Video: Lino Tagliapietra, Glass Master at Work
September 23, 2008
So I’m screaming down a deadline, oughta be downstairs in the studio finishing color corrections and reinvestment on the latest pate de verre sculpture, and instead I’m glued to the boob tube. The package from Corning arrived today, and Lino Tagliapietra’s video was right on top.
The problem with many glass artist videos is that they spend too much time selling the sizzle and not enough making it. The editor tends to favor spectacular over informative when making his cuts, giving you the impression that glassmaking is mostly gloryholes, torches and maybe musclemen swinging 30 pounds of molten glass on the end of a punty.
Tagliapietra on DVD
September 12, 2008
The Corning Museum just released a new Lino Tagliapietra documentary that I’ve been told is excellent. If you’re a glass video junkie like me, you’ll probably want to get your own copy, but since mine’s on the way there’s no rush. I can guinea-pig it and let you know how it comes out. 
Bottle Shock
August 16, 2008
Really nice little movie.
I don’t think it’s going to take the country by storm–it’d need suicidal actors, bloodbaths and wicked-evil folk to do that–and it’s not really into deep, mind-rending gouts of insight. But it does supply a couple of my favorite underrated actors, Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman, a bit of microhistory I’m personally interested in, and a lot of charm.
Paul Graham
March 30, 2008
Here’s another productivity reduction aid for you, Gary: Paul Graham, developer, artist, and venture capitalist who wrote a really fascinating book, Hackers and Painters, has an equally fascinating website (and shame on me for not thinking to look for it sooner).
I came to it in a roundabout way, from a Digg post on online methods of disagreement. Graham’s essay, How to Disagree, classifies forms of online rebuttal. It’s a wry look at the kind of stuff you learned on the debate team in high school, and I wish everyone who participated in online discussion would read it.
Of course, if you want to read it, you’re probably NOT the person who most needs it, but that’s the way of the world.
Andy Griffith and A Face in the Crowd
January 21, 2008
Back in 1957 Elia Kazan made a movie I’ve never heard of before, A Face in the Crowd, and I just saw it Sunday morning (while scraping away at a wax for my latest glass casting….)
Wow.
It’s partly because of the cast–how wrong can you get with Walter Matthau, Patricia Neal, Tony Franciosa and a young and adorable Lee Remick?–but mostly because of the writing…and Andy Griffith…and eerie parallels.
Andy Griffith is brilliant and a bit over the top in a role that combines his good-ole-boy “No Time for Sargeants” character with the demagoguery of Huey Long. It’s his first movie role, apparently, and one of his rare appearances as a bad guy.
The story’s about a charismatic hayseed from Arkansas, Lonesome Rhodes, with an uncanny lock on popular sentiment, and an unquenchable lust for sex and power. The woman who bails him out of jail, Patricia Neal, masterminds his evolution into the Will Rogers of television and, eventually, a dangerously effective kingmaker. Though addicted to the power they generate, she finally realizes what he’s become and destroys him.
Kinda makes you wonder whether a sequel would have had Patricia Neal running for President…
In any case, it makes some interesting points about politics and television (especially for 1957), with sad predictions for the future, and is well worth watching if only as a period piece. There are sly inferences throughout that are fun to catch (the positioning of the lecherous Rhodes in front of the sign above is one, and the elevator ride at the end is another).
Great movie marathon for journalists and marketeers: Clooney’s striking Good Night and Good Luck, the original Manchurian Candidate, Broadcast News, Network, Wag the Dog, The Insider, All the President’s Men…and now this movie.
Good grief. We’re going to be up all night!
Book Report: Klaus Moje
November 17, 2007
This is a work weekend, which means all those glass projects I absolutely need to get to–sandblasting The Lady, cleaning up Dogwoodman, Windwoman and Hostafading so they can ship out with The Lady for acid polishing in Ohio, finishing the MM6 mold to start the next casting sequence, getting a boatload of holiday presents going, having fun with that ringbasket concept and initiating some samples, starting a new idea that’s pounding my brain and continuing a couple of tack-fuse experiments–must wait.
Drat. Somewhere in the dim recesses of my enfeebled memory I remember promising that work and art would occupy roughly equal parts of my week. Whatever happened to that?
–sigh–
Anyway, if I haven’t time to DO glass I can read (and write a bit) about it. Picked up a copy of the retrospective on Klaus Moje at the Bullseye Resource Center last Sunday, and have been noodling through it when I grab moments.
Glass book report
October 29, 2007
Was clearing (yet another) shelf for glassbooks, and wound up leafing through a few new (and old) friends:
First, the old friend. The library reorg was the result of a question Lani McGregor posed on warmglass.com, which caused me to pull out Boyce Lundstrom’s “Kiln Firing Glass: Glass Fusing Book One.” Published 25 years ago, I expected it to be outdated, and it was…but only in that it obviously doesn’t take into account new glass formulations, the commonplace use of kiln controllers, and suchlike.
What surprised the blazes out of me was, in fact, the leading edge nature of the book in other aspects, especially after all these years. The book is primarily about pushing the glass to do cool and artistic things…and details techniques and processes that are blithely being announced as “discoveries” and sometimes even potential patent opportunities today. Kinda humbling…and makes me want to get out the rest of my “old” library and see if the work for some of my glass experiments has already been done.
Oh well…seems as if there really isn’t anything new under the sun (or the kiln lid, for that matter.)
Speaking of old, my sister gave me a copy of a marvelous old book, A Short History of Glass, by Chloe Zerwick, for my birthday. Published by the Corning Museum of Glass. It’s simple, to the point, and utterly fascinating for glassists. (I believe it’s out of print but you can usually find it used.) Its cover has a picture of one of my favorite glassworks, the Corning Ewer, still one of the most beautiful examples of coldworking and form in existence.
Lark Publishing has a list that, from year to year, varies from nearly sublime to pure junk. As far as I’m concerned, though, their “500 objects” series is a winner, and I picked up their “500 Glass Objects” a couple of months ago. Impressive. I could wish that they’d (a) portrayed the work of 500 different artists instead of doubling or tripling up in places, (b) that they’d required some sort of artist’s statement for each piece and not just those airy, vapid little “my work signifies the thoughtful journey a woman takes to self-awareness,” blurbs and (c) that they’d spent a bit more money on production and not simply “perfect-bound” this as a paperback, because it’s worthy of more.
That said, they managed to find some great new artists for this book, and it was a treat to see their work. It was also fun to see friends (and artists I would love to be friends with) on these pages.
Interestingly, I stacked “500 Glass Objects” on top of “25 Years of New Glass Review,” when rearranging my library, and wound up comparing them side by side. The two have very different intent–500GO is obviously a coffee table book of mostly pretty things, and 25 Years is a serious retrospective of a highly respected yearly competition among artists who work in glass. It’s more expensively produced, has much better commentary on how the choices were made (as I would expect), and certainly the organization is better. Yet I was surprised at how well the “lightweight” volume compared to 25 Years…and in some cases the photography was light years better. (I might argue that some of the art was, too, but that’s just being catty.) Hmmm.
No Green Berries or Leaves: The Creative Journey of an Artist in Glass, is Paul Stankard’s biography, and it’s a fun and inspiring read. The glasswork is kinda subordinate to his life and like most self-published books (or at least this appears to be, apologies if not), it probably goes on a little too long about personal philosophies. I did find myself wishing Mr. Stankard would talk more about his creative choices and techniques.
However, he is just such a neat man that in the end I didn’t care and just enjoyed his journaling. I am a great re-reader (there are books in my library that are probably on their 500th reading) and I don’t think I’d reread this volume much…but I’m glad to have read it the first time.
Best for last: Seth Randal: Myth and Majesty. Seth Randal is a casting giant, as far as I’m concerned; his work is technically and spiritually gorgeous and his colors make me drool. I had seen this book on lists a few times and never got around to buying it. Now I’m glad I did.
He talks technique, he talks inspiration, he talks about design choices, he talks about his evolution as an artist. His work isn’t to everyone’s tastes–many “experts” I’ve talked with dismiss Randal as too representational and a kind of Art Nouveau copyist–but for me at least, his art works on many, many levels, not the least of which is his technical risk-taking.
About the only complaint I had about this book was that it was a bit TOO much Randal. I’d never seen more than a couple of Randal works together, and I have to admit that by the time I reached the last page, I felt Milky-Way’d. (My term for too much of a good thing–Milky Way bars are so sweet they hurt my teeth; I can’t stomach more than a bite of one.) The colors, the shapes, the photography (lots of black backgrounds) started to run together in a blitz of snakes, Egyptian noses and jewel-like glows. Perhaps the best way to study Randal is slowly, one or two works at a time.
CMOG does a very nice thing: glass videos
July 27, 2007
Ask and ye shall receive, apparently.
The Corning Museum of Glass, one of my favorite places on earth, just released 40 video clips about various glass studio techniques, and most of them are well worth watching. It’s a vast improvement over their first rich media forays, i.e., semi-audible podcasts with a few still images.
I moaned a bit about that in a previous blogpost, and bedogged if they didn’t fix it by releasing these clips. Since I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next installment of their masterclass series (which so far hasn’t materialized), this is a great consolation prize. Much happiness and joy.
There are segments on glassblowing, coldworking, flameworking, kilnforming, casting, etc. Most are about some aspect of glassblowing (not surprising given the fact that it’s CMOG). Audio is clear, (the voices of David Whitehouse and Bill Gudenrath in the segments I’ve seen so far) photography is sharp and well-lighted and the information is useful. The segments are pretty basic, but give you a good look at what is meant by, say, “battuto.”
You can download the small versions directly from Corning’s web site, or purchase the full-sized versions directly from Corning. I’m doing the latter and adding it to my library.
Happy sigh.
They haven’t entirely abandoned the audio-only podcast format, which is still a pity since this is such a visual medium. Tina Oldknow, museum curator and annual glass review maven, interviews the definitely UN-neutral Marvin Lipofsky in the latest.
Here’s another cool idea, although unless you’re planning to visit the museum you’ll wind up mostly frustrated: Corning has uploaded its audiobook tour files–the tourguide-in-a-box narratives that many museums now use to tell the audience what it’s looking at. The idea is that you can download it to your MP3 player and avoid a headset rental charge when you visit.
Just FYI, CMOG’s done more than this to beef up its website. I’ve been using its art search tool for a little while now, but I think they only formally released it this week. It’s great for finding and learning about historic glass pieces. Give it a whirl…
Gosh. Haven’t been to CMOG in a couple of years at least. Obviously, it’s time for another visit. Cheers….
Corning Museum discusses Lino Tagliapietra and Toots Zynsky
May 18, 2007
Tina Oldknow interviewed Lino Tagliapietra for the Corning Museum’s podcast series, “Meet the artist.” They really, really, really need to work on their production values, but if you can get over the lousy sound quality it’s an interesting show.
She says Lino is the “most significant Italian influence” in glass art. Interesting characterization. Don’t know that I’d argue, but it seems too limiting to restrict him to “Italian influence.”
I love the idea of a glass podcast, but glass is such a visual medium that I really think vcasting is more appropriate. In particular, Tagliapietra is not a native English speaker and he’s much easier to understand when you can also see him speak. 47 minutes of deciphering ItaloEnglish with compromised sound quality will tax all but his biggest fans. Perhaps they should take a cue from Bullseye, which released a video on Steve Klein that’s certainly more effective in getting the point across.
This is the second in Corning’s “Meet the Artist” series and the only one I can find on iTunes. If you visit the Corning Museum website and do a search, you’ll find the first in the series, Toots Zynsky. If Tagliapietra is my favorite blown glass artist, Zynsky’s my favorite kilnformed glass artist, so this is a treat worth the 25MB MP3 download.
Again, though, this would have been better as a vcast. Corning thoughtfully provides a page of Zynsky images and a page of Tagliapietra images to “view along,” but it’s not the same.
Next up: Marvin Lipofsky, whose strong beliefs and opinions ought to make this an interesting podcast.
Corning’s also promising to release a podcast series on its glass collection this month. I sincerely hope they’ve gotten the vcast stuff down by then.
BTW, Bullseye is beginning to get the whole video thing nicely. They did an early video, Bullseye Connections, that I greatly enjoyed but am told was more a labor of love than profit, so I was sorry when they didn’t release “Connections II.”
Hopefully, with the Klein video, a capture of an Oregon Public Broadcasting piece on wonderful artist Catharine Newell, and now a really intelligently done clip with Tom Jacobs demonstrating the glass sketch, they’ll make releasing new clips a regular thing. Not sure who over at Bullseye is doing it, but I’d love to see Corning (and the Glass Museum up in Tacoma) follow his/her example.
SHOW the love, baby
April 7, 2007
I’m in the process of rebuilding cynthiamorgan.com to give me a business site as well as a fun site (more on that later)…and while wrestling with setup on a new hosting service last night I kept a marathon Food Network session going on background TV. (i.e., television that functions as subliminal entertainment while you do something more worthwhile)
What I mostly (didn’t) watch was Rachel Ray, the perky princess of postprandial paradise, running around spending 40 bucks on a day’s worth of eats. And (not) watching her, I suddenly realized why I don’t much care for her show. It’s not because of the perkiness or the fact that she’s more overexposed than a nudist in a Minnesota winter:
She’s not really a foodie.