Celebrating the Fluid Movement of Glass

TOOTS ZYNSKY Sfida Filet de verre (fused and thermoformed glass threads) 2008.

Toots Zynsky celebrates the fluid movement of glass in her vividly colored organic sculptures. In 1970 Zynsky was studying painting at the Rhode Island School of Design when she discovered the school’s new glass department headed by groundbreaking artist Dale Chihuly. Heavily influenced by Chihuly’s passionate energy and drive to experiment with glass as an artistic medium, she became a leader in the American studio glass movement. Zynsky’s early experiments led to the development of an original technique, filet de verre, in which machine-pulled glass fibers are purposefully laid out in a pattern of colorful brushstrokes, fused together in a kiln, and hand-shaped to form a sculptural vessel. Like a musical variation, this recent vessel represents an artist who continually challenges herself and the technical aspects of the material.  Saturated and intense, “Sfida” rises up like a hothouse flower with expressive red undulations. The title of the work, translated from Italian, means “to dare, to defy, to be brave.”

KELLY CONWAY
Curator of glass,
Chrysler Museum of Art,Norfolk, Virginia