Pienezza

Artist Toots Zynsky (American, born 1951)

Date2017

Dimensions18 1/2 × 29 3/4 × 13 in. (47 × 75.6 × 33 cm)

MediumFilet de verre (colored glass threads), fused and thermoformed

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, by exchange

Object number

2018.7

Not on View

Label TextToots Zynsky explores the fragility of glass, suggesting both sculptural object and functional vessel. Her experiments with slumping (heating glass until it is soft enough to take the shape of a form or mold) and fusing (using heat to bond one or more pieces of glass together) led her to invent a new glass technique using glass filaments, which she calls filet de verre (French for “glass thread”). Initially, Zynsky laboriously pulled the thread-like fibers from glass rods by hand, though she later worked with Dutch engineer Mathijs Teunissen van Manen to devise a machine that pulls the glass threads extremely thin and with speed, regularity, and consistency.Published ReferencesSandra Ainsley Gallery, Toots Zynsky at the Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Sandra Ainsley Gallery, 2017, exhibition catalogue.Exhibition HistoryToronto, Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toots Zynsky, October 14-December 1, 2017.