When Mazorca was unveiled for a 2005 retrospective at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, it was a bid for large-scale impact on the part of William Morris, known for the ability to create convincing organic texture in glass works that celebrate and reference the earthy qualities of tribal art from around the world. At more than 8-feet tall, the assemblage of carved heads, ears of corn, gourds, and various vessels dangling from a steel armature overwhelmed the senses, a cluster of objects that looked more like ceramic and carved wood and bone, strung up by thick hand-braided rope. That it all was made from glass was astonishing, but appreciation for the technical accomplishments of the Morris team-members who developed the processes on display may have been impeded by the sheer number of objects grouped together in the piece.
After the museum exhibition closed, the massive work didn’t find a buyer, and languished on the market, most recently with a price-tag of $2 million, before it was recently announced that Morris would reconfigure the pieces into a number of smaller works The more-than-8-foot-tall cornucopia of dangling glass objects that look like earthenware, shells, carved bone, and wood, has been restrung into 13 smaller composition (with price-tags between $90,000 – and $195,000, and collectively work out to something close to the unrealized $2 million price-tag for the original work.). The resulting works, all approximately 3-feet tall, will be shown at the 2013 SOFA CHICAGO art fair by Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia, which is about to release photos of the newly configured works.
All of the smaller works, strung from smaller steel armatures, bear the name "Mazorca," distinguished by varying code numbers in their caption information. The smaller-scale presentation of these objects allows better viewing and lighting opportunities, bringing the many hard-won nuances of individual objects to be fully studied. An ear of dried corn impresses with its slightly irregular pattern, convincing in its slight organic imperfection. Out of the shadows in the newly configured piece, it glows with an unexpected aura because of its translucence as a glass object. The patina of age on the adjacent small animal skulls comes to the fore in the more spare presentation, in a visual dialogue on the many shades of yellow the objects share. The voluptuous form of the dried-gourd elements are accentuated by the slight sheen that has been left on their heavily cold-worked surfaces, drawing the eye with their subtle qualities of glass that force them to be studied carefully.
Clearly much work went into the hanging itself, the knots of the glass rope look convincing, appearing as a mix of precision and matter-of-factness, as if the objects were strung together for transport, or display in a market stall. The resulting smaller works present a sharp contrast between the sharp clean lines of the steel armature and the sensual, organic forms they suspend and support. With the artist’s 2007 retirement from glass art-making, the prices for his works have remained strong, and in fact, have broken records at a recent auction. Collectors are clearly curious about this tantalizing opportunity to view “new” works by William Morris, and, at a relatively more modest price-tag, perhaps they will be purchasing them as well. Stay tuned.