he received his artisan’s license and began making Venetian lampwork collectibles. In 1980, he began studying anatomical drawing with the Venetian artist Alessandro Rossi. His work took a new direction; figures in movement would become the central theme of his work. This early fascination with anatomy, both human and equine, gradually compelled him to test the limits of his craft.

Bubacco’s work transcends any traditional application of lampworking. In a hybrid between the anatomic perfection of Greek sculpture and the stylistic refinements of Venetian Gothic architecture, the tension and plasticity of his motifs are placed in a context of narrative surrealism that reflects his original sensibility.

Igor Balbi was born in 1975 into a family of highly regarded flameworkers. He was 19 years old when he made the commitment to follow his father and uncle and develop himself in the field. Over the years, he has earned a reputation of playing, challenging, stimulating, chasing and changing glass. He has succeeded in expanding the traditional technique of Murano to create his own personal lamp-blowing techniques that today bear his name, including being recognized and studied by the Corning Museum of Glass.

Dario Frare was born in Murano in 1977 and inherited his passion for drawing and glass blowing from his father Giuliano, an equally well-known glass master, and his first supporter and collaborator. Dario’s great manual dexterity, enhanced by a restless inner strength, allowed him to become an important artist of Murano, in particular for his mastery of the “a lume” technique, which enables him to achieve miniature detail. Dario’s ability to create detailed colored-glass forms make him one of the most prominent glass masters in Murano.

DECORATION, MIRROR & ENGRAVING PATH This path featured four small studios: Albertini e Spezzamonte, Luigi Camozzo, Ongaro e Fuga and Eugenio Panizzi. Painting, engraving, cutting, and mirroring were the primary focus and attendees could see how the value of glass is increased by the incredible techniques of some of Murano’s finest cold workers.

Decoration, Mirror, & Engraving Path Venues include: Ongaro e Fuga was established in 1954 by Franco Fuga and his wife Tullia Ongaro, but its art dates back centuries, and today

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Tour leaders gather participants to start their studio tours

the company is able to perpetuate the magic and wonder of Venetian mirrors.

Albertini & Spezzamonte was born in the sixties with the union of two master decorators, Orvinio Albertini and Aladino (Nino) Spezzamonte. Despite the evolution of time, the decoration techniques used maintain the integrity of a time long ago making each piece unique. Many workers have learned the art of decoration in this small artisan shop.

Eugenio Panizzi is a Moleiria/cold working laboratory that was started in Murano in 1960. The founder Eugenio was born in Grandate near Como in 1922, he began his work experience at the age of 11, earning the various techniques of grinding and cold working. In the seventies, Eugenio’s son Mauro started to work, and thanks to his father’s teaching, was able to learn the secrets of traditional cold work and engraving and became a master himself. A few years later, Mauro’s brother Franco started to learn the techniques and also quickly mastered the technique.

The two brothers continue the tradition to this day.

HISTORIC PATH This tour included visits to two of the oldest furnaces on Murano – SALIR and Ercole Moretti. Attendees were shown just how much has changed while, at the same time, so little has changed.

Historic Path Venues include: S.A.L.I.R. (Studio Ars Labor Industrie Riunite) was founded in 1923 by Decio Toso, Guiseppe d’Alpaos, Guglielmo Barbini, and Gino Francesconi who were formerly employed by Cristalleria. The

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CONFERENCE TOURS firm has generally focused its activities on engraving and enamelling mirrors and other objects. It is one of the most famous laboratories of this type and is known for its quality and refined work.

as a leader in the glass world.

Museo Archeologico di Altino

Ercole Moretti was established in 1911 on the initiative of three brothers, with the intention of producing two classic types of Venetian glass beads: the “Rosetta” and the mosaic ‘Millefiori.” The company, now helmed by the founders’ grandchildren, has embraced various kinds of processes over the years to expand its product range. However, murrina glass has always been its core business.

This visit to the Altino Museo, guided by Dr. Margherita Tirelli, had a special focus on the pre-Roman and Roman ancient glass.

Pieces on display included ancient bottles, jugs, glasses, cups, saucers, and jewelry and showed some very unique and complicated glass-making techniques.

STUDIO TOURS:

The Murano Glass Museum is a major tourist attraction, one that uniquely represents the rich history of glassmaking present on the small Venetian island of Murano. The museum was recently remodeled and the building, the Giustinian Palace, is almost as beautiful as the glass it houses. Three major chandeliers in the central room on the first floor are major highlights of the museum.

Barovier & Toso Murano glass crafting tradition is the starting point from which Barovier & Toso propose ideas, solutions, innovative and original projects. This tour started with a history of the Barovier family, world reknown for creating decorative lighting with Murano glass, and was followed by a tour of the museum and showroom, ending with a demonstration by the Barovier & Toso team.

Berengo Studio 1989 This visit to Berengo Studio 1989 and tour through Fondazione Berengo Exhibition Center settled in an old, abandoned furnace on Murano, a one-of-a-kind exhibition space usually not open to the public. Visitors were able to admire monumental glass artworks by world-famous artists and designers in an ongoing dialogue between the past and present.

Effetre If you work in glass, odds are, you have used Effetre glass. The processing techniques used at Effetre date back to the nineteenth century and continue to this day. Modern technology combined with the knowledge of ancient mastery has made Effetre famous for its colored glass and amazing millefiori/murrine.

This tour showed attendees where these products are made.

Carlo Moretti For over 50 years, the firm founded by the Moretti brothers has drawn international attention due to its distinctive formula which merges the centennial craftsmanship of the island’s glass masters, handed down from generation to generation, with contemporary Italian design.

Museo del Vetro

Marina and Susanna Sent Located on the Fondamenta Serenella, sisters Marina and Susanna Sent specialize in producing and designing high-end original glass jewelry and glass art objects. This tour included a special visit to the production facility used to make many of the pieces in their gallery.

Lino Tagliapietra Studio Ali di Vetro (The Glass Wings) was an exhibition of glass art suspended around the garden. The Glass Wings accompanied visitors into the studio where images of the Maestro and Murano were projected and light and music surrounded those in attendance. In addition, the studio and historic collection of the Maestro’s work were open for viewing.

Venini Venini company was established in 1921 and is world renown and highly regarded in the glass world – a place where artists are constantly developing new ideas and techniques. It is a place where passion for glass and a fascination for the furnace enchant and thrill everyone who enters this special place. Venini is proud of its legacy, which is the primary focus of this tour.

NasonMoretti This tour explored the history of the family owned glass factory NasonMoretti. Attendees were taken on a journey through the evolution of the factory from its beginning, including old drawings, masterpieces, and time-worn methods--to where it is now.

NasonMoretti was born in 1923 in a period of great success for Italian visual artists and is a company recognized internationally

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IN MEMORIAM

John Leighton

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THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

IN MEMORIAM

John Leighton (December 28, 2018) John Leighton was a true representative of the Glass Art Society. John was a board member, vice president, and president of GAS, and he later received the Lifetime Membership Award at the 2009 conference in Corning, NY. “The organization meant a great deal to him and I know that he was grateful for the time he spent working with GAS, the places he traveled with the organization, and the people he met along the way.”

John Leighton joined California State University Fullerton (CSUF) 15-years ago (2003) as the coordinator of our glass program. Prior to CSUF, John had been the Head of the Glass Program at San Francisco State University for 24-years, where he was also the Director of the University Art Gallery for 11-years. He was awarded an Honorary Lifetime Membership in the International Glass Art Society, where he served for 7-years as a Board Member, Secretary, Vice President, and President; and Co-Chaired the 1994 Oakland GAS Conference. He was a guest instructor at California College of Arts and Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School, Tokyo Glass Art Institute, and Osaka University of Arts. John received his B.A. in Environmental Design from CSUF and his M.F.A. in Sculpture from California College of Arts and Crafts (Oakland) .

As an artist, designer, exhibition designer, and educator, he maintained his studio practice for 46-years (since 1972) and was introduced to glass working by Ludwig Schaffrath in the 1970s.

He exhibited cast and blown glass sculpture in the US, Europe, Asia, and more than 20 states. His major exhibition sites included the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corning Museum of Glass, Oakland Museum, Ebeltoft Glasmuseum (Denmark), Lemberk Castle (Czech Republic), Notojima Glass Museum (Japan), and Kanazu Art Museum (Japan). John was twice invited to participate in the International Glass Symposium (Czech Republic) and Glass Art Documents ‘98 (Japan). He designed exhibitions for galleries and museums, a limited production series of blown forms, and major architectural stained-glass commissions in the U.S. and Japan.

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IN MEMORIAM

James Yood

By Andrew Page, Editor UrbanGlass Quarterly An important critical voice on visual art fell silent in April of 2018 with the sudden death of James Yood, who regularly penned articles for Artforum, art ltd., and Aperture in addition to Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, the print magazine which produces the Hot Sheet. Yood’s first article as a contributing editor to Glass was a Spring 2001 review of a Jim Dine exhibition in Chicago, where Yood immediately revealed his keen eye not only for sculpture, but sensitivity to the unique nature of glass and the commitment required to unlock its unique material properties. Calling the exhibition at Richard Gray Gallery “more of a roller coaster experience than one might have expected going in,” he pointed out how Dine’s embedding of found tools contrasted with Mary Shaffer’s exploration of similar terrain. Unintimidated by Dine’s art-star reputation, Yood drew a pointed contrast with another artist’s richer approach: “Dine seems to use glass as some kind of silicon paint, as colored or clear substance that is optically penetrable and an excellent sheathing for his tools, while Shaffer sees glass as volumetric and weighty, often using slumping as a device to emphasize gravity and process.”

In his frequent reviews and feature articles for Glass, Yood showed how criticism could be at once both highly informed yet full of the vitality of seeing, which animated his experience of works of art and was topped off by his dazzling use of language and the ability to capture the essential in a few words. The pleasure of reading him was the chance to view the world through his learned, highly-tuned eyes to all things visual, and savor his love of language. As editor of Glass, I’ve had the privilege of (lightly) editing his writing for 14 years, and would eagerly await his first drafts knowing they would be immediately engaging even as his linguistic gears were turning on the critical arguments assiduously assessing the success of a given body of work. He brought similar qualities to his numerous public presentations, many of which I’ve attended at the SOFA art fairs in Chicago. I also moderated panels on which Yood was a provocative panelist.

Yood would pass judgement without hesitation, but always with a certain humanity. He strove to honor what the artist was after and the investment it required. It was this effort to connect with the artist’s intent and to bring it to life that he referenced in a 2008 interview with Chicago Artist Resource, a publication put out by a coalition of the city’s artists to which Yood freely shared his insights on how he saw his role being “to look and think as hard as possible.”

“The critic should describe, interpret, and evaluate, and try to give the artist a verbal voice,” Yood said, simplifying the complex fusion of personal experience, art historical knowledge, and deft description that allowed him to definitively sketch an artist’s career in a couple of sentences, and to render judgement without

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being dismissive.

In addition to his critical writing for periodicals, Yood was frequently tapped for essays for artist catalogues and book projects, including two books on William Morris. Even as he produced prolifically, he maintained faculty positions first as a professor of art history at Northwestern, and later as the founder and head of the New Arts Journalism program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he worked to train and inspire a new generation of potential art critics.

A week prior to his death, Yood was working on an essay on a Frank Gehry-designed glass desk in the lobby of the Inland Steel building called Icehenge, which he wanted to connect to the architect’s glass fish sculptures from the 1980s, as well as the fenestration in his buildings. The pitch was pure Yood, a fusion of a visual experience he had logged in his travels and his knowing insider’s take (he pointed out that Gehry was a partowner of the Inland Steel building). Underpinning it all was his encyclopedic knowledge of sculpture and architecture. Yood died before the article was completed (he promised a first draft yesterday) but I am sure it would have been filled with all of the effortless fusion of vital description, intricate interconnections, and the joy of looking closely that defined a singular voice that will never stop reverberating on the pages of hundreds of magazines and dozens of books.

James Yood is survived by his artist wife, Lorraine Peltz, and daughter, Lily.

Copyright © Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (www. glassquarterly.com). All rights reserved. Permission to reprint, republish, and/or distribute this material in whole or in part for any other purposes must be obtained from UrbanGlass (www. urbanglass.org).

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CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Photo caption...

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CONFERENCE PROGRAM San Pietro Church Field: Hot Glass Demonstrations Signoretto Family Demonstration, Pino Signoretto Memorial Event Lino Tagliapietra Katherine Gray & Nancy Callan, Portare i Pagliacci (Bring in the Clowns)

Dino Rosin Studio: Hot Demonstrations Dino Rosin Dino Rosin & Lucio Bubacco

Venini: Hot Demonstrations Benjamin Moore, Hot Glass Confetti Toots Zynsky

Palestra School Gym: Flameworking Demonstrations

Dino Rosin demonstration.

E V E N T S & O N-G OI NG AC T I V I T I E S M AY 16 – 19, 2019

Effetre: Hot Glass Demonstrations

Registration, Information Table, Technical Display, Education and Professional Resource Center

Various Venues Tours: Historic Path, Blowing Glass Path, Decoration, Mirror & Engraving Path, Lampwork Path, Barovier & Toso, Venini, Marina & Susanna Sent, Le Stanze del Vetro, Berengo Museum & Shop, NasonMoretti, Murano Glass Museum, Livio Seguso Studio, Carlo Moretti, Effetre, Lino Tagliapietra, Museo Archeologico di Altino

THU RS DAY, M AY 17, 2018 Berengo Studio: Hot Glass Demonstrations Leonardo Cimolin & Andrea Salvagno Luigi Benzoni & Andrea Salvagno, Hot Glass-Beatus Vir.

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Mattia & Marco Salvadore Claire Kelly, Color Wheel; Blowing with Effetre Glass Tobias Møhl

Fornace Mian: Hot Glass Demonstrations Carolyne Ouelette & Patrick Primeau Nick Sasaki Roberto Finotto

NasonMoretti: Hot Glass Demonstrations Marco Seguso Jim Mongrain Petr Novotny

Simone Cenedese Studio: Hot Glass Demonstrations Nadege Desgenetez, Faire Corps; Body in Making Oscar Zanetti Patrick Collentine, The Magic Light of Plasma Neon (day 1)

André Gutgesell, Traditional Thuringian Flameworking Techniques in Sculptural Design Mauro Vianello Roger Parramore, Fundamentals of Incalmo Alain Villechange & Laurence Brabant, Cane Work in a Flame Way Carmen Lozar, Small Gestures Matt Eskuche, A VeryNoisy Vase

Fabbrica: Flameworking Demonstrations Janis Miltenberger, Lampworking-Glass as an Evocative Medium David Willis Mauro Bonaventura, Glass Head With Brain

Effetre: Engraving Demonstrations Pietro & Riccardo Ferro

NasonMoretti: Engraving Demonstrations Matteo Seguso, Artistic vs. Production Luigi Camozzo

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

CONFERENCE PROGRAM Berengo Studio: Kiln Forming Demonstrations Alan Horsley

Effetre: Coldworking Demonstrations Claudio Tiozzo

San Pietro Church Field: Opening Ceremony, Awards & Reception Posthumous Lifetime Technical Achievement: Pino Signoretto Visionary Award: Benjamin Moore Lifetime Membership Award: Durk Valkema Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award and Lecture: Livio Seguso

San Pietro Church Chapel A Concert with Bill Gundenrath

San Pietro Church Theatre Film: Archivio InMurano

F R I DAY, M AY 18, 2018 Berengo Studio: Hot Glass Demonstrations Richard Jolley & Andrea Salvagno

Effetre: Hot Glass Demonstrations

Patrick Collentine, The Magic Light of Plasma Neon (day 2) Simone Crestani, Sculpting Borosilicate Glass at the Furnace

Alessia Fuga, From Beads and Beyond! A Beadmaker’s Journey

San Pietro Church Field: Hot Glass Demonstrations

Shane Fero, Flameworked Graal Cesare Toffolo

Davide Salvadore Fabiano Amadi

Dino Rosin Studio: Hot Demonstrations Dino Rosin Dino Rosin & Lino Tagliapietra

Venini: Hot Demonstrations Dan Dailey Richard Marquis

Palestra School Gym: Flameworking Demonstrations Davide Penso Chris Ahalt, Pushing the Bubble Kimberly Thomas, Hinge Benefits: Moving Parts and Marionettes Ayako Tani, Vessels of Memory – Glass Ships in Bottles Carolyn Baum, Journey of an Italian Glass Flower

Fabbrica: Flameworking Demonstrations

NasonMoretti: Engraving Demonstrations Nicola Barbini Jaroslav Sara Edmond Suciu Lucia Santini

Effetre: Coldworking Demonstrations Yusuke Takemura & Richard Whiteley, Coldworking Intricate Forms

San Pietro Church Field Film: Falorni Video Visionary Lecture: Benjamin Moore Willson Lecture: Silvia Levenson, Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s a great puzzle.

Venini Panel: Philip Baldwin (Moderator), Dan Daily, Roberto Gasparotto, Monica Guggisberg, Richard Marquis, Benjamin Moore, Toots Zynsky

Toots Zynsky Stephen Rolfe Powell Martino Naia Signoretto

Fornace Mian: Hot Glass Demonstrations Nadege Desgenetez Tom Moore, Nick Mount & Liam Fleming Fabiano Amadi

NasonMoretti: Hot Glass Demonstrations Lino Tagliapietra Davide Fuin

Simone Cenedese Studio: Hot Glass Demonstrations Simone Cenedese, Magic in the Air! – Free Hand Glass Sculpting

Stephen Powell assists with the Dino & Lino demo at Dino Rosin Studio

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CONFERENCE PROGRAM NasonMoretti: Hot Glass Demonstrations Ned Cantrell & Vidar Koksvik, Double Standards Veronika Beckh, Channeling of Light Bill Gudenrath

Simone Cenedese Studio: Hot Glass Demonstrations Sarah Gilbert, Building the Image Gianni Seguso Simone Cenedese

San Pietro Church Field: Hot Glass Demonstrations Martin Janecky Dante Marioni

Dino Rosin Studio: Hot Glass Demonstrations

Portfolio Review at Abate Zanetti

Abate Zanetti Lecture: Abate Zanetti History Portfolio Review Education Panel: Dr. Jeffrey Sarmiento (Moderator), Dr. G. Jane Cook, Dr. Vanessa Cutler, Inge Panneels Student Exhibition Opening

Fabbrica Panel: Saxe Emerging Artists Labino Lecture: Marco Verità Lecture: Rosa Barovier Mentasi, Venetian Technique During the Renaissance

San Pietro Church Theatre Film: Archivo InMurano Lecture: Abate Zanetti History Lecture: Gianni Toso – Beyond Legacy, Developing a Unique Voice on the Shoulders of Tradition

San Pietro Church Salon Lecture: Dr. Caterina Toso – Fratelli Toso History

Palazzo da Mula Goblet Grab Keynote Lecture: Fabrizio Antonelli with 120

Rosa Chiesa, Raimonda Riccini, Ella Saguì, Elena Tesser & Marco Verità, Glass in Imitation of Other Material

Palestra School Gym Lecture: Richard Whiteley, Observations on Roman Cameo Glass

Ex Chiesa Santa Chiara Lecture: Koen Vanderstukken, GLASS Virtual, Real Event: The Ex Chiesa di Santa Chiara Experience

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2018 Effetre: Hot Glass Demonstrations Shelley Muzylowski Allen Francesco Ragazzi

Fornace Mian: Hot Glass Demonstrations Martino Naia Signoretto Morgan Peterson Davide Salvadore

Dino Rosin Dino Rosin, Lino Tagliapietra & Stephen Rolfe Powell

Palestra School Gym: Flameworking Demonstrations Carina Cheung, Ancient Grains vs. Modern Wheat Giorgio Bruno, Sculpting Hot Glass on the Torch Cristina Sfriso, Walking with a Friend (passeggiando con un amico) Jochen Holz & Richard Wheater Igor Balbi Jitka Havlickova

Fabbrica: Flameworking Demonstrations Dario Frare Vittorio Costantini, Love for Nature…Passion for Glass Lucio Bubacco

NasonMoretti: Engraving Demonstrations Alison Kinnaird, A Moving Point Amy West, Lettering on Glass at the Wheel Matteo Seguso, Interactive Demo Game

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CONFERENCE PROGRAM Effetre: Coldworking Demonstrations Mauro & Franco Panizzi, Metamorphosis of a Vase Pietro & Riccardo Ferro

Berengo Kiln Room: Kiln Demonstration Anne Petters

Abate Zanetti Student Exhibition Poster Presentations Lecture: Laura Aalto-Setälä, Functional Glasses in Glass Art Panel: Four Women Artists: Their Unique Approaches and History to the Media of Glass, Amy Schwartz (Moderator), Amber Cowen, Jen Blazina, Susan Taylor Glasgow

Pietro & Riccardo Ferro show off their free-hand engraving skills during their demo at Effetre

Fabbrica Membership Meeting & St. Petersburg Conference Launch Green Panel: Cristiano Ferro, Prof. Francesco Gonella, Dr. Sandro Hreglich, Prof. António Pires de Matos, Prof.

John Parker, Michele Back, Dr. Caterina Toso

San Pietro Church Theatre Lecture: Cesare Toffolo, Contemporary Flameworking Lecture: Gianni Moretti, Venetian Beads in XXth Century

San Pietro Church Salon Lecture: Michael Stern, Peter Houk & Chikara Inamura, Extruding Glass Across Millenia Lecture: Sandro Zecchin, Historical Flameworking

Palazzo da Mula Strattman Lecture: Jeremy Popelka & Stephanie Trenchard, The Great Unknown: Establishing a Glass Community in Bangkok Lecture: Giovanni Sarpellon, Murrini History

Roberto Finotto demonstration at Fornace Mian

Palestra School Gym Littleton Lecture: Michael Rogers

Ex Chiesa Santa Chiara Lecture: Tom Moore, Capriccioso Trick Vessels in Context Panel: Murano, what a future, Piero Nason (Moderator), Michela Scibilia,

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Monica Guggisberg, Marco Zito

Canal & San Pietro Church Area Glass Fashion Show

San Pietro Church Area Closing Night Party

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P R E S E N TAT I O N D E S C R I P T I O N S terpretation of what it once was. Using the same wire inserts that were used in vintage days of Murano glass souvenirs, Baum demonstrated how what was once a factory-made flower has moved into the studio environment and has produced some of the most beautiful and delicate glass pieces.

Hot Glass Demo: Veronika Beckh Channeling of Light Veronika Beckh demonstrated how to blow minimal shapes from preformed elements to integrate optical effects and light refractions into the glass.

Hot Glass Demo: Luigi Benzoni & Andrea Salvagno Hot Glass - Beatus Vir Luigi Benzoni recreated his iconic artwork made of glass paste with an image in gold leaf inside.

Lucia Santini paints on glass during her demo at NasonMoretti

Lecture: Laura Aalto-Setala Functional Glasses in Glass Art Satala’s expertise is on bioactive glasses, which are glasses used in medicine. When exposed to human body fluids, bioactive glasses dissolve and transform into bone mineral which, as a process can be very interesting for art. Her presentation showed, in detail, how bioactive glasses can be handled (with videos and pictures), their materials and usage, and explained why these glasses can possess the properties they do and how they differ from sodalime glass. She also discussed how a normal glass artist, with no scientific background, can purchase and use them.

Flameworking Demo: Chris Ahalt Pushing the Bubble This demonstration showed how Ahalt sculpts a hollow bubble of glass into an animal using a blow hose, some carving tools, and a little imagination.

Venini Panel: Moderator: Philip Baldwin. Panel: Richard Marquis, Benjamin Moore, Dan Dailey, Toots Zynsky, Monica Guggisberg, and Roberto Gasparotto

A discussion with Venini art director and artists that were involved in the program at Venini in the 1970s and 80s up until today.

Flameworking Demo: Carolyn Baum Journey of an Italian Glass Flower This demonstration focused on how the Murano glass flowers of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s have evolved into an elegant rein-

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Flameworking Demo: Mauro Bonaventura Glass Head With Brain This demonstration focused on building a 3D head with the net technique using soft glass.

Flameworking Demo: Giorgio Bruno Sculpting Hot Glass on the Torch Giorgio Bruno sculpted soft glass into a blown technique and figurative form.

Hot Glass Demo: Ned Cantrell & Vidar Koksvik Double Standards Vidar Koksvik and Ned Cantrell each have their own studios in Norway and Denmark respectively, in partnership with their spouses. The two have a long-standing collaborative relationship arising from a mutual desire to develop creativity through play and experimentation. For creativity to flourish, it is important to make space and time to try new things, break routines, make mistakes and have fun.

Hot Glass Demo: Simone Cenedese Magic in The Air! – Free Hand Glass Sculpting Murano glass work mouth-blown and free-hand shaped using “incalmo” technique and different colors of glass

Flameworking Demo: Carina Cheung Ancient Grains vs. Modern Wheat Today, our daily bread, a quintessential staple, once meant to enrich our bodies, no longer nourishes nor symbolizes its emblem of love and prosperity. Instead due to cross-breeding, genetic manipulation and mass production, this ‘modern wheat’ is causing our body’s system to become sick, weakening our immune system and bloating our bellies. In an age where the genetically

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

P R E S E N TAT I O N D E S C R I P T I O N S modified govern and morph the makeup of our existence, this demonstration drew inspiration from models of glass wheat that were made in Murano by women in the 1940s and non-GMO wheat found growing today in Italy to highlight and invite people to take a moment to look closer at what we consume and question how we value the gifts from the past.

Hot Glass Demo: Patrick Collentine The Magic Light of Plasma Neon (day 1) First Day Demo 1.5 Hrs. Patrick Collentine with The Glass Factory’s master glass artist, Björn Friborg. This Demonstration showed working methods for hot glass studio specific to the building plasma neon illuminated sculptures. They shared methods for direct electrode attachment on the hot shop floor.

Hot Glass Demo: Patrick Collentine The Magic Light of Plasma Neon (day 2) Day Two Demo, 1.5 Hrs. Patrick Collentine pump and light blown glass vessels. We have just begun exploring the potential of single electrode neon and radio frequency transformer combined with furnace glass blowing techniques what we now call Plasma Neon. GAS Conference 2018 at Murano was the ideal place to continue sharing the knowledge and experience gained by working 20 years in this glass art form of Plasma Neon.

Flameworking Demo: Vittorio Costantini Love for Nature…Passion for Glass

Working backwards, Matt gathered up some pieces of his trash, brought them back into the flame, and worked to conjure up a humble offering to the glass history of Murano.

Flameworking Demo: Shane Fero Flameworked Graal After participating in the Graal Symposium & Workshops in Frauenau, Germany in the fall of 2016, Fero wanted to continue to pursue the interactive processes between flameworking and Graal techniques. During his demo, he decorated a tube with powders and cane drawing augmented with painting (stained glass paints) and then fired them almost immediately with a flame in the torch. After forming the tube into a cup, it was picked up in a pre-warmed oven and blown into a Graal piece at the furnace.

Engraving Demo: Pietro & Riccardo Ferro

Pietro and Riccardo’s demonstration used the method of old school free-hand engraving on 60 inch sculptures and vases using the Battuto technique on 4 colors overlapping.

Flameworking Demo: Alessia Fuga From Beads and Beyond! A Beadmakers Journey On mandrel or off mandrel? Alessia Fuga explored how a beadmaker can apply detailed decoration skills on a sculpted piece.

Using Effetre glass rods, Vittorio Costantini tried to reshape nature.

Hot Glass Demo: Simone Crestani Sculpting Borosilicate Glass at the Furnace Crestani’s demonstration showed an innovative technique he is trying to develop that consists of working borosilicate tubing using hot glass techniques and facilities. He used a combination of glory hole and torches to heat up and sculpt a big borosilicate tube attached to a glass blowing pipe. He has been experimenting with this technique since his residency at the Corning Museum of Glass and this was his first public demonstration using this technique.

Hot Glass Demo: Nadege Desgenetez Faire Corps; Body in Making Desgenetez used hybrid glass blowing methods, including sculpting and stamping processes working with a team of assistants to merge references to body and place in a large abstracted body fragment.

Flameworking Demo: Matt Eskuche A VeryNoisy Vase

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Shane Fero demonstrates flameworked graal at Fabbrica

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P R E S E N TAT I O N D E S C R I P T I O N S Hot Glass Demo: Sarah Gilbert Building the Image Using a contemporary spin on applying color for cameo engraving, Gilbert created different blown forms. These forms were engraved later using her own imagery.

Hot Glass Demo: Katherine Gray & Nancy Callan Porrare i Pagliacci (Bring in the Clowns) Gray and Callan have been intermittently collaborating on a series of works that are inspired by Commedia dell’arte figures, particularly those made in Venice in the mid-20th century.

Their demonstration created a piece, a bas-relief panel, by blowing a cylinder that incorporates some cane patterning, opening it up flat while it was still hot, then continuing to work on it while reheating it on a kiln shelf in the glory hole to add the last few details.

Flameworking Demo: Andre Gutgesell Traditional Thuringian Flameworking Techniques in Sculptural Design.

André Gutgesell used traditional techniques in a creative process with sculpture in mind. Prepared parts came together with flame and the finished object found its place in a prepared row.

Flameworking Demo: Jochen Holz & Richard Wheater

This demo consisted of the making of a large scale free formed borosilicate neon, similar to chandelier pieces or table lights.

Holz flameworked the shape using wide diameter borosilicate tubing and joined the electrodes, while discussing the process.

Wheater bombarded and filled pieces at the same time.

Hot Glass Demo: Richard Jolley & Andrea Salvagno

The American glass master Richard Jolley and Andrea Salvagno shared their mutual love of Murano and glass and brought it to life during this demonstration.

Hot Glass Demo: Claire Kelly Color Wheel; Blowing with Effetre Glass This demonstration provided an excellent and appropriate venue to showcase Kelly’s explorations with Effetre glass and its unique properties. It provided attendees an opportunity to gather information on Effetre glass and encourage them to consider this specialty glass as a possibility for their own projects.

Engraving Demo: Alison Kinnaird A Moving Point - tradition and innovation Alison Kinnaird demonstrated how she combines wheel-engrav-

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Janis Miltenberger’s flameworking demo at Fabbrica

ing with other engraving techniques, and discussed the effect of light on engraving.

Willson Lecture: Silvia Levenson Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle In her lecture, Levenson explored topics such as identity, family, migration and gender by using glass as a material for revealing what sometimes is hidden or not visible. Levenson’s presentation spoke to how the issues - technique, identity and gender - are connected to her artwork.

Flameworking Demo: Carmen Lozar Small Gestures This demonstration showed how Carmen Lozar sculpts a figure with borosilicate tubing. She talked about how to convey emotion through gestures using glass as a primary material.

Flameworking Demo: Janis Miltenberger Lampworking – Glass as an Evocative Medium Lampworking is a wonderful technique to communicate ideas and feelings. From small details that draw a viewer closer to large scale sculptures encompassing a space, using a torch can make glass work more versatile. Miltenberger also discussed and demonstrated her approach to glass and took questions from the audience.

Hot Glass Demo: Tobias Møhl

Møhl’s work is about using the Venetian techniques in a Scandinavian way rather than in a Venetian way. It is also about seeing the technique as a tool to clarify and refine personal expression.

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

P R E S E N TAT I O N D E S C R I P T I O N S This demonstration searched for simple details in glass which, when used in the right context, add refinement to the end result. Møhl explored methods that break away from the traditional patterns to discover a new and more organic expression and style.

Venini Demo: Benjamin Moore Hot Glass Confetti The first making of a series designed for Venini titled “Confetti”.

A simple grouping of blown objects, with a confetti applique surface. This series is a celebration of the first Glass Art Society conference on Murano 2018, the 100-year anniversary of Venini, and Pilchuck Glass School’s 50th anniversary both happening in 2021.

Lecture: Gianni Moretti Venetian Beads in XXth Century Moretti’s lecture described the history of twentieth century beads: the raw materials, different kinds of beads, the world of bead makers and the commercialization of beads towards the colonies of Africa, the Americas, and India.

Panel: Piero Nason Murano, what a future This was a round table discussion with an artist, designer, and writer. They talked about the past and future of Murano and the challenges it faces to be innovative.

Hot Glass Demo: Petr Novotny Czech Us Out Petr and his team created several art forms using a lot of bitwork, a large glass cage, and some musical instruments.

Coldworking Demo: Mauro & Franco Panizzi Metamorphosis of a Vase

Strattman Lecture: Jeremy Popelka & Stephanie Trenchard The Great Unknown; Establishing a Glass Community in Bangkok Artists Stephanie Trenchard and Jeremy Popelka were invited

by Bangkok Glass, a major manufacturer of glass bottles in Asia to create a studio complex within the confines of their factory, a noble endeavor. In an unusual partnership with Silpakorn University, Bangkok Glass Studio is making history. In January 2017, after months of advising on the facility, the couple began training 8 fine art graduate level sculpture students. Their presentation, including a short video documentary, told the story of a new glass community in Thailand and the strong work that is developing.

Hot Glass Demo: Francesco Ragazzi

This demonstration showed how Francesco Ragazzi sculpts a solid glass squid in a Muranese style glass furnace.

Hot Glass Demo: Dino Rosin

Dino demonstrated by hand a sculpture of his solid glass collection using crystal glass and chalcedony.

Education Panel:

Moderator: Jeffrey Sarmiento. Panel: Vanessa Cutler, Inge Panneels, and G. Jane Cook Collaborative creative thinking in the fields of art, technology and science can and has yielded a synergy that transcends the fields. It is within this framework that Jane Cook (Chief Scientist from Corning), Vanessa Cutler (water jet cutting specialist and freelance artist and consultant), and Inge Panneels (artist and academic, University of Sunderland, National Glass Centre) came together to showcase some case studies, of how artist quests have pushed material developments, of how artist queries have engaged with science and technology problems and how scientists have embraced creative thinking and making in their work.

Mauro and Franco Panizzi carved a vase to change the shape and the battuto to give an architectural form.

Engraving Demo: Matteo Seguso Artistic vs. Production

Flameworking Demo: Roger Parramore Fundamentals of Incalmo

Matteo Seguso showed his audience the difference between artistic engraving and production engraving.

Roger Parramore’s demo focused on the basic structure and technical issues associated with traditional flameworked incalmo technique, a process of constructing an object by fusing two or more blown glass elements.

Engraving Demo: Matteo Seguso Interactive Demo Game

Flameworking Demo: Davide Penso

Flameworking Demo: Cristina Sfriso Walking with a friend (passeggiando con un amico)

This demo showed the technique of soft glass blowing by torch in the classic Murano way. Penso used the baby metal pipe and Murano soft glass rods. The audience was also shown how Penso makes his glass blown beads and a special installation.

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Viewers joined Matteo Seguso in creating an engraving by instructing the artist on what to add and take away.

Sfriso sculpted c104 soft glass (Effetre) into a figurative form.

Modellazione di un oggetto figurativo con la tecnica della lavorazione a Lume con vetro C104 Effetre.

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Pino Signoretto’s family during the Pino Sinoretto Memorial Family Demonstration

Pino Signoretto Memorial Event: Family Demonstration

This demonstration honored the life of Pino Signoretto, GAS Lifetime Technical Achievement Award recipient, and a maestro, teacher, and friend to many in attendance. Maestro Signoretto passed away in December 2017 at the age of 73. Pino’s brothers each created a part of a special piece that was completed and assembled by Martino Naia Signoretto.

on an actual cast glass object introducing Richard’s equipment, Takemura’s tools and joint cold-working methods step by step.

Whitely and Takemura then demonstrated the use of various types of air tools, an electric shaft grinder, and pencil grinders.

They described and showed photos of machinery normally used to work stone in an industrial setting that has been adapted for use with glass.

Flameworking Demo: Ayako Tani Vessels of Memory – Glass Ships in Bottles

Flameworking Demo: Kimberly Thomas Hinge Benefits: Moving Parts And Marionettes

As a flameworker, Tani is keen to preserve the living tradition of making glass ships in a bottle and has been learning the techniques from craftspeople in Sunderland in Northeast England.

The demonstration included making a glass ship in a traditional style, making a “vessel of memory”, and encasing the ships in glass bottles.

Hinge Benefits was a demonstration of how to make moving parts and included the assembly of a marionette. First, Thomas explained and demonstrated how she makes a hinge, pivot and ball joints out of borosilicate glass. These joints were cooled and assembled. Next, with other pre-made parts, she assembled a marionette. The assembly of the puppet is a combination of hot and cold work. The puppet is cold in order to easily arrange and hold the piece, but Thomas had to heat up certain spots to attach joints. Finally, strings and hardware were added. In the end, a working glass marionette was revealed.

Coldworking Demo: Yusuke Takemura & Richard Whitely Coldworking Intricate Forms The main focus of the demonstration was Takemura working 126

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P R E S E N TAT I O N D E S C R I P T I O N S Lecture: Caterina Toso Fratelli Toso History Caterina Toso talked about Fratelli Toso history and its artistic production; Fratelli Toso glass-factory was funded and then run by her family for over 150 years. She now curates Fratelli Toso glass collection and historical archive.

Lecture: Gianni Toso Beyond Legacy, Developing a Unique Voice on the Shoulders of Tradition A brief history of the Murano glass culture and of the Toso family’s contributions to that culture, followed by an account of the artist’s personal artistic journey. The question of how to honor a centuries-old tradition while forging a contemporary, unique language of one’s own was explored.

Lecture: Koen Vanderstukken GLASS Virtual, Real Did you ever wonder why no glass sculptures were created between the Egyptian era and the mid-20th century? Did the popularity of contemporary glass begin with Littleton and the studio glass movement? These and many other questions were addressed in this thought-provoking lecture.

Flameworking Demo: Mauro Vianello

Creation of a cuttlefish with lampworking performed with a mixed technique. The belly of the cuttlefish was created with the glassblowing method at the torch with a metal small pipe, head was created of solid glass, subsequently the pieces were assembled “a caldo” with the hot flame of a torch.

Flameworking Demo: Alain Villechange & Laurence Brabant Cane Work in a Flame Way Alain Villechange focused on the blowing process of lamp-worked filigrane canes using the “stick-stack” technique. He blew a bowl designed with his wife and glass designer, Laurence Brabant.

Glass being blown at the Venini Factory.

Coldworking Demo: Amy West Lettering on Glass at the Wheel Amy West engraved calligraphic letters on glass tableware using traditional wheel engraving tools and techniques.

Lecture: Richard Whitely Correcting the Historical Record re: The Portland Vase For centuries, experts in antiquities have said that the Portland Vase, along with other Roman cameo glass artifacts, were manufactured by the ancient Romans using a blown glass technique. Australian National University scientist and expert glassmaker Richard Whiteley challenged this long-held assumption, arguing that many cameo glass pieces were built with a cold-processing technique now known as “pate de verre.”

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T E C H N I C A L D I S P L AY S

Exhibitors listed alphabetically

Canned Heat Glass #8 Cheyenne Malcolm 2425 SE Ochoco Street Milwaukie, OR 97222 208-867-9517 cheyenne@cannedheatglass.com www.cannedheatglass.com

InMurano #6 Caterina Toso Fondamenta Colleoni 7 Murano, ITALY 30141 +39 328 9039037 caterina@fratellitoso.it www.inmurano.com

Cristalica Glass GmbH #10-11 Andrea Virag Ringstraße 26, Döbern, Brandenberg 03159 GERMANY +49 355 289 442-190 studioglass@cristalica.de www.cristalicastudioglass.com

Jasen Johnsen Tools #9 Jasen Johnsen 6371 Ershig Rd Bow, WA 98232 USA 360-766-4198 Jasen@willenbrinkjohnsen.com www.willenbrinkjohnsen.com Karma Glass Studio #2-3 Ece Karma Eski Acipayam Yolu Hirriyet Mahallesi No. 67 Kayhan Denizli TURKEY +90 258 211 2788 omurmoral@yahoo.com www.karmatasarimatolyesi.com

Correll Glass Studio #13 Charlie Correll 66 Hidden Ledge Drive Conway, MA 01341 413-369-4283 ccorrell@comcast.net www.correllglassstudio.com

Kurt Merker GmbH #14 Isabell Merker Elsterstrasse 6 Kelheim, Bavaria 93309 GERMANY 49 9441 3355 info@merker-kmk.com www.merker-kmk.com

Falorni Glass Furnaces San Pietro Church Grounds Viale IV Novembre, 15 50053 Emoli (FI) Italy +39 0571 922333 info@falornitech.com www.falorniglass.com Farbglashütte Reichenbach GmbH #12 Raif Teuchert Sohländer Str. 3 Reichenbach, Saxony 02894 GERMANY +49 (0) 35828 8893-0 info@farbglas.de http://www.farbglas.de/ High Volume Oxygen-Kornbluh Design #5 Deni Kornbluh 500 W. South Street Suite #4 Lincoln, NE 68522 402-476-0555 deni@highvolumeoxygen.com www.highvolumeoxygen.com

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Leviathan Glassworks #18 Iven May 2909 71st Ave NW Gig Harbor, WA 98335 253-265-0855 info@leviathanglassworks.com www.leviathanglassworks.com Marko Blanko Glass #16 Mark Peiser PO Box 765 Penland, NC 28765 828-765-6947 info@markpeiser.com www.markpeiser.com

Penland School of Crafts/Glass Studio #17 Nickolaus Fruin PO Box 37 Penland, NC 28765 828-765-2359 glass@penland.org www.penland.org The Studio/Corning Museum of Glass #7 Harry Seaman One Museum Way Corning, NY 14830 607-438-5100 thestudio@cmog.org www.cmog.org/glassmaking/studio TGK GmbH #1 Friedrich Frisch Helleforthstrasse 18-20 Schloss Holte, Stukenbrock 33758 Germany +49 5207-9128-0 info@tgk.de www.tgk.de VICARTE/FCT Universidade Nova Lisboa #15 Robert Wiley Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia – Universidade Nova de Lisboa Campus da Caparica 2829-516 Caparica Portugal +351 911 960 490 wileyart@yahoo.com www.vicarte.org Wet Dog Glass, LLC #4 Eddie Bernard PO Box 96 Star, NC 27356 910-428-4111 eddie@wetdogglass.com www.wdg-us.com

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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The Glass Art Society Thanks and Acknowledges our 2018 Sponsors, Conference Committee, Donors, and Volunteers Thanks to our sponsors, without whose help the conference would not be possible!

2018 PRESENTING SPONSORS Glass Light Hotel & Gallery Pentagram Stiftung MAJOR SPONSORS Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass Berengo Studio Corning Incorporated Chap & Eve Alvord Reno Schiavon Lino Tagliapietra Excellence Sponsors Chihuly Studio Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Stevanato Group Chris Rifkin Dorothy Saxe Deb & John Gross Elias & Karyl Alvord James Flaws & Marcia Weber Presentation Sponsor MacPherson Construction & Design Schantz Galleries Regional Partners Le Città in Festa Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo Patrocinio Regione del Veneto Glass In-Kind Donation Kugler Colors The Glass Art Society Journal is supported in part by an award from the Corning Incorporated Foundation.

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The GAS Board of Directors and GAS staff would like to thank the conference co-presidents: Lino Tagliapietra and Cesare Toffolo; the conference committee: Adriano Berengo, Lucio Bubacco, Davide Salvadore, Marina Tagliapietra, and Consorzio Promovetro Murano; and our venue partners: Abate Zanetti, Barovier & Toso, Berengo Studio 1989, Dino Rosin Studio, Effetre, Ex Chiesa Santa Chiara , Fabbrica, Fondazione Berengo, Fornace Mian, Lino Tagliapietra Studio, Museo Archeologico di Altino, Museo del Vetro, Murano, NasonMoretti, Palazzo da Mula, Palestra “Leo Perziano” Gym, San Pietro, Martire, Simone Cenedese Studio, and Venini.

Portfolio Reviewers: Karen Willenbrink-Johnson, Fred Birkhill, Collin Reed, Ché Rhodes, Tobias Møhl, Richard Whiteley, Katya Heller, Amber Cowan, Tina Aufiero, Nadege Desgentez, John Moran, and Richard Meitner Emerging Artist Jurors: Corey Hampson, Einar De La Torre, Jamex De La Torre Student Scholarship Jurors: Leo Tecosky, Nadania Idriss, Ben Wright International Student Exhibition Jurors: Jane Bruce, Walter Zimmerman, Silvia Levenson 2018 Student Exhibition Award Donors: Bullseye Glass Company Carlisle Machine Works Corning Museum of Glass Minnesota Center for Glass National Liberty Museum Pittsburgh Glass Center Red Hot Metal UrbanGlass Worcester Center for Crafts Auction Donors - The auction is an important source of support for the annual conference: Pietro & Riccardo Ferro Asta Igor Balbi Igor Balbi Vittorio Costantini & Igor Balbi Simone Cenedese Gianni Seguso Goblet Grab Donors: Marc Kornbluh Alessia Fuga Clifton Crofford Giorgio Bruno Patrick Beck James Stone Franco & Mauro Panizzi

THE GL ASS ART SOCIET Y • 2018 JOURNAL • MURANO, ITALY

Caroline White & Joanne Kenny Lynn Read Josh Bernbaum Michele D’amico Matteo Seguso Roger Parramore Nickolas Bissember Daniel Schreiber Lynn Read Paul Alsing Presenters Who Donated All or Part of their Honorarium to GAS: Michele Back Philip Baldwin Nicola Barbini Mauro Bonaventura Lucio Bubacco Simone Cenedese G. Jane Cook Vittorio Costantini Matt Eskuche Dario Frare Roberto Gasparotto Katherine Gray Bill Gudenrath Monica Guggisberg Peter Houk Piero Nason Petr Novotny Franco Panizzi Mauro Panizzi Prof. António Pires de Matos Francesco Ragazzi Dino Rosin Marco Salvadore Mattia Salvadore Davide Salvadore Lucia Santini Amy Schwartz Livio Seguso Cristina Sfriso Pino Signoretto Lino Tagliapietra Yusuke Takemura Claudio Tiozzo Cesare Toffolo Mauro Vianello Oscar Zanetti Sandro Zecchin Toots Zynsky

Work Exchange Participants and Volunteers: Isabela Aiache Ümmihan Ağırman Michele Agney Chiara Antonelli Jacob-Alexander Baerken Elizabeth Barbano Anthony Barbano Christine Barney Mike Benge Steph Benge Pippa Beveridge Brandon Blanchette-Cupp Anna Bowman Sinead Brennan John Brucker Jacob Boyt Carli Castle Kathy Cohen Catherine Cornwall Paul Counts Paola Di Barbora Jennifer Detlefsen Joseph Dullard Percy Echols Afrodite Elseesy Markus André Eriksen Julian Finne Naomi First Sarah Freiseis Shay Greenblatt Kyoko Hirako Matthew Hooks Hélène Hugonot Krista Israel Jennifer Jarrett Natsumi Jones Laura Kania Chris Kramer Lindsey Lavender Gin Lin Samantha Lochmandy Sophie Longwill Alexander Lozano Robin Lynch Isak Lystad Caroline Madden Ellen Mahnken Katherine Monroe Robert Murray Katina Niebrugge

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Darleen Nixon Amber O’Brien Alyssa Oxley Jeanine Parish Gracie Peck Anna Petrakova Vendulka Prchalová Seth Quinones Randall Reese Lucia Rodriguez Mota Samantha Rogers Vera Sadakova Rebecca Silverman Kayla Smith Norine Smith Andrea Spencer Glenn Syron Chiara Taiariol Elena Taylor Deborah Veneziale Michael Villani Julia Voke April Wagner Karoline Wagner Mary Beth Willems Amber Wingerson Chris Zintel Volunteers: Claudia Ballarin Christian Cavallin Paolo Cenedese Rosanna Colaizzi Luca D’Alpaos Alessandro Falcier Dimitri Falcier Maria Ferro MarinaFornasier Nelli Giordani Francesca Lunardi Carla Molin Chiara Moretti Anna Ongaro Valentina Riva Bruna Rossi Laura Zanella Students of Liceo Artistico “Guggenheim” Students of Liceo Linguistico “Tommaseo” Noi Il Patronato Giovanna e Renato De “l’Osteria Chef In Viaggio”

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Glass Art Society Fund Donors Contributions cover the period from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018 The GAS Journal is supported in part by an award from the Corning Incorporated Foundation.

Becky Winship Flameworking Scholarship Fund Established in 2002 by David Winship and Lisa Bieber of Winship Designs, with funding currently contintued by Glasscraft, Inc. to support conference attendance for students whose work includes flameworking.

Belan Amin John Brucker Ingrid Cassar Martha Giberson Eusheen Goines Bruce Howard Bonnie Kooklin Paula Mandel Jay Musler Gail Oldroyd Emily Williams Jane & Robert Willis Maximilian Yule

Community Partnership Fund Funds special arts-related project or program for underserved populations (i.e. at-risk youth, developmentally disabled, minorities, veterans, etc.) in the conference host city.

Belan Amin Edward Kirshner Bonnie Kooklin Suzanne Lossing James Manshardt

Dominick Labino Lecture Fund Established in 1993 by GAS to continue the legacy of Dominick Labino in furthering the technical and aesthetic quality of glass art by sponsoring a lecture at each conference.

Belan Amin Mark Bolick

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Ingrid Cassar Sandra Christine Claudia Ferraz Pereira Bruce Howard Bonnie Kooklin Claudia Lipschultz James Manshardt Mary Reidmeyer Peter VanderLaan

General Conference Fund General donations help support the conference.

Chap and Eve Alvord Elias & Karyl Alvord Adriano Berengo Penny Berk James Flaws John Gross Mary G Hagood Glen Hardymon Corning Incorporated Bonita Marx Robert Minkoff Barbara Paull Doug and Pat Perry Chris Rifkin Dorothy Saxe Kim Saul & Jim Schantz The Glass Furnace

General Scholarship Fund Established to support conference attendance for students.

Belan Amin Herb Babcock Mark Bolick Jalair Box Harry Boyer Dave Braun Camille Cady-McCrea Tristan Crosby Claudia Ferraz Pereira Heather Hartle Bruce Howard Alexandre Hupe Priska Maria King-Tobler Bonnie Kooklin Robin Levin Claudia Lipschultz Roger MacPherson

James Manshardt Bonita Marx Virginia McKinnie Lindsay O’Leary Martha Pahler Forest Ralph Natali Rodrigues Aloy Sambar Dana Smith Jan Smith Wayne Strattman Ingrid Stuiver Vincent Tancredi Ristiina Wigg Emily Williams

GAS in CERF (Craft Emergency Relief Fund) Aids artist-members of GAS faced with career threatening catastrophe.

Belan Amin Herb Babcock Pam Biallas Lauretta (Lori) Blessing Dave Braun Peter Bremers John Brucker Deborah Carlson Julie Carrasco Ingrid Cassar Alison Chism Meegan Coll Lorne Covington Jennifer Crescuillo Judith Cushman Miriam Di Fiore Marcella Fara Donna Figone Lauren Firestone Hope Forstenzer Sharon Freas Lauryl Gaumer Stephen Gillies Kathy Hover Andrew Hull Alexandre Hupe David Jacobson Mark Klemperer Bonnie Kooklin William LaCourse

Marcy Lamberson Robin Levin Claudia Lipschultz Suzanne Lossing Patricia Manhire Suzanne Mears Paul Messink Joy Munshower Judith Obermayer Michael Pfeifer Clifford Rainey Mary Reidmeyer Sherry Selevan Sheva Chaya Shaiman Corey Silverman Carrie Strope Dan Terrible Rebecca Terrible Paisley Watson Edris Weis Tracy Weisel The Glass Furnace Carlos Zervigon

GAS International Emergency Relief Fund “GAS in CERF” fund is not available to international members, so under this fund all artist-members outside of the U.S. are eligible to apply.

Rik Allen Belan Amin Kaitlyn Becker Peter Bowles Peter Bremers Ingrid Cassar Lauren Firestone Stephen Gillies Alice Hill Bonnie Kooklin Paisley Watson

Hilbert Sosin Fund for Professionalism in the Glass Arts Established in 1995 by GAS to support educational endeavors within the GAS membership that benefit the organization as a whole.

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Belan Amin Herb Babcock Ingrid Cassar Lorne Covington Bonnie Kooklin Suzanne Lossing Hilbert Sosin

Littleton Lecture Fund Supports lectures by innovative artists who push the envelope and use their creativity, knowledge, and influence to educate others within the field of glass.

Belan Amin JJ Brown Ingrid Cassar Glen Hardymon Bonnie Kooklin James Manshardt Randy Schaffer

Robert Willson Fund Established in 2001 with the initial contribution by Mrs. Margaret Pace Willson for an annual GAS conference lecture addressing sculpture and glass Belan Amin Ingrid Cassar Sandra Christine Martin Hlubucek Bonnie Kooklin Stephen Mineck Joy Munshower Ana Thiel Victoria Veh

Saxe Emerging Artist Lecture Fund Established in 2015, this fund sponsors a lecture that gives artists with promising talent the opportunity to introduce their work to a large audience of established artists, educators, collectors, art historians, and critics.

Belan Amin Julie Carrasco Bonnie Kooklin Natali Rodrigues

Dorothy Saxe Davira Taragin

Sy Kamens Educational Fund This fund helps to keep student memberships and conference registration fees low.

Belan Amin Jane Bruce Lauren Firestone Martin Hlubucek Bonnie Kooklin Suzanne Lossing James Manshardt

Takako Sano International Student Scholarship Fund Established in 1999 by GAS to support the attendance of one non-USA student at each annual conference.

Belan Amin Claudia Ferraz Pereira Kathy Hover Bruce Howard Bonnie Kooklin Suzanne Lossing James Manshardt Nives Marcassoli Natali Rodrigues

Technology Advancing Glass (TAG) Grant Fund Assists the advancement of the glass arts by providing an annual grant to an artist or group of artists to fund research to advance the field of glass art.

Elan Amin Julie Carrasco Ingrid Cassar Sandra Christine Anne Clifton Bonnie Kooklin Chrysler Museum of Art Mary Reidmeyer Vera Sadakova Michael Saroka

Unrestricted Funds General donations help support

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the organization wherever it is needed most.

Roche Diagnostics Dana Acciavatti Belan Amin Herb Babcock Philip Baldwin William Bernstein Pam Biallas Paul & Lee Blizman Molly Cadranell Carol Camiener Robert Cappelli Julie Carrasco Jean Cheely Lorne Covington Clifton Crofford Michal Czeisler Sam Drumgoole Gigi Erickson Marcella Fara Claudia Ferraz Pereira Network For Good Michael Frohlich J. Brooke Gardiner Lloyd Greenberg icha Karlslund Erina Kashihara Norma Klorfine Leonard Leight Debbie Lenk Agnieszka Leśniak Banasiak Iris Litt Roger MacPherson John McKendry Janis Miltenberger Elizabeth Netts Petr Novotny Franco and Mauro Panizzi Pam Patchak-Schuster Jenn Petersen Francesco Ragazzi James Reidy Andreas Renner Astrid Riedel Natali Rodrigues Laurie Rudich Helene Safire Davide Salvadore Marco Salvadore Mattia Salvadore

Lucia Santini Amy Schwartz Livio Seguso Cristina Sfriso Karen Sheriff Michele Silber Marilyn Smits Elaine Sokoloff Lisabeth Sterling Robert Straight Ingrid Stuiver Yusuke Takemura Cesare Toffolo Ursula Ullmann John Webster William & Dina Weisberger Ristiina Wigg Robyn Witschey Oscar Zanetti Sandro Zecchin

Wayne Strattman Critical Dialogue Lecture Fund Established in 2001 with an initial contribution from Wayne Strattman for a critical dialogue series to bring knowledge, intrigue, and new or controversial viewpoints to GAS conferences.

Belan Amin Frederick Birkhill Mark Bolick Ingrid Cassar Bonnie Kooklin Paula Mandel James Manshardt Brent Swanson Carol Yorke

Additional support provided by: Chap & Eve Alvord Meegan Coll Rebecca Wehmer The Corning Museum of Glass

GAS apologizes to anyone who was incorrectly listed or inadvertently omitted.

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Upper Level Membership Benefactors ($1,000)

Chap & Eve Alvord Elias & Karyl Alvord Dudley & Lisa Anderson Adriano Berengo James Flaws & Marcia Weber Norma & Leonard Klorfine Jeff Lehman Barbara & Mark Paull Doug & Pat Perry Chris Rifkin Katrina Russell Dorothy Saxe Erick Schmidt Marcia Weber Wendell Weeks Ruthi Wertheimer Toots Zynsky

Patrons ($500)

Simone Casey Mary G Hagood Maud Hallin Patricia Higgins Heather Horton Mark Jessen Richard Jolley Bonita Marx David Porter Jacob Price Walt & Pat Riehl Kim Saul & Jim Schantz Hemanshu Shah Ruth Summers & Bruce Bowen Andreea Virag Janne & J. William Wissel

Corporate Members ($275)

Gaffer Glass USA Ltd Morris County School of Glass YAYA Inc. Jordan Addison Ford GLAS AKADEMIN Mohammed Al Duwaisan Sue Albright Kristie Antosz Edinburgh College of Art Library Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts Luann Baker-Johnson Angela Bart Bernard Steve Bartek Lisa Bayne

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Paul Berenga Eddie & Angela Bernard Mark Bolick & Robert Stephan Diane Bonciolini & Greg Mesmer Dan Brucker & Sue Albright Chris Buddo Susan Callahan Diane Charnov Benjamin Clark & Paul Berenga Julia Corrice Bo Countryman & Gabriella Schmid North Lands Creative Brenda Cummins Scott Darlington Fran Day Trish Duggan Mimi Dunn Davin Ebanks Sarah Flemming & Kim Gruenloh Douglas Flugum Sharon & Art Freas Helga Friedrich Jill Gard Joanna Garrett Jim Gerhardt Alicia Gionta Museum of Glass Canberra Glassworks Eusheen Goines Cliff Goodman Joe Grant Kim Gruenloh Damon Gustafson Corey & Regena Hampson Frederick Heath & Merrily Orsini John Hedrick Ron Hinkle Gunnel Holmér & RosMarie Jönsson Neckö Anita Holmes Kelly Howard & Jesse Taylor Paige Ilkhanipour & Susan Callahan LM Information RosMarie Jönsson Neckö Bergljot Jonsdottir Marta Juhasz Julie Kabelac Sarah King Hannes Kisslinger Marc & Deni Kornbluh

Michelle Krysher Rich Lamothe John Lewis Jeff Lindsay Anthony Marino & Alicia Gionta Iven & Terri May Duncan McClellan Erin McMillen & Jordan Addison Ford Michael & Jane Meilahn Greg Mesmer Kristie Antosz, Magneco Metrel Robert Minkoff & Diane Charnov FOCI MN Center for Glass Arts Niche Modern Dani & Gary Montague Holly Morrison Sherrie Newman Fulvia Notari Hannah O’Neill Phil & Kristen O’Reilly Sharon Owens & Jill Gard Mandy Patchin Andrew Pollack Lesley Pritikin & Fulvia Notari Meryl & Bruce Raiffe Pilisa Rainbow Lady Melody Reed Andrew Reid Christopher Reisert Lubna Saif Abbas & Mohammed Al Duwaisan Michael Saroka Randy Schaffer Sue Schiepers Gabriella Schmid Michael Scupholm Ronald Shapiro & Mimi Dunn Kathryn Sharbaugh Gary Sittser Cyrena Stefano & Cliff Goodman Robert Stephan Jesse Taylor Skylynn Teel, Paragon Web Ralf & Jens Teuchert Marita Witte, TGK GmbH Ross Thackery & David Martin Lawrence Tuber Ben & Glen Tullman Tina Tung Philip Vinson Susie & Brook White, Jr. Ute Wiegmann

Karol Wight Marita Witte Brian Wong Shui Jim & Louise Wunch Xin Yang Yuan Yin Jaroslav Švácha

Sponsors ($120)

Adam & Rebecca Frus Albert Hendriks Alex Bernstein Alex Hamerman Alex Klumac & Lisa Willis Allan & Linda Katz Amy Schwartz & William Gudenrath Anders Wingard Andy Hord Ann Bauman April & Ken Hilton Armando Granja Arni Thorsteinson Art Nazzaro Art Reed Astrid Gate Stiernblad & Haguin Stiernblad Barbara & Richard Wortley Bernie & Joy Busch Bette J Davis BGC Glassstudio Bill & Ellen Hamilton Billy & Bill White Billy James Crellin Boyd Sugiki & Lisa Zerkowitz Bradley Braun Brenda Nishimoto Burton & Libby Hoffman Carl & Jan Fisher Carol Camiener Carol Yorke & Gerard Conn Cassandra Fesen Cathy Honnold Cecilia & Benjamin Miller Celia Hunt & Cynthia Rudolph Charles Cannon Cheyenne Malcolm Chris Clarke Chris Harman Chris Hurley & Joanna Moreno Christina Mayr & Jeffery Ferrier Christopher Skibbe & Sarah Freiseis

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Colin & Pat McKinnon Cynthia Rudolph Damrongsak Jadsadapattarakul & Pichanon Suwannathada Dan & Rebecca Terrible Dave Braun David & Lynne Clayton David Huchthausen David Smith Dean Bensen & Demetra Theofanous Debbe Palmer Deborah Veneziale Debra & Joseph Fenzl Dina Weisberger Dolores Bender-Graves & Kelly Graves Dr. Nikolaus Topic-Matutin Dulce Schmidt Dylan & Greta Katz Edris Weis Edward Hayes Edward Kirshner Eli & Jan Lausch Zilke Elise Stephan & Margaret Stephan Elizabeth Barbano & Anthony Barbano Ellen Beller Ellie & Mark Lainer Eric & Lorna Lovell Eric Sikkema Erin Garmezy & Grant Garmezy Eva Novakova & Billy James Crellin Felda Hardymon Ferdinand & Kathy Hampson Flo Feinberg & Ben Geizhals Forest Ralph Francesco Nason Scarpa Francis Ferraro Frank & Cynthia Corio-Poli Frank & Jean Daharsh Frank Englesby Frank Poli Fred & Susan Sanders Gail Weyerhaeuser Gary Robinson George Weiss Jr & Mary Wilcox Gerald Spehr Gerard Conn Gladys Sevillano & Armando Granja

Glen & Florence Hardymon Graziella Giolo Costantini Greg & Andrew Lueck Haguin Stiernblad Heather McElwee & Chris Clarke Helga Watkins-Baker & KT Yun Hillary & Ellen Pearlman Hugh Jenkins Inge De Laet Ingrid Cassar Isabell & Gernot Merker Ivan Lee Mora J.G. Harrington Jack McSwain James Gallagher James K Asselstine & Bette J Davis James Manshardt James Meyer Jan & Krystyna Benda Jan Lausch Zilke Jan Lund & John Thomas Jane and Robert Willis Janet Glaser JC Smith Jeff Hultman Jeffery Ferrier Jeffery Light Jenny Pohlman & Sabrina Knowles Jere Gibber & J.G. Harrington Jeremie & Jeri Draper Jim & Liz Moore Jim McKelvey JJ Brown & Simona Rosasco Jo Ann Syron & Glenn Syron Joanna Moreno Joel & Logan Ryser John & Deb Gross John & Joyce Price John & Sondie Frus John Littleton & Kate Vogel John Thomas John Webster Jon & Judith Liebman Kate Jones Kate Vogel Kathleen Bromley Kathy Hampson Kathy Poeppel Kelly Graves Kenta Yasui

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Kineret Jaffe Kit Karbler Kristin Kidgell Lawrence Wolin Lee & Milt Hakel Libby & W. Jack McKee Lisa Willis Lori & Jeff Hultman Lori & Paul Engle Louise Erskine Lynn Read Malou, Catherine Majerus Margaret Stephan Margy & R. Scott Trumbull Marilyn & Charles Meier Marion Rich Mark & Elizabeth Rogers Mark Holford Martie Negri & Art Nazzaro Mary Devlin Mary Wilcox Meredith Wenzel & Gary Robinson Michael & Janet Glaser Michael & Karen Rotenberg Mollie & Eric Sikkema Monique Camarilllo Morton Silverman & Kineret Jaffe Muni Barash Nadania Idriss Nancy Wolf Neil Westbrooke Nick & Pauline Mount Nickolaus Fruin Noreen Mitchell Norm Fruitman Osamu Noda Pam Biallas Patrick Crespin Patrick Martin & Roberta Eichenberg Paul Elmerina Parkman Paul Smits Pauline Mount Peter VanderLaan Petr Novotny Philip Bailey & Susan Roston Philip Baldwin & Monica Guggisberg Pichanon Suwannathada Ralph & Nancy Harvey Ramiro & Monique Camarillo

Rhonda Snowaert Richard & Yvette Tenney Richard Moiel & Kathy Poeppel Rick & Hanae Mills Robert Hicks Robert Lavey Robert Randell Roberta Eichenberg Rodney Hickman Roger Myers & Trudi Rowbury Roy Gruver & Rhonda Snowaert Sabrina Knowles Sandra Christine Sara Jane DeHoff Sarah Freiseis Semrin Korkmaz Sharon Huling Shawn Kearney Simona Rosasco Sonoran Glass School Stephanie Pew Stephen Gillies & Kate Jones Steve Campbell & Noreen Mitchell Susan Sanders Susan & Andrew Magdanz Susan Glass & Arni Thorsteinson Susan Longini & Muni Barash Susan Roston Susie Silbert Svetlana Putintseva & Edward Hayes Timm Muth Tina Gittelson & Jeffery Light Toland Sand & Debie Palmer Tom & Kendra Kasten Trevor & Sterling McKee Trudi Rowbury Vaz & Karen Zastera Victor Gardner Virginia Easterday & Neil Westbrooke Virginia McKinnie Vittorio & Graziella Giolo Costantini William & Dina Weisberger William & Sally Worcester

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Past Award Recipients, Conferences, Board Members, and Editors The Glass Art Society honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to GAS. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

1998 2008 1988 1982 1977 2014 1997 1988 1980 1993 1994 1982 1982 1996 1992 1977 1988 2009 1986 1977 2005 1993 2016 2001 2010 2007 2000 2002 1995 2005 1999 2012 1992 1993 2015

Established in 1993, this award recognizes exceptional achievement in glass art.

2017 Joyce J. Scott 2016 James Carpenter 2015 Paul Stankard 2014 Dan Dailey 2012 Joel Philip Myeers 2012 Bertil Vallien 2011 Ann Wolff 2010 Dan Klein (1938-2009) 2010 Mark Peiser 2009 Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) 2008 Henry Halem 2007 Jirí Harcuba (1928-2013) 2006 Ann Robinson 2005 Richard Marquis 2004 Paul Marioni 2003 Dale Chihuly 2002 Fritz Dreisbach 2002 Finn Lynggaard (1930-2011) 2001 Thomas Buecher (1926-2010) 2000 Klaus Moje 1999 Ludwig Schaffrath (1924- 2011) 1998 Kyohei Fujita (1921-2004) 1998 Alice Rooney 1997 Lino Tagliapietra 1996 Jaroslava Brychtová 1996 Stanislav Libenský (1921-2002) 1995 Erwin Eisch 1994 Itoko Iwata (1922-2008) 1994 Sybren Valkema (1916-1996) 1993 Dominick Labino (1910-1987) 1993 Harvey Littleton (1922-2013)

HONORARY LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP IN GAS This award was established in 1977 to recognize outstanding service to GAS. 2011 Scott Benefield 2006 Penny Berk 1980 William H. Blenko, Jr. 1977 William Brown (1923-1992) 1979 Thomas S. Buechner (1926-2010) 2004 Robert Carlson 1984 Andries Copier (1901-1991) 2003 Daniel Crichton (1946-2002)

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Dan Dailey Laura Donefer Fritz Dreisbach Erwin Eisch Frank M. Fenton (1915-2005) Shane Fero Susanne Frantz O.J. Gabbert (1918-1992) Paul V. Gardner (1908 -1994) Henry Halem Audrey Handler Frances Higgins (1912-2004) Michael Higgins (1908-1999) David Jacobs (1939-2007) Robert Kehlmann Dominick Labino (1910-1987) Elizabeth “Libby” Labino ( -2008) John Leighton Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) Harvey Littleton (1922-2013) Lani McGregor Joel Philip Myers Jutta-Annette Page Mark Peiser Tom Philabaum Michael Rogers Ginny Ruffner Takako Sano (1939 - 2006) Jack Schmidt Dan Schwoerer Josh Simpson John Steinert Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend Sylvia Vigiletti Mary B. White

ANNUAL CONFERENCE (YEAR, SITE, CHAIRS, & SITE COORDINATORS):

2017 Norfolk, Virginia—Virginia Hitch, Colin McKinnon, Charlotte Potter, Robin Rogers, Diane Wright 2016 Corning, New York—Ellen Corradini, Steve Gibbs, Angus Powers, Michael Rogers, Chris Sharkey 2015 San Jose, California—Steven Aldrich, Susan Longini, Cassandra Straubing, Demetra Theofanous

2014 Chicago, Illinois—Trish & Glen Tullman, Deb & John Gross, Angie West 2012 Toledo, Ohio—Margy Trumbull, Jack Schmidt, Herb Babcock, Jutta-Annette Page (GAS Board Liaison) 2011 Seattle, Washington—Chuck Lopez, Joanna C. Sikes, Cyrena Stefano, Paula Stokes 2010 Louisville, Kentucky—Merrily Orsini, Ché Rhodes, J. Page von Roenn, Brook Forrest White, Jr. 2009 Corning, New York—Rob Cassetti, Nancy Earley, Marshall Hyde 2008 Portland, Oregon—Jeremy Lepisto, Lani McGregor, Dan Schwoerer 2007 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—Randi Dauler, Ron Desmett, Karen Johnese, Kathleen Mulcahy 2006 St. Louis, Missouri—Jessica Cope, Jim McKelvey, Tracy Varley 2005 Adelaide, Australia—Alison Dunn, Matthew Larwood, Pauline Mount 2004 New Orleans, Louisiana—Mitchell Gaudet and Mark Rosenbaum 2003 Seattle, Washington—Penny Berk 2002 Amsterdam, The Netherlands—Durk Valkema 2001 Corning, New York—Elizabeth Whitehouse and Peter S. Aldridge 2000 Brooklyn, New York—John Perreault and Brett Littman 1999 Tampa, Florida—Susan Gott and Lenn Neff 1998 Seto, Japan—Takako Sano and Michael Rogers 1997 Tucson, Arizona—Thomas A. Philabaum and Leah Wingfield 1996 Boston, Massachusetts (Massachusetts College of Art)—Alan Klein and Linda Ross 1995 Asheville, North Carolina—Richard Eckerd and Katherine Vogel 1994 Oakland, California—Mary B. White and John Leighton 1993 Toledo, Ohio - Jack A. Schmidt; 1992 Mexico City, Mexico—Ana Thiel 1991 Corning, New York—Stephen Dee Edwards 1990 Seattle, Washington—Ginny Ruffner 1989 Toronto, Ontario, Canada—Daniel

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Crichton and Laura Donefer 1988 Kent, Ohio (Kent State University)— Henry Halem 1987 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—William Carlson 1986 Los Angeles, California—Christine Robbins and Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend 1985 New Orleans, Louisiana—Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend 1984 Corning, New York—William Warmus 1983 Tucson, Arizona—Kate Elliott and Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend 1982 New York, New York—Dan Dailey 1981 Seattle, Washington—Walter Lieberman; 1980 Huntington, West Virginia - Marvin Lipofsky and Henry Halem 1979 Corning, New York—Marvin Lipofsky and Henry Halem 1978 Asilomar, California—Marvin Lipofsky 1977 Madison, Wisconsin—Audrey Handler and Fritz Dreisbach 1976 Corning, New York—Joel Philip Myers and Henry Halem 1975 Toledo, Ohio—Henry Halem, Joel Philip Myers, Fritz Dreisbach, Jack A. Schmidt 1974 Marietta, Ohio/Williamstown, West Virginia (Fenton Glass)—Henry Halem 1973 Marietta, Ohio/Williamstown, West Virginia (Fenton Glass) —Henry Halem 1972 Penland, North Carolina—Fritz Dreisbach, William Brown, William Bernstein, Mark Peiser

PAST PRESIDENTS: (Natali Rodrigues 2017-Present); Cassandra Straubing 2015-2017; Roger MacPherson 2014-2015; Jutta-Annette Page 20122014; Jeremy Lepisto, 2010-2012; Shane Fero, 2006-2010; Anna Boothe, 20042006; Michael Rogers, 2002-2004; Scott Benefield, 2001-2002; John Leighton, 1998-2000; Bonnie Biggs, 1996-1998; Robert Carlson, 1994-1996; Josh Simpson, 1992-1994; Stephen Dee Edwards, 19911992; Ginny Ruffner, 1990-1991; Susanne K. Frantz, 1988-1990; Richard Harned, 1987-1988; William Carlson, 1986-1987; Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, 1984-1986; Fritz Dreisbach, 1982-1984; Dan Dailey,

1980-1982; Marvin Lipofsky, 1978-1980; Fritz Dreisbach, 1976-1978; Joel Philip Myers, 1975; Henry Halem, 1972-1974

PAST MEMBERS OF THE GAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Robert Adamson, Rik Allen, Pat Bako, Paula Bartron, Scott Benefield, Lucy Bergamini, Eddie Bernard, Alex Bernstein, William Bernstein, Bonnie Biggs, Anna Boothe, Robert Carlson, William Carlson, Robin Cass, Jon Clark, Chris, Clarke, Nelly Bly Cogan, Daniel Crichton, Dan Dailey, David Donaldson, Laura Donefer, Fritz Dreisbach, Paulo DuFour, Richard Eckerd, Stephen Dee Edwards, Shirley Elford, Kate Elliott, Shane Fero, Susanne K. Frantz, Lance Friedman, Beth Ann Gerstein, Suzanne Greening, Rudy Gritsch, Bill Gudenrath, Henry Halem, Audrey Handler, Caryl Hansen, Richard Harned, Kim Harty, F. G. (Rick) Heath, Henry Hillman, Jr., Susan Holland-Reed, Dinah Hulet, Geoff Isles, BJ Katz, Robert Kehlmann, Ki-Ra Kim, Ruth King, Ed Kirshner, Alan Klein, Kim Koga, Thomas Kreager, Barbara Landon, Peter Layton, JiYong Lee, John Leighton, Jeremy Lepisto, David Levi, Robert Levin, Beth Lipman, Marvin Lipofsky, Martha Drexler Lynn, Jay Macdonell, Caroline Madden, Andrew Magdanz, Paul Marioni, Steven Maslach, David McFadden, Robert Mickelsen, R. Craig Miller, Kathleen Mulcahy, Joel Philip Myers, Jutta-Annette Page, Nina Paladino, Mark Peiser, Marc Petrovic, Tom Philabaum, Charlotte Potter, Kirstie Rea, Ché Rhodes, Chris Rifkin, Christine Robbins, Michael Rogers, Alice Rooney, Linda Ross, Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox, Ginny Ruffner, Tommie Rush, Jack Schmidt, Michael Schunke, Daniel Schwoerer, Maura Shenker, Josh Simpson, Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, Raquel Stolarski-Assael, Wayne Strattman, Joanne Stuhr, Ruth Summers, Elizabeth Swinburne, Michael Taylor, Ana Thiel, Cappy Thompson, Pamina Traylor, Durk Valkema, Peter VanderLaan, Sylvia Vigiletti, Kate Vogel, William Warmus, Jack Wax, Richard Whiteley, Mary B. White, Acquaetta Williams, Tina Yelle, Harumi Yukutake

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PAST STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Ian Messenger Schmidt, 2016-2017; Emily Kuchenbecker, 2015-2016; Amanda Wilcox, 2014-2015; John Rees, 2013-2014; Shannon Piette, 2012-2013; Jessi Moore, 2011-2012; Karen Donnellan, 2010-2011; Tracy Kirchman, 2009-2010; Drew Smith, 2007-2009; Andrew Erdos, 2006-2007; Shara Burrows, 2005-2006; Susan Clark, 2004-2005; Laura Luttrell, 2003-2004; Benjamin Wright, 2002-2003; Megan Metz, 2001-2002; Eric Dahlberg, 2001; Catherine Hibbits, 2000; Chad Holliday, 1999; Nicole Chesney and Brent Sommerhauser, 1998; Johnathon Schmuck, 1997; Maura Shenker, 1996; Boyd Sugiki, 1995; Robert Gardner, 1994

PAST EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS OF GAS: Pamela Figenshow Koss, 2004-2018; Penny Berk, 1996-2004; Alice Rooney, 19901996; Bonnie Startek, 1988-1990

PAST GAS JOURNAL EDITORS: Kristin Solomon, 2017; Kim Harty, 20142016; Susan M. Rossi- Wilcox, 2008-2012; Susanne K. Frantz, 2002-2007; Tina Oldknow, 1996-2001; Ron Glowen, 19921995; Caryl Hansen, 1989-1991; Christiane Robbins, 1984- 1988; Robert Kehlmann, 1981-1983; Marvin Lipofsky, 1976-1980, Jan Williams, 1975

PAST GASNEWS EDITORS: (Michael Hernandez, 2016-present); Kim Harty, 2013-2016; Geoff Isles, 2009-2013; Kate Dávila, Managing Editor, 2007-2009; Dana Martin, 2006-2007; Shannon Borg, 2005-2006; Tamara Childress, 20032005; Peter VanderLaan, 2002-2003; Scott Benefield, 1998-2002; Robert Carlson, 1994-1998; Nelly Bly Cogan, 1993; Marvin Lipofsky, 1976-1989

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Back Issues of the GAS Journal Some issues of the Glass Art Society Journal are available for sale.

The Table of Contents of all the issues is available by contacting the GAS office directly.

Recent issues (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) are available online (in a pdf form) for members at www. glassart.org.

A GAS Journal order form can be printed from the GAS website or orders can be taken by phone.

Payment can be made by check (drawn from a USA bank only), money order, or by Visa or MasterCard.

Prices include shipping & handling: A 10% discount is offered when five or more journals are purchased.

Members:

$35 USD Canada, USA, and Mexico $45 USD All other countries

Non-members:

$50 USD Canada, USA, and Mexico $60 USD All other countries

GAS Journals Available for Purchase 2017, Norfolk, VA 2016, Corning, NY 2015, San Jose, CA 2014, Chicago, IL 2012, Toledo, OH 2011, Seattle, WA 2010, Louisville, KY 2009, Corning, NY 2008, Portland, OR 2007, Pittsburgh, PA 2006, St. Louis, MO 2005, Adelaide, SA, Australia 2004, New Orleans, LA 2003, Seattle, WA 2002, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1999, Tampa, FL 1996, Boston, MA 1995, Asheville, NC 1994, Oakland, CA 1993, Toledo, OH 1992, Mexico City, Mexico 1991, Corning, NY 1990, Seattle, WA 1989, Toronto, ON, Canada 1988, Kent State, OH 1987, Philadelphia, PA 1986, Los Angeles, CA 1985, New Orleans, LA 1983, Tucson, AZ

The following GAS Journals are no longer in stock: 1984 Corning; 1997 Tucson; 1998 Seto, Japan; 2000 Brooklyn; and 2001 Corning

For additional information contact:

Glass Art Society 2208 NW Market St, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98107 USA Tel: 206.382.1305 Fax: 206.382.2630 Email: info@glassart.org Web: www.glassart.org

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The Conference in Photos

Nadege Desgenetez demonstrating at Simone Cenedese Studio

Luciano Gambaro and friends enjoying the Closing Night Party

Mariah Armstrong has her portfolio reviewed by Amber Cowen at Abate Zanetti

Emanuel Toffolo, Pietro Ferro, and Caterina Toso taking a break between presentations

Martin Janecky demoing on the San Pietro Church Field stage

Jochen Holz during his borosilicate neon demonstration at the Palestra School Gym

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Davide Salvadore during his demo at Fornace Mian

Karen Block Johnese and Daniel Johnese enjoy visiting with other conference attendees in the beautiful Glass Museum courtyard

Group on their way to the Carlo Moretti studio tour

GAS Board President, Natali Rodrigues and Executive Director, Pamela Koss with Cesare Toffolo and Marina Tagliapietra at the Opening Receptio

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Patrick Collentine at Simon Cenedese Studio

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Carli Castle and Heidi Schell walking from the San Pietro Church field after the Opening Ceremony

GAS Board and Staff enjoying a quiet moment before conference attendees arrive

Happy conference attendees relaxing at the San Pietro Church Field

Attendees excitedly waiting for tickets to one of more than 90 tours

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Glass Fashion Show participants “backstage” in Lino Tagliapietra’s garden

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Richard Jolley & Andrea Salvagno demonstrating at Berengo Studio

“Kurtio” in his Glass Fashion Show costume made by Charlynne Lafontaine

InMurano booth at Technical Display in Fabbrica

Alan Horsley talks to tour goers about casting at Berengo Studio

Attendees celebrate the last day of the conference with the Glass Fashion Show

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Ex Chiesa Santa Chiara played host to many lectures and panels throughout the conference

Richard “Dick” Marquis entertaining the audience during his Venini demonstration

Shelley Muzylowski-Allen demonstrating at Effetre

Gianni Seguso demonstrating at Simone Cenedese

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GAS Board member, Masahiro “Nick” Sasaki, demos at Fornace Mian

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Your work leaves, Your tools live with you.

2000 Riverside Dr, Suite 19, Asheville NC 28804 • 828-254-2559 • 800-914-7463 • hisglassworks.com

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T H E G L A S S A R T S O C I E T Y J O U R N A L M U R A N O I TA LY

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