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By Beth Beasley, Bold Life
October 2006
Trial by Fire
In a medium that is especially tricky, artist Victor Chiarizia is
challenging the limits of what can be done with glass. “To be doing
things that haven’t yet been done after thousands of years of
glassmaking,” says Chiarizia, “is really satisfying.” Viewing his work,
one senses the painstaking technique of the master craftsman,
rooted in the old traditions. Yet Chiarizia’s sculptural forms hum with a
timeless quality, at once solid and strangely ephemeral.
A nationally recognized glass artist, Chiarizia moved to Western North
Carolina last summer from his native Connecticut. In the last year he
has constructed and outfitted a fully appointed studio on his property
in Fairview.
“A huge fire in my Connecticut studio moved things along for me,”
Chiarizia says of his move to North Carolina.
After training with a Venetian master at the Haystack School of Crafts
in Maine back in 1986, Chiarizia began creating pieces that range
from elegantly simple to works of complex surrealism.
In a recent series of limited edition sculptural vessels, Chiarizia draws
on two Italian glass traditions: incalmo and cane work.
Incalmo is a 500-year-old technique developed by Venetian
glassblowers, who would fuse pieces that are blown separately.
Traditionally, it was used to create horizontal bands of color.
Chiarizia joins two halves of a vessel together, combining varying
textures, colors and patterns. In some pieces the glass is stretched to
a seemingly impossible height, imparting a feeling of expansiveness.
Sometimes a ‘wrap’ of draped-on colored glass is applied to the outer
surface, creating a random spattering of colored texture.
“The eventual color of the wrap is always a surprise,” says Chiarizia.
As it’s impossible to see color in the molten frit, the appearance of the
cooled, finished glass is unpredictable.
It takes many trained hands to produce these glass pieces, in effect a
ballet of studied movement and cooperative effort. Chiarizia has two
assistants who help him in the studio for such work.
Italian cane work also takes a master’s touch: Regularly spaced, thin
strips of solid-colored glass are applied to the exterior of a vessel,
and then carefully manipulated while the glass is in a liquid state.
The resulting swirls are mesmerizing, especially when seen through
the transparent surface.
“He has a wonderful sense of form,” says Bonnie Rash, owner of
Silver Fox Gallery. “The materials work to convey form beautifully, with
a subtle balance of texture and color.”
Silver Fox Gallery is hosting an exhibition of Chiarizia’s work in
October. He is the first regional glass artist whose work has been
shown at the gallery.
Previous to studying Venetian technique, Chiarizia worked for 25 years
manufacturing scientific glass for laboratory uses. His strong
understanding of the physical nature of glass comes through in his
artwork, especially in his lampworked Botanical series.
“I have a strange ability to create things,” Chiarizia says, “Knowing the
scientific techniques for glass has helped me.”
For the Botanical series, which Chiarizia started creating about six
years ago, he starts with a vessel that is ‘quenched’ in water after
being blown, creating a cracked effect on the surface. The artist then
blows the piece larger, which accentuates the cracks. Once the glass
is cool, sandblasting and acid etching bring out the inherent color.
Separately produced multicolored flowers are added to the exterior,
usually by a simple hanging device in the flowers’ stem.
The flowers’ designs fly straight out of Chiarizia’s imagination, most
looking like orchids, trumpet vine flowers or carnivorous plants.
“Before I start production,” he says, “I think about how I would design a
flower if I were king of the universe.”
It would be an odd universe indeed, as some of the pieces in
Chiarizia’s botanical series sport slender-fingered hands and even
eyeballs emerging from the center of the flowers.
The intricate floral elements are lampworked in glass that is tolerant
of high temperatures, enabling Chiarizia to fire layers of color in
enamel. This technique results in a striking, vivid luminescence.
Very recently, Chiarizia has been producing a series of highly original
sculptural pieces that incorporate a core vessel or ‘pod’ surrounded
by a tangle of what could possibly be either vines or tree roots.
Photographs of the Cambodian temple complex, Angkor Wat, inspired
the artist to create this series. At the base of each piece, either a face
or a small architectural structure is set, all made of glass.
The beautifully striated vines are etched in an acid bath for a matte
surface look.
“I am fascinated by the effects of time on things,” Chiarizia says, “Also
how modern day icons stand the test of time.”
In one piece, titled DaleLusions of Grandeur, Chiarizia has placed a
likeness of glassmaking legend Dale Chihuly. Most of the faces are
muses, Buddhas or other religious icons.
“My work goes well beyond me,” says Chiarizia.
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