FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTEMPORARY GLASS AT INAUGURAL SILICON VALLEY ART FAIR: THE INFLUENCE OF LINO TAGLIAPIETRA Media Inquiries: Thursday, April 10-Sunday, April 13, 2014 at Silicon Valley Contemporary Art Fair Kristin Carlson McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California | Schantz Galleries Booth #410 Think All Day 505-501-2497 [email protected] SAN JOSE, CA—Schantz Galleries (Stockbridge, Massachusetts) is pleased to present new work by five top contemporary glass artists at the first annual Silicon Valley Contemporary Art Fair, April 10-13, 2014, Booth #410, McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. The work of Lino Tagliapietra, Dante Marioni, John Kiley, David Walters, and Giles Bettison demonstrates that the intersection between technology and art precedes the digital age; cutting-edge science and innovative expression have long been synthesized in the discipline of glassmaking. Each of these artists has mastered and pushed the boundaries of traditional techniques, and achieved important advances in this time-honored art form. Italian glass maestro Lino Tagliapietra is acknowledged worldwide as one of the most influential glassmakers of our time; the other four artists in this exhibition have each studied and worked with Tagliapietra, and the broad scope of his influence in the field of glass art is evident in the far-reaching facets of their careers.
Lino Tagliapietra, Africa, 2013, blown glass, 10.25 x 19.25 x 19.25.” Photo by Russell Johnson.
LINO TAGLIAPIETRA: MAESTRO. Celebrating his 80th birthday this year, Lino Tagliapietra is one of the world’s most accomplished artists working with glass today. Tagliapietra has been an independent glass artist since 1989, exhibiting in museums internationally, receiving countless honors, openly sharing his extensive knowledge of the medium and his skill as one of its finest practitioners, and helping to create a new renaissance in studio glassmaking. As James Yood, adjunct professor of art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and regular contributor to GLASS magazine wrote:
(Continues) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “There are probably no two words more respected and honored in the history of modern sculpture in glass than ‘Lino Tagliapietra;’ he is the living bridge, the crucial link between the Media Inquiries: august history of Venetian glass and the ceaseless wonders of what today we call the modern Kristin Carlson Studio Glass Movement.” Think All Day 505-501-2497 Skillful and creative, Tagliapietra began his work with glass when he was eleven years old, [email protected] on the famous glassmaking island of Murano, Italy. Since the early stages of his career, Tagliapietra has sought to open his artistic world to many traditions, and to understand art historical precedence while honoring his heritage. Within his own unmistakable aesthetic, viewers can also find visual reference to varied artistic styles and natural and cultural wonders from around the globe. Tagliapietra is often defined by superlatives: most skillful, finessed, erudite, and sophisticated. Yet, this master of technique and imagination is also known as open and humble; he cites his continued inspiration not in the accumulation of honors, but in the search for ever-growing inventiveness in his craft. Tagliapietra explains, “Glass is a wonderful material. Why? Glass is alive. Even when it is cool, it is still moving. It is connected with fire, it is connected with water, it is...my life.”
Each of the other four artists in this exhibit has studied under and worked with Tagliapietra, and the inspiration and technical prowess derived from their time with him is evident in the various incarnations of their art-making.
DANTE MARIONI: CLASSICISM. Dante Marioni’s mosaic-like murrine vases build upon the ideal of classical Greco-Roman forms, while exhibiting a sense of playfulness through exaggerated height and saturated color. In the classical tradition, Marioni embodies the notion of the artist striving for perfection. The forms achieve a balance between gravity and exuberance, and his pitchers, vases, and bowls offer symmetry and masterful technique. Marioni has been greatly influenced by the Venetian glass tradition taught by Tagliapietra— which is in itself a product of Greek and Roman form.
His father, Paul Marioni, was involved in the American studio glass movement; as a result, the younger Marioni was also exposed to modern glassblowing artists of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dante Marioni, Red and Yellow Mosaic, 2013, blown glass, (Continues) 31.5 x 13 x 3.” Photo by Russell Johnson.Photo by Russell Johnson. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE In 1979, the family moved to Seattle, where Dante began his study of glassblowing at The Glass Eye and Media Inquiries: spent summers at Pilchuck Glass School where his Kristin Carlson father was an instructor. In the course of his career, Think All Day Marioni has taught glassblowing throughout the United 505-501-2497 States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Europe, and [email protected] expanded upon his art of perfection with a quest for experimentation. Marioni’s most recent Leaf Vases and Reticello Urns exemplify this combination of classic form with contemporary exploration and expression. A major contributor to the renaissance of American studio glass, Marioni is an influential force among his peers: “I have never really been in love with all the obvious qualities of glass. I am more in love with the process and the traditions, both age-old and of the contemporary studio variety. Form is always my primary concern; light manipulation and color are almost an afterthought. My influences range from a simple doorway on my furnace John Kiley, Intersected Sunrise, 2014, blown, carved, and polished glass, to a horizon on the North Sea as seen from the Scottish 16 x 8.25 x 14.” Photo by Jeff Curtis. Highlands. I continue to be enamored with nature, particularly as other people interpret it in the decorative arts.”
JOHN KILEY: ABSTRACT SCULPTURE. John Kiley achieves a state of weightless balance in his signature elliptical works, which can be viewed both as sculptures and studies in architecture. Utilizing the transparency inherent to the glass medium, Kiley creates multiple spaces for the eye to explore, visible from the interior as well as the exterior, and allowing a variety of visual entry points. Referencing the purity of modernist essence and form, Kiley also presents aspects of deconstructivism, characterized by fragmentation, and coupled with the interplay of positive and negative space.
Elegant and challenging, Kiley’s sculptures are often poised at uncanny angles, stabilized by overlapping shapes that provide a sense of harmony. From any perspective, Kiley’s glass art offers balance, tension, and a sense of movement—a dialogue achieved through remarkable aptitude and technical expertise.
DAVID WALTERS: NARRATIVE. David Walters constructs his intricate vessels of painted glass and enamel. Reminiscent of scrimshaw, the 19th century style of carving whalebone and ivory or shell, Walters’s works tell stories that merge fairytale with personal experience. Incorporating references from familiar anecdotes—classic and historical as well as contemporary—the legends portrayed on his vessels apply to current events while maintaining a sense of timelessness. David Walters, The Cost for Hot Water/ Slow Boil, blown and handpainted glass, (Continues) 20 x 10 x 10.” Photo by Russell Johnson. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE There are clear relationships between Walters’s work and that of printmakers from Albrecht Dürer to William Blake; however, the appearance of his two-dimensional drawings on the Media Inquiries: vessel form also has a strong link to the tradition of Greek vase painting. “The culture of Kristin Carlson convenience we consign ourselves to often brings a greater cost than we allow ourselves Think All Day to realize...I think of my work as an effort to reevaluate or question the things I believe or 505-501-2497 struggle with philosophically, and in so doing, relate to the viewer that struggle in myself and [email protected] maybe in them as well, or at least stir some sense for the wonder of it all,” Walters states. Also a significant influence for Walters, early Byzantine painting and mosaic are another powerful historical source of narrative emotional expression.
GILES BETTISON: EVOLVING THE ANCIENTS. A glass artist from Adelaide, Australia, Giles Bettison has evolved the ancient Venetian glassmaking technique of murrini—mosaic- like patterns from cut cross-sections of colored glass cane. As a student, Bettison experimented with murrini technique using strips of American-made colored sheet glass instead of the typical sliced cane, resulting in a softer, denser surface evocative of woven fabric, and echoing the light and color of rural Australia. Bettison cuts and combines the sheet glass to build intricate vessels piece-by-piece. His work is truly unique, melding both old and new technologies.
“My work is an exploration of my movement through life, expressed in colors, patterns, and forms. The light and color in rural and outback Australia are part of my experience of connecting to place and people. I use abstract representations of these and other places to explore my feelings; I want to Giles Bettison, Vista #2, 2014, murrini glass, 10 x 5 x 5.” include some essence of what these places mean to me,” says Photo by Russell Johnson. Bettison.
Schantz Galleries (Stockbridge, Massachusetts) will present ‘The Influence of Lino Tagliapietra,’ an exhibition of works by contemporary glass artists Lino Tagliapietra, Dante Marioni, John Kiley, David Walters, and Giles Bettison in booth #410 at Silicon Valley Contemporary Art Fair, April 10-13, 2014. The fair will take place at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Visit www.siliconvalleycontemporary.com to learn more. Or, call 413-298-3044 or visit www.schantzgalleries.com for information.
High-resolution images and interviews with the artists and gallery directors available upon request; media inquiries, please contact Kristin Carlson at Think All Day Design + PR, 505- 501-2497 or [email protected].
(Continues) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ABOUT LINO TAGLIAPIETRA Linio Tagliapietra (1934) is a legendary Italian glass artist who has played a key role in the Media Inquiries: international exchange of glassblowing processes and techniques between the US and Kristin Carlson Murano, Italy, throughout his career. His influence is also evident in the glass practices of Think All Day China, Japan, Australia, and beyond. He began his first glass apprenticeship in 1946 at the 505-501-2497 age of eleven, and educated himself in modern art at the Venice Biennales in his native Italy, [email protected] including the work of Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Ellsworth Kelly. Earning the rank of maestro at the age of twenty-one, he spent the next two and a half decades working with Murano’s premiere glass factories and developed his signature ‘Saturn’ design. He taught and exchanged techniques with Dale Chihuly beginning in 1968 (documented in the film ‘Chihuly and the Masters of Venice,’ 2001). He continues to create his own colors and uses them almost exclusively in his work. In 2009, the Museum of Tacoma dedicated a major traveling retrospective exhibition of Lino’s work, which was also hosted by other museums in the United States, including: The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC; The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia; Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California; and Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Minnesota. In Venice, 2011, the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts, dedicated an exhibition to Lino entitled ‘Lino Tagliapietra from Murano to Studio Glass.’ During his extensive career, Lino has received numerous awards including: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at Centre College; President’s Distinguished Artist Award, University of the Arts, Philadelphia; Distinguished Educator Award, James Renwick Alliance of Washington, DC; Honorary Degree and Doctor of Fine Arts, Ohio State University; and in 2012 he was chosen for the renowned Phoenix Award, held in Lino’s hometown of Venice, Italy. His unique artworks are present in some of the most prestigious museums throughout the world, including: De Young Museum of San Francisco, Victoria and Albert Museum of London, Metropolitan Museum of New York, and numerous galleries and private collections. Tagliapietra also works with the MIT Glass Lab, exploring computer modeling and folding techniques to improve the efficiency of production materials and facilities required for glassblowing. Creator and executor of his own works, Lino’s creativity is upheld by production skills that come from a lifetime of experience and continual exploration of possibility.
www.schantzgalleries.com/glass-artists/lino-tagliapietra
ABOUT SCHANTZ GALLERIES Schantz Galleries is internationally recognized for its involvement in the contemporary studio glass movement, and represents renowned glass artists such as Lino Tagliapietra, Dale Chihuly, Dan Dailey, and Preston Singletary, whose flourishing careers are celebrated in museum exhibitions, retrospectives, and publications, as well as a new generation of emerging artists working in glass. The gallery is located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and managed by Owner/Director Jim Schantz and Marketing/Publicity Director Kim Saul. In addition to Art Palm Beach, the gallery also participates in the Art Miami, Boston International Fine Art Show, and the SOFA Sculpture Objects and Functional Art New York and Chicago art fairs. Clients include private collectors, corporations, and museums.
www.schantzgalleries.com
(Continues) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ABOUT SILICON VALLEY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR Silicon Valley Contemporary is an inaugural fair featuring 60 national and international Media Inquiries: exhibitors of modern and contemporary fine art at the McEnery Convention Center in San Kristin Carlson Jose, California. The fair takes place April 10-13, 2014, and aims to further incorporate art Think All Day into the technological world of Silicon Valley. With a special focus on the intersection of 505-501-2497 technology and fine art, Silicon Valley Contemporary offers educational programming as well [email protected] as a showcase of thousands of important works by up-and-coming and established artists. Tickets range from $25-$250 depending on access level, and show hours are from 6-9pm during Thursday’s Opening Night Preview (special ticketing required), 11am-7pm on Friday and Saturday, and 11am-6pm Sunday.
www.siliconvalleycontemporary.com
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