Ritsue Mishima in Architectural Digest

[Chelseaglass]

I am having a difficult time appreciating how Mishima has "taught them to dare, to risk-to take glass to the extreme" as referring to Venetien glassblowers who create her work. The descriptions of the pieces mesmerized me more than the glass, both in this article and on the web when I googled this newly discovered glass artist to see what else she has dictated to master glassblowers. Why am I missing something here?

[Brock]

I don't think you're missing anything.
Looks like a beginner session at Pilchuck, with a dissonant soundtrack. . .

[DonMcClennen]

have you a link??

[Morganica]

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/arch ... ow#slide=1
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/arch ... ma-article

Uhm...doesn't look all that extreme to me, but rather pretty basic stuff. Be interesting to have heard her instructions to the gaffer because if they were any longer than "just make it whirl around, like a tornado or something," I'd be very surprised.

Reminds me of something I saw in a sculptor's magazine awhile back: http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2010/ ... lly-yours/

[Brock]

This is what I found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gDV0LGISXQ

[Tom Fuhrman]

the real thing here is getting the Venetian guys to be loose and not make exact calculated pieces like they traditionally do. We Americans, on the other hand, have embraced this looseness for the last 50 years and that's what drove the Studio movement for the 1st 30 years and then the Italians came here and things got more tight and calculated. That freeness and spontaniety has been lost to a large degree in the last 20 years. Everything now has to be precise and executed to the 10th degree and doesn't allow the glass to speak anything for itself. It's all about control now. Look at some of Freitz Dreisbach's pieces from 25 years ago for examples of spontaniety. Look at Dale Chihuly's early videos and you'll see a lot more spontaniety than most haved today. He tried to push the limits to where the piece was ultimately out of control of the gaffer. IMO, Some of his earlier stuff was the most creative he did.

[Morganica]

the real thing here is getting the Venetian guys to be loose and not make exact calculated pieces like they traditionally do. We Americans, on the other hand, have embraced this looseness for the last 50 years and that's what drove the Studio movement for the 1st 30 years and then the Italians came here and things got more tight and calculated. That freeness and spontaniety has been lost to a large degree in the last 20 years. Everything now has to be precise and executed to the 10th degree and doesn't allow the glass to speak anything for itself. It's all about control now. Look at some of Freitz Dreisbach's pieces from 25 years ago for examples of spontaniety. Look at Dale Chihuly's early videos and you'll see a lot more spontaniety than most haved today. He tried to push the limits to where the piece was ultimately out of control of the gaffer. IMO, Some of his earlier stuff was the most creative he did.

I agree, but it's a localized phenomenon, not a sign that the glass movement(s) are slowing down, and not something I'd necessarily want to brag about. It's going to wind up as more insult than anything: "Ritsue has succeeded in removing the stick that was plugging up Venetian glass and which had eluded everyone else." Getting the Venetians to take baby steps into spontaneity is more akin to a jobskills project than art.

(Edit: And in the end, were the Venetians really becoming more spontaneous or simply performing to order?)

I think you get to a certain level in any creative endeavor and find a terrible temptation to play it safe, with a lot of punishment if you don't (i.e., people stop buying your stuff). I wouldn't argue that the urge to play it safe frequently bites older, well-established artists, writers, directors, musicians, institutions, etc. In the end, though, isn't it a lifecycle thing? The newer, fresher offerings get a chance because the established stuff goes stale...

[Brock]

I don't see this type of work as new and fresh, except maybe to traditional Venetian blowers.
It's been done in the USA and Scandinavia for decades, I saw this type of clear, off-hand sculpture at least 30 years ago. Maybe that's the deal, generations come along ignorant of the past . . .

[Chelseaglass]

Thank you for the enlightenment. The "hotdogs" said quite a bit.

Maybe it is the writer of the Architectural Digest article that has me mesmerized: "Blisters erupt across the surface of a squat vase, scattering the sun's rays like a handful of buckshot". I purchased the magazine just to enjoy and digest his prose.

Maybe it is just the marketing machine at its best.....and as Brock commented, to a new audience.

[Don Burt]

Spontaneity results in something interesting when the creator has chops. Else a floppy vase with radial blue streaks and red marver pickup dots.
http://blog.ocad.ca/wordpress/bluca/fil ... brandt.jpg

[Don Burt]

Thank you for the enlightenment. The "hotdogs" said quite a bit.

Maybe it is the writer of the Architectural Digest article that has me mesmerized: "Blisters erupt across the surface of a squat vase, scattering the sun's rays like a handful of buckshot". I purchased the magazine just to enjoy and digest his prose.

Maybe it is just the marketing machine at its best.....and as Brock commented, to a new audience.

My wife has a subscription to Architectural Disgest. Primarily advertising upscale Swiss watches . Do they really sell so many that they can afford so many full page ads?

[Cynthia O]

Maybe...just maybe what she is doing is about something re-conceptualized; re-imagined, re-discovered, re-interpreted.
It's all been done before, just not by me. What makes it progressive is that you add your voice and your views to the mix.
We all stand on the shoulders of those who went before us, and they on the shoulders of those who went before them. We stand side by side and are influenced by each other and our histories (culture)...

It's always a new audience, we're always being influenced and informed, we add to the evolution of what already exists.

Good blog post at following link.

http://blog.ted.com/2012/08/10/are-all- ... -ferguson/