by Marti Blair    

In February I found myself fortunate to be included in a 3 and a half day workshop with Master Glass Artist Narcissus Quagliata and Ted Sawyer (Director of Research and Development at Bullseye Glass Co) at the Bullseye Resource Center in Emeryville, CA. There is a word in the Buddhist philosophy that means: "going alone to meet the master". Last year my workshop journey began at "The Familiar" held at a Buddhist retreat center in Batavia, NY with Catharine Newell, Karl Harron, Amanda and Lance Tayler of OATKA Glass. This word was introduced to me there. This workshop epitomized that experience for me. Narcissus once ran a meditation center in San Francisco under a Buddhist master and continues to meditate to this day.

The course was titled New Frontiers in Fluidity. In the beginning he said "We have so little time together..." and then he began to teach. He shared images of work he calls Mediterranean Treasures, currently portraits representing Greek bronzes from a Roman shipwreck that were buried at sea for centuries. He saw the bronzes in 1981 in Florence and they had a tremendous impact on him. Some of the works from this series were done a process he called "sliders". This technique is done by stacking layers of transparent colors on a tilted plane and firing to full fuse. The glass will melt and slide down. He has made dozens of these in his studio and works on pieces for several weeks painting images with black enamels and refiring on top of the slider glass which is then full fused again to level it. Since this was only one process of several taught during the course, we certainly did have very little time together to grasp the uses for an approach to making art with glass.

Another technique he shared was about using the enamel to lay down a design on the glass and then applying various frits to the piece before firing. The image shows up through the frit colors and creates a lot of depth. Final firings at tack fuse using more frit allowed for further development of the piece. So you have fluidity in design by painting with enamel and can develop a non-linear pattern in color with glass frit.

From the beginning of his work with glass, coming to glass in the early 1970's as a fine art painter (his teacher was Richard Diebenkorn) he was always trying to break free of any limitations the glass had required of the craftsman in expressing his ideas. Early on he used strange cuts in lead lines to defy the boundaries it had presented and to create a new line or shape to fit the image. Once he began to work with fusing, he went beyond what others had done to incorporate it into his work. Recently while working on the largest stained/fused/painted/blown glass ceiling ever built in Kaohsiung, Taiwan he became aware of the fact that even if he works with some of the best glassblowers in the world (Derix in Germany) to create his own glass it would always be round. Thus, the slider experimentation began.

All of his glassworks have come from drawings, sketches and watercolors he made leading into a project: whether it be a residential or commercial commission, an artwork, or putting to paper an idea that may eventually become a finished artwork. He carries with him always a sketchbook so he can record ideas that may come to him anywhere. His mastery of watercolor is fantastic. He gave a wonderful demo one morning of working with watercolor. He spoke about the brushes, the paper, the line quality, and the effects of varying amounts of water in the work. He spoke about the brushes saying that you want to become familiar with each brush and what it can do. Every brush has its own character, its own spirit. And "Don't get hung up on having to have just the right brush".... The fluidity of watercolor and glass share some wonderful qualities.

He said he wanted to share as much of what he knows as is humanly possible. What he is sharing are techniques he has been exploring for himself. Finding your art is about finding yourself. He told us you have to think about what you are doing. He spends half his time thinking and half making. He spent time with each person's work giving generous, patient, and pointed comments and critiques aimed at helping the artist become a better artist. He held one-on-one meetings with each student and asked us ahead of time to think of a question or two we might have for him. He counseled us to ENJOY our work.

I met Narcissus in 1980 during a workshop with Dan Fenton. Dan took our class to Narcissus' studio where he was teaching at the San Francisco Art Institute. I met him again briefly in Portland, OR last year at BeCon where he was a presenter. But now I have met him, and he is warm, generous, patient and doing amazing work. Now 72, he has entered the age of wisdom and he is happy to share it where he can. Born in Italy, he lived in the Bay Area for 30 some years and now lives on a mountaintop outside of Mexico City where he can see the "center of the universe" from his studio.

I had read the recent book that he has published Narcissus Quagliata: Archetypes and Visions in Light and Glass about his work from the early days to the recent masterworks he has completed and drawings of the new project he would like to complete: a cosmological space unit of sorts that projects light prism images within a sphere.... But after taking the class and feeling very inspired, I came home and gathered materials for a project that I started right away. Then one evening I settled down to look over his book again. I was totally blown away once more with the depth and scale of what he has accomplished as an artist working in glass. Please visit his website for more information and to see the amazing skylight he built in a major underground subway in Kaohsiung, Taiwan; the dome he built for a basilica in Rome that Michelangelo built, and to see the Cosmological project he has designed. www.narcissusquagliata.com In addition, you may want to read William Warmus' article in Glass Magazine from the December 2013 issue "Flourishing on the Edge". Enjoy!  

 AGASC Annual Members Show

at Studio 21 in Balboa Park 

by Gayle Tunney Richardson  

Entry deadline- Sept. 15th 

Show Dates- October 1st -13th

Art Intake October 1st 3-7pm 

Painting and gallery prep October 1st 11-3

Hanging the Show: Thursday, October 2nd 11- 5 

Judging: Friday, October 3rd,  

Artists Reception: Sunday, October 5th, 4-8pm

Pick up and clean up is October 13th 4-6pm 

Show Requirements  

-You must be a current member

-Pay fees at application deadline  

35.00 for the first entry and 10.00 for each additional entry)

-You must volunteer for one tasks listed below

( It takes a village to put on a show )

Please send me an email if you see a position you'd like to help with, [email protected] 

We need help to fill all the TBD (To Be Determined) spots  

1) Show Chair Coordinator: Gayle Tunney 760-445-672 Co-Chair: TBD

2) Graphic Artist (Posters, postcards, email blast) TBD

3) P.R. Machine: a)Press Releases: Gayle Tunney and TBD

b) Postcard Mailing: Art Glass Guild and all Members

4) Applications: Connie Govier and One other very important position:

TBD -this person will also need to do Take in and pick up

will need to do the Spread sheet for checking in and releasing all are piece

Name Tags for Exhibiting Artists

5) Judges Coordinator: Gayle Tunney

6) Permits/Insurance for Raffle/Reception: Jon Simpson

7) Artist Reception/Hor D'eouvres/Tray Pass Wine:

* Coordinator: Devora Safran 2) TBD 3) TBD 4) TBD 5) TBD

8) Reception Raffle Coordinator: TBD 2) TBD 3) TBD 4) TBD

9) Artist Reception Entertainment Coordinator: Gayle Tunney___________

10) Fee Collection: Connie Govier

11) Pre-show Studio touch up Wednesday, October 24th, 10:00am:

Coordinator: TBD 2) TBD 3) TBD 4) TBD 5) TBD

12) Art Intake Wednesday, October 24th, 4pm-6pm: 1) : TBD 2) TBD 3) TBD 4) TBD

13)Show Set Up Thursday, (This category is full.)

14) Show Representatives Schedule Coordinator: TBD (setting up sitting schedule)

15) Spread Sheet/Labels for Art Intake: TBD

17) Ribbon Coordinator: Leslie Perlis

18) Judges: 1) TBD 2) TBD 3) TBD - Gayle will send out letters

19) Show Photographer: TBD

20) Sales Processing on Opening Night: Square via Susan Hirsch/ Connie Govier

21) Show Booklets, Artist Bio's: 1) Gayle Tunney

Program/Price List: will be the Take in Spreadsheet person - TBD

22) Name Tags for Exhibiting Artists: will be the Take in Spreadsheet person TBD

23) Art Pick Up Monday, Nov 5th, 3pm-5pm: 1) Gayle Tunney

1) : TBD 2) TBD 3) TBD 4) TBD