VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Hooks-Epstein Galleries is proud to present an exhibition of glass sculpture of Toots Zynsky. The exhibition opens Saturday, February 19, at 11:00 a.m. A reception for the artist will follow from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Toots Zynsky is known internationally, not only as one of the most innovative voices in the American Studio Glass Movement, but also for her distinctively unique glass vessels created using a technique which she developed.

Zynsky was among the original team of artists who founded The Pilchuck Glass Center in Stanwood, WA, in 1971. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1973. In 1980, she moved to New York City and helped found and develop the second New York Experimental Glass Workshop; which is now called UrbanGlass. While in New York, she began to experiment with hand pulled glass threads, fusing them separately and combining them with blown forms.

In 1982, a thread pulling machine was designed and built for Zynsky, which helped her to produce larger quantities of longer and finer thread, in as many colors as she chose. This machine enabled her to create work that was entirely comprised of thousands of glass threads. Zynsky named her technique, “filet-de-verre”, which means fused and thermo formed glass threads.

Toots Zynsky’s sculptures have earned her many awards and honors. In addition, her work is in numerous private and public collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Smithsonian in Washington D.C., and the Louvre in Paris. Zynsky has taught at numerous schools, including The Pilchuck Glass Center in Stanwood, WA, UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY, Parsons School of Design in New York, NY.

The exhibition will continue through March 19, 2011.

Pictured: 
Buongrado, 2010, filet-de-verre, 7 1/2 x 15 1/8 x 9" (detail above, full image below).
Amatore, 2009, filet-de-verre, 8 1/8 x 15 x 10 5/8"