Dante Marioni (seated) and Preston Singletary made a joint appearance at the Corning Museum's demonstration area during a special Friday-night event.
UPDATED 11-6-2011 9:30 AM
Seattle-based glass artists and childhood friends Dante Marioni and Preston Singletary reunited onstage in Chicago for a glassblowing demonstration to showcase their “Primitive Elegant” series of recent work. For the last two hours of the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art (SOFA) Expo Friday evening, the Blue Rain Gallery took over the nonprofit resource center display tables, closing off the area and setting up a screen to control access to the demonstration area during their private event. On stage, Marioni and Singletary’s worked together at The Corning Museum of Glass demonstration stage to make a vessel in their “Primitive-Elegant” series. Two of the top American glassblowers, they have known each other for over three decades, and reunited artistically at the suggestion of Leroy Garcia, owner of Blue Rain Gallery. “It’s a historic event for the glass collecting community,” said Peter Stoessel, executive director of Blue Rain. (see videos of their demo below [note: there is no audio])
http://youtu.be/2o44Qd-nn8w
Singletary and Marioni demonstrated the reticello technique, a traditional Venetian method in which two twisted glass cane bubbles are fused together in opposite directions to create a swirled diamond pattern. Marioni is considered one of the most accomplished practitioners of this technique in the world. They worked in black glass, which warms from charcoal gray gloss to a yellow-orange glow when heated. The pair was not allowed to use torches due to special Chicago fire codes, but instead utilized two furnaces for the demonstration.
http://youtu.be/iQvgmIiCF34
Marioni and Singletary worked in rhythmic, almost telepathic, harmony, epitomizing the collaborative effort that is key to glass blowing. Their instinctive choreography of heating and shaping the glass—which can crack at the slightest temperature flux—takes years to perfect. Marioni and Singletary produced a vessel in just over an hour.
http://youtu.be/PNHd6nVrzek
When asked about the origins of their partnership after the demonstration, Marioni told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet “There was a lot of serendipity involved.” Marioni grew up with glass blowing. His father Paul was part of the American Studio Glass movement, “one of the hippie originals,” says Marioni. He met Singletary in high school in the 1970s. They began blowing glass together after Marioni helped Singletary get a job in a glass studio where he worked.
Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, Butterfly (from the "Primitive Elegant" series, 2011. Blown and sand-carved glass. H 16 1/4, W 9, D 9. courtesy: blue rain gallery, santa fe.
Though Marioni and Singletary have spent much of their careers pursuing their solo visions, the reunion is a welcome one. “We understand each other’s mannerisms and way of working,” explained Singletary, “A lot of collective energy goes into glass blowing, and that resonates in the pieces.”
According to Stoessel, three-quarters of the work in the ‘Primitive-Elegant’ series works have already sold. “Primitive-Elegant” will be on display at Blue Rain Gallery’s exhibition space at SOFA Chicago through Sunday, November 6th.
—Nicole Rhoden