Norwood Viviano assisted by Gabe Feenan (at left) during his residency at the Tacoma Museum of Glass hotshop. photo: ken emly
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?
Norwood Viviano: Over the past two years, I researched and created a series of sculptures and digital prints exploring issues related to industry and population shift within manufacturing cities of Michigan. For my site-specific installation Cities: Departure and Deviation opening this Thursday evening at Heller Gallery in New York, I’ve expanded my previous research and returned to glass. The installation is comprised of 24 blown-glass forms that are based on statistical data for major urban centers in the United States. Each individual piece explores the specific history of its namesake city — tracking shifts in population growth and decline relative to their dependence on the expansion and contraction of local industry. The blown-glass objects, created entirely in shades of clinical white, black and gray, reference the weight and precision of hanging plumbs and the precariousness of spinning tops. In the installation they are paired with digital renderings as vinyl cut drawings, which originally served as working plans for the glass piece.
The installation includes vinyl-cut digital design renderings that were used in the planning of the blown-glass forms.
My next project is to complete work from a collaboration (with Sarah Lindley) initially started as part of an Arts/Industry Residency at Kohler Co. in Kohler, Wisconsin, which ran from June through August 2010. The new installation is comprised of over 100 toilet-tank lids (all glazed with glossy opaque Kohler black). The installation will take the form of a wide and low pile (H 2, W 6, D 8 ft.). The lids fit together a little like tiles and are meant to reference landscape; each layer has different style lids in it and the top layer has impressions inset where a miniature of the Kohler Co. plant sits. We are using topographical scan data as the blueprint for machining the plant out of wax and then casting the miniature in clear glass.
GLASS: What artwork have you experienced recently that has moved you, and got you thinking about your own work?
Norwood: A number of sources directly and indirectly influence my studio practice. The two primary sources for Cities: Departure and Deviation are the “Shrinking Cities” project originally exhibited in Berlin and the “Global Cities” project at the Tate Modern, London. Both projects ask critical questions about the changing nature of our global infrastructure and its effects on major cities and the environment. I focused my current project on cities within the United States, but many similar comparisons can be made in other industrialized countries. My process also influences the kinds of objects and subsequent installations I create. Much of my recent work relies heavily on three-dimensional computer modeling and rapid prototyped output. The installation Cities: Departure and Deviation is an example of how a project can be designed in the computer and output with traditional hand skills. One of my goals is to develop a strong connection to the computer as a design tool to generate handmade objects.
Population of cities is reflected in the size of the 24 blown-glass elements. The opaque black and transparent gray colors are used to identify cities currently experiencing population decline (from top to bottom: Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia). photo: russell johnson
GLASS: Where is it possible to see your work ?
Norwood: The Heller Gallery exhibition opens on March 4th after an opening reception on Thursday, and will run through the 30th. My personal website is the most comprehensive archive of recent projects and installations. The collaborative Arts/Industry Residency project will be completed and included in the small group exhibition “Sculpture Today: New Forces, New Forms” at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan from September through December of 2011. My work can also be found in the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, Czech Republic; the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Kohler Co., Kohler Wisconsin; and the Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington.