European

Lino Tagliapietra

Italy b. 1934
Uovo Alchimico / 2000.0022

---

During the Middle Ages, it is said, Venetian glassblowers working on the island of Murano were threatened with death if they revealed any of their techniques to the rest of the world. Thus the secrecy surrounding the way in which this brilliant glass was made was preserved, for the most part, until the late 20th century. Tagliapietra (Talleyuhpeeaytra) began as an apprentice on the Venetian island of Murano when he was eleven. Later, as a master glassblower, Tagliapietra taught and partnered with Dale Chihuly at Pilchuck Glass School and in 1998 collaborated with Steuben at their factory as artist-in-residence, working for the first time in clear crystal. He has had a direct impact on the American studio glass movement and continues to create, working with heat and smoke, noise, steel tools, and red hot glass to create fragile forms in a process he describes as "having a conversation with the furnace."

 

BACK TO COLLECTION