March 2015 | Baltimore Beacon

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MARCH 2015

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Our world-renowned glassblower

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By Carol Sorgen Gianni Toso’s Mount Washington home is a long way from his native Venice, Italy, but he carries with him 700 years of his family’s tradition as Murano glassmakers. The Venetian island of Murano has specialized in fancy glassware for centuries, developing or refining many glassmaking technologies that are still used today in the crafting of pieces ranging from contemporary art glass and glass figurines, to glass chandeliers, wine stoppers and tourist souvenirs. Toso is one of the pre-eminent glassblowing artists in the world today. His works can be found in galleries and private collections throughout the United States, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Israel and Japan. Toso, 72, and his wife Karyn moved to Baltimore 20 years ago (first having settled in New Jersey after moving to the U.S.). “I had first been to Baltimore in 1972 and felt comfortable here in a way I didn’t in New Jersey,” he said (perhaps in part because of Baltimore’s large Orthodox Jewish community, of which the Tosos are members).

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T R AV E L & L E I S U R E

The legacy of several presidents colors Charlottesville, Va. area; plus, a visit to the University of Virginia page 22

An early start to his art Though Toso earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting, glassblowing has always been in his blood. He began working in a glass factory at the age of 10 — without his parents’ permission or knowledge — earning $1 a week to keep the factory’s furnace stoked with wood. (In some ways, not much has changed; a wood-burning stove heats the studio that Toso built himself adjacent to his Northwest Baltimore home.) Once his parents found out about his subterfuge, they allowed the young Gianni to keep working at the factory, as long as he attended school at night. At the age of 14, Toso became a student at the prestigious Abate Zanetti fine arts academy on the island of Murano, where for seven years he followed a curriculum that included geometric design, art history and painting. The school’s philosophy was that through a well-rounded education artists can create new forms. At the same time that he was studying at the academy, Toso learned the practical aspects of glassblowing by working in 12 different factories over the course of 14

ARTS & STYLE Gianni Toso, one of the world’s pre-eminent glassblowing artists, works on one of his pieces in his Mt. Washington studio. He moved to Baltimore 20 years ago from Murano, an island near Venice known for its ancient tradition of glassmaking.

years, making everything from chandeliers to goblets to ashtrays. When he was 23, Toso opened his own small studio, producing lampworked souvenirs. (Lampworking is a type of glasswork where a torch or lamp is primarily used to melt the glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements.) Four years later, Toso opened a studio in the Jewish ghetto of Venice, where he created a line of 12 animal figurines that he sold to souvenir shops in San Marco.

A whirlwind romance It was also at that studio that Toso met his wife. “She stopped in my studio looking for a

kosher restaurant,” he recalled. “It was already late in the day and the restaurants would soon be closed, so I told her that if she wanted a kosher meal, she would have to eat in my home. Seven hours later, we decided to get married.” Like a glassblower knows when the precise moment has arrived to execute a shape, said Toso, so did he know that the seemingly sudden decision to get married made sense. “You know when the time is right (for glassblowing or marriage!)…not a minute sooner or later!” he said. Venice brought Toso more than a wife. It was there that he began to be recognized for his art. In 1969 his massive chess See GLASS BLOWER, page 28

Play at Everyman Theatre portrays the consequences of war; plus, a Baltimore photographer captures her hometown. page 25

TECHNOLOGY k Apps to help you lose weight k Walking and driving maps

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