Archimede's old studio on Murano.
A tribute to the maestro. I'm pretty sure it says: "In everlasting remembrance of the maestro Archimede Seguso. In this place he taught his art from 1948 until 1999."
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Archimede Seguso
As far as glassblowers go, Archimede Seguso has got to be one of my all time favorites. He developed many innovative cane working techniques. While staying in Venice I made it my goal to try to find some original cane worked vessels made by the maestro. I spent the good part of a day scouring all of the antique glass shops I could find on the island, and I finally stumbled upon this piece- a square bottle done in the merletto technique. I guess it might not look like anything special to most people, but for me this is gold. I would have liked to take it home with me, but it understandably had quite a hefty price tag... Luckily, the woman working at the gallery was nice enough to let me take some pictures.
Archimede's old studio on Murano.
A tribute to the maestro. I'm pretty sure it says: "In everlasting remembrance of the maestro Archimede Seguso. In this place he taught his art from 1948 until 1999."
Archimede's old studio on Murano.
A tribute to the maestro. I'm pretty sure it says: "In everlasting remembrance of the maestro Archimede Seguso. In this place he taught his art from 1948 until 1999."
Murano
Well, I finally made it to Murano.
For some reason I thought that because I work with glass and I can speak some Italian I would have a better chance of getting into some of the factories. This was unfortunately not the case. Maybe it was the time of year, or maybe its because of the economy, but most of the furnaces seemed very closed to outsiders.
Fortunately, I was able to get into Davide Salvadore's studio, and his son Marco was kind enough to arrange for me to visit a couple of other studios. Davide was still in the US when I dropped by, but I got to hang out and watch his sons do some cane rollups for a little while. They are nice guys and have a really cool studio.
One of the studios that Marco contacted for me was a chandelier factory, which was interesting to see. All of their chandeliers were constructed from many separate glass components assembled over a metal base. While I was there they were making the parts that go around the lights (not quite sure what the technical term for that is) as well as some ornamental flowers parts. There was a guy whose job was just to set up the gold leaf, and they were shredding through packs of it like it was nothing.
I also got to visit the studio of the maestro Silvano Signoretto, brother of Pino Signoretto. He was making some designs for a Belgian painter. I forget his name, but he was a really friendly guy. He was having Silvano blow some big plates with sculpted flowers attached to the faces of them. I actually got to see the technique sometimes referred to as "snorkeling" done for the first time, which is when you have an open colored tube of glass on the end of a blow pipe and you suck glass out of the furnace to make a solid core.
The lighthouse.
Silvano at work.
Some old red brick ovens.
A giant glory hole from Silvano's studio.
The gate for Pino's studio has glassblowing tools welded into it, along with glass inlays. Pretty fancy.
One of the few studios where the public could watch for free...
Not sure if anything at this shop was actually made in Murano, or even Italy for that matter... I have my doubts.
For some reason I thought that because I work with glass and I can speak some Italian I would have a better chance of getting into some of the factories. This was unfortunately not the case. Maybe it was the time of year, or maybe its because of the economy, but most of the furnaces seemed very closed to outsiders.
Fortunately, I was able to get into Davide Salvadore's studio, and his son Marco was kind enough to arrange for me to visit a couple of other studios. Davide was still in the US when I dropped by, but I got to hang out and watch his sons do some cane rollups for a little while. They are nice guys and have a really cool studio.
One of the studios that Marco contacted for me was a chandelier factory, which was interesting to see. All of their chandeliers were constructed from many separate glass components assembled over a metal base. While I was there they were making the parts that go around the lights (not quite sure what the technical term for that is) as well as some ornamental flowers parts. There was a guy whose job was just to set up the gold leaf, and they were shredding through packs of it like it was nothing.
I also got to visit the studio of the maestro Silvano Signoretto, brother of Pino Signoretto. He was making some designs for a Belgian painter. I forget his name, but he was a really friendly guy. He was having Silvano blow some big plates with sculpted flowers attached to the faces of them. I actually got to see the technique sometimes referred to as "snorkeling" done for the first time, which is when you have an open colored tube of glass on the end of a blow pipe and you suck glass out of the furnace to make a solid core.
The lighthouse.
Silvano at work.
Some old red brick ovens.
A giant glory hole from Silvano's studio.
The gate for Pino's studio has glassblowing tools welded into it, along with glass inlays. Pretty fancy.
One of the few studios where the public could watch for free...
Not sure if anything at this shop was actually made in Murano, or even Italy for that matter... I have my doubts.
Aarhus
While going through my photos I realized that I had images of some really interesting work I saw my last time here in Denmark.
The work was on exhibit at the Natural History Museum in the nearby city of Aarhus. The artist's name is Karen Lise Krabbe, she is Danish, and all the pieces are glass. Most of the objects seem like they were at some point kiln formed using sand molds, which I think gives them a really nice surface quality.
The work was on exhibit at the Natural History Museum in the nearby city of Aarhus. The artist's name is Karen Lise Krabbe, she is Danish, and all the pieces are glass. Most of the objects seem like they were at some point kiln formed using sand molds, which I think gives them a really nice surface quality.
Update
I've been back in Ebeltoft for a little while now, and it looks like I'm going to be staying here and assisting Tobias and Trine until mid December. I'm really excited that I'm getting the chance to stay here and learn even more, although I wasn't exactly planning on being in Denmark during the wintertime when I packed my clothes last April... I think I'll be alright.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Some work Tobias made
I'm really grateful for all that I was able to learn in the two months I was there...
Monday, July 4, 2011
Lino at the Glass Museum
Figured I'd post some more photos from my time in Denmark...
The maestro Lino Tagliapietra came to demo for the 25th anniversary of the Glass Museum in Ebeltoft. It was an honor to meet him; he seems like a really nice person.
He pulled some cane and made a vessel out of two vertical cane pickups layered on top of each other.
Finally getting to watch him work in person was great. I also picked up a couple of new tricks from the demo, which is always good.
I didn't get any photos of the piece near the end, I was too busy watching...
The maestro Lino Tagliapietra came to demo for the 25th anniversary of the Glass Museum in Ebeltoft. It was an honor to meet him; he seems like a really nice person.
He pulled some cane and made a vessel out of two vertical cane pickups layered on top of each other.
Finally getting to watch him work in person was great. I also picked up a couple of new tricks from the demo, which is always good.
I didn't get any photos of the piece near the end, I was too busy watching...
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