Paula Hayes

Translucent Mini Birdbath in Quince

2018

Thomas Blank was born in Berne, Switzerland, in 1973. He is a master of transformation, who has been investigating the nature of glass for 20 years now, without losing his fascination for the versatility of this unique material. On his artistic voyage towards ever more sublime expression, he creates marvelous vitreous objects, both in terms of shape and color. The reflections, refractions, and optical illusions are especially appealing, and challenge the perception of the viewer. Thomas Blank is both an artist and a craftsman. During his art studies in San Francisco, he already used to work both as a glass-melting technician and as a glass-blower, and he attended workshops by the famous Michael Schunke and Michael Schreiner. Later, he learned the Venetian technique from Josiah McEleheny (1998) and became the assistant to Simone Cenedese in Murano in 2003. Today, Thomas Blank teaches courses himself, works as a lecturer, and creates objects for artists and designers around the world. His works of art have been shown in Europe, the USA, and Japan. Many of them can be seen in numerous collections, including those of the Contemporary Art Museum of Honolulu (Hawaii) and the Museum for Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland. This came from an important Northern California collection that included a wonderful selection of Murano Glass. Aldo Nason, Peter Shire and Ettore Sottsass, Murano master Gigi Toso. A descendent of the legendary Venini dynasty of glassmakers, Laura Diaz de Santillana Incalmo Vases, Lino Tagliapietra, Yoichi Ohira...

Additional Information: Provenance: Estate of a noteworthy Italian glass collector from Florida and New York. Reference (similar example): Venini Glass Catalogue 1921-2007, Franco De...