1. Lino Tagliapietra: Master of Beauty
November 10, 2018 to January 20, 2019

2. Born on the island of Murano, neighboring Venice in the Venetian Lagoon
Europe's first major glassmaking center and glassmaker center for over 700 years.
Murano was a commercial port as far back as the 7th Century, and by the 10th Century it had grown into a prosperous trading center with its own coins, police force, and commercial aristocracy. Then, in 1291, the Venetian Republic ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano because the glassworks represented a fire danger in Venice, whose buildings were mostly wooden at the time.
It wasn't long until Murano's glassmakers were the leading citizens on the island. Artisans were granted the right to wear swords and enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the notoriously high-handed Venetian state. By the late 14th Century, the daughters of glassmakers were allowed to marry into Venice's blue-blooded families. Such pampered treatment had one catch: Glassmakers weren't allowed to leave the Republic. If a craftsman got a hankering to set up shop beyond the Lagoon, he risked being assassinated or having his hands cut off by the secret police--although, in practice, most defectors weren't treated so harshly.
Murano became Europe's elite glassmaking center, peaking in popularity in the 15th and 16th centuries. Venice's dominance in trade along the Mediterranean Sea created a wealthy merchant class that was a strong connoisseur of the arts. This helped establish demand for art glass and more innovations. The spread of glassmaking talent in Europe eventually diminished the importance of Venice and its Murano glassmakers. A defeat by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797, and occupation, caused more hardship for Murano's glassmaking industry. Murano glassmaking began a revival in the 1920s.

3. Octagonal Venetian style Murano glass mirror
Example of cristallo
16th century lattimo plate
What made Murano's glassmakers so special? For one thing, they were the only people in Europe who knew how to make glass mirrors. They also developed or refined technologies such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass.
During the 1400s, Murano glassmakers created cristallo—which was almost transparent and considered the finest glass in the world. Murano glassmakers also developed a white-colored glass (milk glass called lattimo) that looked like porcelain. They later became Europe's finest makers of mirrors.
Also known for Murano beads (beg 1200s), chandeliers (During 1700s Guiseppe Briati famous for his work with ornamented mirrors and chandeliers, his style of chandelier called ciocche--literally bouquet of flowers, large with multiple arms with garlands, flowers, and leaves), goldstone (also known as aventurine, translucent brownish with copper specs, developed in early 15th century, so named b/c it was discovered accidentially), calcedonio (looks like the stone chalcedony, created during the 1400s by Angelo Barovier, considered Murano’s greatest glassmaker), millefiori (multicolored glass, means thousand flowers so arranged in flower-like patterns, perfected in Alexandria, Egypt, used in Murano in the 15th century), sommerso (“submerged” in Italian, layers of contrasting colors formed by dipping colored glass into another molten glass and then blowing into desired shape), and imitation gemstones made of glass

4. Influential Italian glass artist and master glassmaker
Started working at the young age of 12 working at the island’s glass furnaces and factories as an apprentice. Soon regarded as a maestro vetraio (master glassmaker) at 21 and granted that title in the 1950s. He interrupted his years of training to complete his compulsory service in the Italian military in

5. 1960s - Lino started expressing his own forms of creativity through design and execution of models with high technical and aesthetic quality
Tagliapietra has continued to create his own colors and use them almost exclusively in his own work. He has said they allow him to maintain control and that they are "softer, more human, more ... Venetian"
Invitation from American glass sculptor Dale Chihuly to teach a summer workshop at Pilchuck School, north of Seattle → thus began a long history of sharing his centuries old Muranese glassblowing technique with a generation of young American glass artists (excited by enthusiasim and experimental mindset, influenced by the Abstract Expressionist school of painting, they were long on creative innovation but short on technique). Lino was sort of the opposite, a master technician coming from a rigidly traditional approach to glass art and loved the passionate exploration of new ideas and forms of the young American glass artists

6. Papate, 1998
Blown glass
29 1/4 x 8 3/4 x 5 inches
Lent by the artist and Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Riverstone, 2000
Blown glass with carved engravings
16 x 15 x 7 inches
Lent by the artist and Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Hopi, 2004
Blown glass
12 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches
Lent by the artist and Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Since 1990, Lino has become a free practicing artist of glass without any contractual binds or obligations. Through his continued creative experimentation and mastered skills, he’s developed a very personal style and his practice is followed by many as a great source of inspiration. His technical resources continuously expanded to combine modern experimentation "carving, blowing, caning, layering, casing, and trailing along with the elaborate Italian tricks so sought after for centuries: battuto, zanfirico, filigrano, reticello, pulegoso, martelé, inciso and incalmo..."
Battuto means struck or beaten and is evident why when viewing the end product. The surface of the glass is ground to have an appearance of endless tiny and irregular marks. The end product is similar to that of a hammered metal effect.
Zanfirico A type of polychrome cane made by assembling a bundle of rods of different colors, and heating it until it is soft. The bundle is then attached to two pontils and elongated by drawing. At the same time, the bundle is twisted to produce a spiral pattern. Zanfirico, which is a synonym for vetro a retorti, takes its name from the Venetian dealer Antonio Sanquirico, who, in the 1830s, encouraged the revival on Murano of this and other traditional techniques.
Filigrana The generic name for blown glass made with colorless, white, and sometimes colored canes. The filigrana style originated on the island of Murano in the 16th century and spread rapidly to other parts of Europe where façon de Venise glass was produced.
Reticello Term variation vetro a reticello (Italian, “glass with a small network”) A type of blown glass made with canes organized in a crisscross pattern to form a fine net, which may contain tiny air traps.
Pulegoso (Italian, from the dialect word pulega, “bubble”) Glass containing numerous bubbles of all sizes, produced by adding bicarbonate of soda, gasoline, or other substances to the melt. The bubbles make the glass semiopaque and give the surface an irregular texture. Pulegoso was developed by Napoleone Martinuzzi ( ) on the island of Murano, Italy, in the 1920s.
Martele (French, “hammered”) The word used to describe the multifaceted, wheel-engraved surface favored by Emile Gallé ( ), Daum, and others, to create a textured background that resembles beaten metal.
Inciso Incised
Incalmo A technique originated from Murano dating back to around the 16th-17th century. Incalmo is defined by two blown pieces being opened and joined together while hot. They generally differ in color giving this technique a unique look. This isn’t easy to achieve as both pieces must be the same diameter in size to fit perfectly together. If done correctly, the end process is a gorgeous layering of colors and design.

7. Both creator and executor of his works, his creativity comes from production skills that come from a life of experience and he continually explores the possibilities of a perfect execution. Glass always take first place priority
Chiocciola means snail

8. While he may sketch designs in advance, his approach is to seek "spontaneous perfection" during the glassblowing process. As one profiler has written, "most of his decisions are made in front of the furnace".

9. Clodia Possibly this is who he is referring. https://www
Contarini is one of the founding families of Venice and one of the oldest families of the Italian Nobility.
Saba is a Caribbean island which is the smallest special municipality (officially “public body”) of the Netherland; also means grandfather in Hebrew
Spirale means spiral in Italian

10. Stromboli a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily
Cayuga a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy
London capital city of the United Kingdom
Thaos

11. Bilbao Series
city in northern Spain - inspired by Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

12. Dinosaur series

13. Oca Series

14. Angel Tear Angel Tear, 2005 Blown glass 53 x 13 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches
Lent by the artist and Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Angel Tear, 2011
Blown glass
35 1/2 x 22 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches
Lent by the artist and Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Angel Tear, 2017
Blown glass
33 1/2 x 15 1/4 x 7 inches
Lent by the artist and Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Angel Tear

15. Fenice Fenice, 2006 Blown glass 31 1/4 x 16 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches
Lent by the artist and Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Fenice

16. Fuji

17. Fused Glass
Campo delle (field of) Ciacole (a word used in the dialect from north-est Italy to say "chat" or "chatter" or "talk", depending on the context.)
Lipari the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily
Chicago city in Illinois