Goode Glass FINAL (6-26-23) - Flipbook - Page 52
Toots Zynsky
C
REATIVE INQUIRY into the materiality and technology of glass in a studio setting
has rarely resulted in such a unique creative practice as that of American artist
Toots Zynsky (born 1951). Trained at the Rhode Island School of Design under Dale
Chihuly, she began wrapping thin trails and glass threads around blown vessel forms
in the late 1970s. Soon, the concept progressed to nest-like forms relying entirely on fused threads.
These early experimental sculptures accelerated her quest to better control the color, consistency,
and configuration of the glass threads.
With the help of Dutch engineer Mathijs Teunissen van Manen, she developed a specialized
machine to draw the threads, creating customized, colored threads in a kaleidoscope of colors she
termed filet de verre. Zynsky cuts and places these threads in overlapping arrangements on a flat,
heat-proof surface, then fuses the assembled disc-like mass in a kiln. Once structurally stable, the
disc is inverted, carefully draped over a cone-shaped mold, and handshaped by the gloved artist
into the desired sculptural form while still hot.
Over time, Zynsky’s vessel forms have ranged from small colorful bowls composed of opaque
glass threads to large organic shapes with monochromatic, shimmering exteriors. The abstract,
colorful patterns of her composite glass surfaces can invoke the intricacy of exotic plumage or
the complex layers of impasto brush strokes in oil painting. Often, the designs are developed from
visual inspirations collected on her travels, the textures and colorations encountered in nature, or
even a mood induced by music. While her inimitable sculptures dazzle with their rich textured
surfaces, tactile quality, and brilliant colorations, their shapes are always determined
by her unique, proprietary process.
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