Benician Glass

SOFA New York Boasts small sales

2012-05-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

SOFA, the show at the Armory last April 20--23, 2012. According to their newsletter among reported sales were the following: a major porcelain sculpture with celadon glaze by Sueharu Fukami for $120,000 from Floating World Gallery (Chicago); a Steffan Dam glass installation at Heller Gallery, New York for $60,000; an Iconic Libensky/Brychtova cast glass sculpture at Litvak Gallery , Tel Aviv for $60,000; a Richard Jolley blown glass at Scott Jacobson Gallery , New York for $45,000; Vivian Beer's Forth Bench for $28,000 and Philipp Aduatz's Melting Chair for $19,500, both at Wexler Gallery Philadelphia; a piece by Jun Kaneko called "dango" for $25,000 Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO; a Kent Townsend bubinga cabinet from Jane Sauer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM) for $23,000; and a Kurt Weiser painted porcelain vessel for $16,000 Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA, and finally a bamboo sculpture by Morigami Jin for $12,500 from the TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
The auditorium floor looked like this.

Blown Glass Lessons

2012-04-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Student works from the blown glass class at Nourot Studio in April 2013. Look at all the pieces they made!
Sign up now for our Spring classes. We can make up when we get six people registered so take a day and challenge yourself!
Six hours of instruction on a Saturday or if a weekday works better we schedule you then. Cost is $347.00 All the tools, colors and safety equipment provided. You come back the next day and learn how to finish and polish. All skill levels accommodated.
email us on gmail nourotglass
Call us at the studio for more information. 707-745-1463
Go to www.benicianglass.com to see our visitors site. and www.nourot.com for the artist site. Thanks for reading.

Next to the Fire

2012-04-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Jimi said: "C,mon let me stand next to your fire." At the Nourot Studio you can get as close as you dare to the molten glass. Blown Glass class was held last Saturday April 21, 2012 for five students. The results were rather good. Not everyone can take the heat, especially on the hottest Spring day of the year. We were too busy showing our students how to gather, shape and blow their unique glass creations to notice the raising temperatures. But when the last piece went into the oven we all headed home for a needed cool shower.

Here are some people learning to blow glass for the first time. Chuck from Petaluma, California had his wife buy him a lesson. He made a really nice set of paperweights and a blown vase as well. Lois who made a pierced paperweight, was taking her third class. Sisters Clo and Lisa worked together. Experienced slump glass artist Diane made a really nice blown form that needed little finishing the next day.

Lessons of blown glass making with the maestro last 5--6 hours. You will get to make 4 or 5 things. The class costs $325. and is scheduled when there are six students signed up. Nobody will go away without a real appreciation of the difficulty and beauty of the glass arts. No two pieces are ever exactly duplicated when blown by hand. That is what makes blowing glass so exciting and fun. You get to see the glass bend, twist and expand into shapes seen only in the mind of the glass maker. Why not try a lesson and challenge your creative side?

Nourot Glass Studio has also done "corporate team building" for Genentech in Vacaville, California. Those 10 production workers were using a really different skill set at the glory hole than they usually did concocting laboratory mediums and drug bases. It was fun seeing people with a scientific background wonder about the nature of molten glass. Their day to day work involves mixing an exact formula of compounds, resulting in a pure and chemically correct mix.

Butterfingers!

2012-03-03T13:52:00.001-08:00

The recent presentation piece by Nourot from Chevron, Inc. to Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea was a gift. Their friends at our local Chevron plant came by and picked it out for them in January. From this picture we know they got it there (on their corporate jet, no less) in good shape, but sometime after this snapshot was taken they fumbled and broke the bowl. You can see that they set it down not centered on the base. Don't feel bad for them. We can replace it easily.
Sorry, but we don't recommend gluing the bowls down when they are this size. Maybe guys used to heavy industry should be gifted a block of crystal. We've got those, too.
No joke, actually once we sold a glass cinder block for an industry who was known for making these here in Northern California. Cement contractor art glass. Hey, why not?

Dan Dailey Show in Massachusetts

2012-03-01T13:16:00.015-08:00

Are you on the East Coast? Near Boston is the Brockton, Massachusetts Fuller Craft Museum. This last month an exhibit of the works of Dan Dailey began on February 18. Dan Dailey, those of you who have read our biography on our site will know was one of the founders of the Pilchuck Glass School in the early 1970's. Dan Dailey's works are influenced by industrial methods and forms. He often added metal bands and fitted other metallic gizmos to the surface of his pieces. In the exhibit at the Fuller Museum there will also be drawings and video.
The glass art exhibit will run through September 12, 2012 and admission and other info can be found on the Fuller Museum site. Hours are Friday through Sundays 10AM-5PM; Thursdays 10AM to 9PM.
It has just come to our attention that the Fuller Museum is posting on Twitter bits about "Dan Dailey: Working Method" under the hash tag #glassart. Gosh! We didn't know there was a hashtag for that. Maybe we should join the conversation, as they say.

Fuller Craft Museum
455 Oak Street
Brockton, MA 02301
T 508-588-6000
F 508-587-6191

30 or 40 or 50, I forget

2012-02-28T14:43:00.000-08:00

Tom Philabaum is a glass artist in Tucson, Arizona. His studio has a long and interesting history. This month he is hosting a show celebrating the studio glass movement in America. He calls it 30, 40, 50 because his gallery is 30, most of the artists he's showing have been making their glass for 40 years and the studio glass movement itself began about 50 years ago.

His special guest artist and speaker is Henry Halem, who will speak on March 3rd at the nearby Tucson Museum of Art about his role in the history of glass making in America. Knowing Henry he'll speak very little about himself and mostly about the artists he admires. When I googled Henry Halem to get his picture, it was everything else about glass but not him!

Henry Halem was the first president of the G.A.S. (Glass Artist's Society) and founded the glass program at Ohio State.

The Philabaum Glass Gallery is open weekdays and Saturdays. Check out the site at www.philabaumglass.com http://www.philabaumglass.com

You can reserve a seat at the glass making demo by calling the studio.

You can read about the show here.

Holiday Sales Lag Behind Retailer's Hopes

2012-01-14T19:07:00.001-08:00

It's been a long three years since the economy went berserk. For retailer's it's meant a really bumpy ride to the bottom; or at the very least dozens of months of doldrums. It feels allot like being becalmed. Where did the people go?? Or when they do come in the door, why is it so hard to connect with their wallets? It seems they want the experience of shopping without the monetary consequence. I'll save that rant for another day. Now I looked up the results of the season on Tiffany's and on the artfulhome.com site (where some great hand crafted works are showcased) and I see that the dreary sales we've experienced in our gallery are likewise being experienced by the "big guys" in our industry.

Luxury goods is our realm. Sounds kind of highfalutin' but that's the case. Nourot makes glass that is a luxury item. Unless you have been nurturing your contemporary art glass collection and funding it's acquisition regularly, you just are damned reluctant to splurge now on a new important work.
Any who, the Tiffany chain reports that the Holiday sales last month were weak. Even though 50% of Tiffany sales come from outside the USA, the outlook is "anemic" according to the web's Financial Times website. The Tiffany stock has recently fallen 10.5 percent to $59.94. To be honest, what does it say to give something from Tiffany's in the current economy? Hey, money is no object to me, I am a master of the universe. This year that sentiment was held in check. Forget you, Santa Baby.

Nowhere could I find a similar report on the exact outcome of the craft-business site artfulhome.com. But there is evidence that it's hurting, too, because they had a 50% off sale last June and ran another one early in 2012. Can't be a stock reduction, I don't think they stock items. They just get the vendors (artists) to promise to hold stock for drop shipment when the site makes a sale for them. The margin there has to be pretty small.
Come to think of it, is Tiffany stuff made in America? Likely it's assembled in America from foreign made components? Anybody who knows drop us a line and let us know.
Future prediction is this: anybody still in business in 2012 knows how to cut costs. And how to make a sale. Look for more great deals everywhere until the banking and housing markets stabilize. Can't say how long that'll be. Perhaps now is the right time to look for deals on the luxury market.
Information taken from Bloomberg.com and FinancialTimes' FT.com

Etsy Top Seller 2011

2012-01-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

From the file: Why I hate Etsy. Here is the item that their newsletter (I keep subscribed in vain hope that Etsy will have something to add to our American Made tradition)says is the most talked about, most shared item of 2011. Did it sell as well? You bet.
Doesn't it look like something made in 6th grade industrial arts class? Ok, maybe if I could examine the quality up close maybe it'd look nicely hand crafted. But the subject matter still remains sophomoric. I mean kinda teeny bopper, people. Is this what is meant by listening to your audience? Guess I should check out what sold best on the Tiffany site and The Guild's artfulhome.com.
You can't beat Etsy for a large selection. Today the jewelry query brought up 3,280,313 items for jewelry!!
Can you believe the prices on Etsy? $22.00? $35.00? Perhaps like us, you will quickly surmise that the operations that produce the hand mades are micro enterprises that don't cut the mustard, bring home the bacon or make for any fun money that keep one from selling the cow.

The success of the makers who sell on Etsy.com is in the buzz they generate, not the cash they generate. Will anyone ever go there to find items of lasting beauty and value that were made by professional artists? You let me know. I can hardly bear to look.

Trends in Hand Blown Glass

2011-12-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

It's just a day away:2012. Today I'm pausing to note that the term "hand blown glass" finally has some meaning in America. When the Nourot Studio was formed years ago, the term was tagged onto anything that was hollow, almost. The actual hand blown part was faked. Sort of like the term "all natural" on a juice drink nowadays.
There just wasn't any real hand blown glass being made until the studio glass movement of the early 1970's in America. Steuben and Blenko did some, but mostly their glass was partly moulded. Maybe Blenko made some wholly hand blown vintage flask bottles and pitchers. And yes, the Wheaton New jersey works did make Early Colonial reproductions for the tourist trade. The point is there was no industry in hand blown glass then.
Today in late 2011, there is a really wide group of people making all kinds of blown works. You probably know that. But look at the ranking of the top ten cities.
Maybe it's time for a new contemporary glass gallery in each of these places.
Google trends tells us the top 10 cities that search for the term "hand blown glass" are:
Seattle
San Diego
Denver
Portland
St Louis
Philadelphia
Tampa
Orlando
Boston and...
San Francisco

Custom Pieces Just in Time for Christmas

2011-12-11T12:28:00.001-08:00

Glass blowers often say, "I can make that!" But will they? The client's imagined piece has to pass through the ears, eyes and hands of the glass artist. Technical and process issues intrude, but often times the result is more than OK. Here is a pattern request: make it clear at the top near the red edge so light passes through the rim. Done, done and done. You have to try it more than once, you see, it's like learning a new song. This lustre piece has green bits in it, too which makes it unique as well. Well done. Next? A small series of little commemorates for a Congressional office. Thanks guys for buying American made.

Show Opening in Benicia Tonight

2011-12-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight at the Rellik Tavern/Coffee Shop/ Art Gallery/ Meeting Hall there is an event you may want to catch. Artist Sandra Summerfield Kozak will be showing her paintings and answering questions about her art.
Looking good, Sandra. You can read more abut this show on the Arts Benicia site HERE
The Rellik also has a facebook page
In case you don't know, the Rellik is a Uber Salon and the place to meet in our town. Kinda strange, I remember when we did not even have an espresso machine here. Yes, that was long ago. Our facebook page is here if you want to, check it out. Mostly full of ornaments and Holiday news this month. I promise more high brow stuff next month.

Most Unusual Christmas Tree Ever

2011-12-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

What is wrong with this picture? Friends have hung their tree from the ceiling!! The ornaments show off better this way, they say. We think it's pretty wacky. The cat is the usual reason people try to get creative with tying down the Christmas tree. Now these people from Benicia, California have hung their tree sideways from wires so that the point f the tree hovers just above your head when you walk into the room. You can see the all red satin Nourot ornament just between the windows near the "bottom" of the tree! Probably would find allot of Tim Burton movies in their DVD cabinet!

Holiday Sale Days 2011

2011-12-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Today, Thursday December 1st we open for our Holiday Sale. We'll be celebrating 37 years in business through Sunday December 4th with demonstrations of glass making and refreshments in the gallery. A large selection of ornaments and smaller things this year awaits your shopping list. We'll be offering 20% off all in studio made pieces.

Benicia artisans don't do a Holiday Open House; so it's rare to have Open Studios in December. Bring your out of town friends to see the glass blowers show how it's made here along the historic waterfront in Benicia, California. The Bay Area's glass makers to the Pope and US Presidents will also be giving glass blowing classes. You can register for a one day workshop December 17th on the Walnut Creek Civic Arts website: www.arts-ed.org.

Hand blown tree ornaments like these will be displayed along with unique works by Micheal Nourot and Nick Nourot. Don't miss this opportunity to get up close to the 2,000 degree molten glass in the glass shop and see the guys turn hot glass into objects of beauty right before your eyes.

Benicia has many Holiday events like the Friday December 2nd evening walk on First Street. There will be singers and wine, food and Victorian costumed revelers. The City of Benicia has a Christmas parade on Saturday morning.

Anti-accuracy is Us

2011-11-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

Today we were solicited by a company wanting to know if we might like to try their 3D scanner so that we could make our products exactly alike. It's pesky isn't it when things don't "fit"? They are obviously overstocked on their fancy 3D scanners if they are asking us to buy one!

At the Nourot Glass Studio we have tried always to avoid repetition, exactitude and regulation of all kinds.

This fancy 3D scanner has important uses to serve like in the machining industry and medical products industries, for example, let's hope it does not infiltrate into the studio artist arena.

Here is what they say the scanner can do: "The Steinbichler 3D scanner has important uses to serve you. It can provide data for you in less than an hour, for most parts. You can then directly compare to your 3D CAD design ( In case you don't know Computer Aided Design--CAD is how plans are drawn in the 21C) to see where the problems lie. The attached tech sheet (756 pages no doubt) illustrates how this process was used to identify problems with an automotive trim die."

Perhaps it would have an application in art jewelry where it is cast and you want to avoid undercuts in the mold....

Anyway take me OFF your list please Mr. Steinbichler! We love, love,love being inexact and letting the glass be what it is. It is sometimes weirdly unpredictable and fascinating in it;s many varied temperatures, viscositys and strengths. Bring on a world of unlike objects! Preserve our individuality somewhere, please. Oh, and buy American Made. Thanks for reading.

People picture credit: Kinekitty.blogspot.com
Four non-set of goblets from the early days of Nourot now in the vault collection.

Hot Glass at the SOFA Chicago Art Show

2011-11-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

Last important show of the fall for contemporary craft works is the Chicago SOFA at the Navy Pier's Festival Hall.

The opening is tonight Thursday November 3 from 7 to 9PM. Preview tickets are available in advance from

Artist list here: www.sofaexpo.com or at the door.

Litvak Gallery (Tel Aviv) returns with another stellar booth installation, featuring Peter Bremers, Dale Chihuly, Vaclav Ciglar, Bohumil Elias, Bohumil Elias; Jr., Stepan Pala, Zora Palova;, Julius Weiland and more!Other top glass artists represented at the fair include: Howard Ben Tré(Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI); Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg (David Richard Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM); José Chardiet (Thomas R. Riley Galleries, Cle

veland, OH); Richard Jolley (Scott Jacobson Gallery, New York & Berengo Studio 1989, Murano & Venice); John Kiley (Traver Gallery, Seattle); Vladimira Kumplar (Heller Gallery, New York); Latchezar Boyadjiev (PISMO Gallery, Denver, CO); Silvia Levenson(Bullseye Gallery, Portland, OR); Libensky/Brychtova (Habatat Galleries, West Palm Beach, FL); Richard Marquis (Elliott Arts West, Santa Fe, NM); William Morris and Yoichi Ohira (Barry Friedman Ltd); Ginny Ruffner (Maurine Littleton Gallery, Washington, DC); Paul Stankard (Jane Sauer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM);Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni (a new collaboration! at Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM); Lino Tagl

iapietra-with a booksigning! (Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, MA); and Bertil Vallien (Hawk Galleries, Columbus, OH). Stankard and Vallien will speak in the Lecture Series. Don't miss the panel discussion Who Made This?

The Corning Museum of Glass Hot Glass Roadshow's live demonstrations

by SOFA-represented artists and Corning master glassblo

wers; or new! creation of a glass mosaic by The Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA). Here Richard Jolley blows some glass using the Corning Museum of Glass' mobile roadshow.

Picture credit SOFA website: wood seat by Wendell Castle, who was the instructor at RIT when I was there at the School for American Craftsmen.

Dangers of Email Marketing

2011-11-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

You hear so much about ID theft these days. Today we've discovered another kind of ID issue: split email personality.

The original web email our business had was through the server that held our company site. For the last three years we have been using the gmail "system", "cloud" or whatever it is.

It seems that the old email address is coming back to haunt us. Mail to this old address was not forwarded; important mail. The settings were wrong! Sounds dire. So a little hunting was necessary to find the important mail.

In this new economy it's not unusual all of a sudden to have someone you thought you knew how to contact fall off your radar. Businesses fail, people move on, retire and what have you. Maybe we have been lax in reading our discarded email addresses, but today while looking through the settings we had for an old business email I have found a few important people whose emails have definitely fallen through the cracks.

Anyway, If you need to find us you may just use the email on our site: nourot.com or the tourist site: benicianglass.com Easier still, write us in the comments section below and it'll come to our box we are reading, I swear it. And we'll get in touch immediately. How's that for customer service 3.0? We'll be happy to hear from you in either case.

Dale Evers Raven Lamp

2011-10-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

We sold it! The 6.5 foot Raven Lamp by Dale Evers has finally found a home in Dallas, Texas. Yesterday John Gilman decided to make this lamp his own. The cast bronze birds that top this monumental piece are life size! They tower over you in a wise, foreboding way that is as attracting as it is unsettling.
John is a recently retiree who loves art and collecting. He intends to add shades by Nourot to other lamps he currently owns in his home in Texas.
A man's home is his castle and now John Gilman has a castle worthy piece to enjoy at his leisure.
The raven has long been considered one of the world's smartest animals. It has been proven that they use tools and can learn from experience. The American Indians believed they had wise spirits that could guide you on a hunt. Here in Benicia, California we see them dropping walnuts in an intersection trying to get cars to crush them open.
Norse mythology has two Ravens, Hugin and Munin who represent Thought and Memory. Then who can the third Raven be? Perhaps it is An Morrigan, an Irish goddess who appeared as a Raven in an old Irish folk tale. Any way, we are very glad to see our work get a happy home. Goodbye dear birds. And thank you, John Gilman we need more collectors like you.

Orbix Glass at Seaside Fusion Glass Gallery

2011-10-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

If you are in the Seaside, Florida area stop by our gallery Fusion Art Glass to see the Orbix Studio glass by Cal Breed. This man from Alabama makes the most beautiful pieces of blown glass. We love the examples of his work we have had here at our gallery in Benicia. Here is an example of Cal's work. This image is in fact taken in his home studio.
Cal just made a stop at the gallery to promote his work last weekend. If you were there, let us know what it was like.
Hope you agree his work is stunning.

Brian Hackney from KPIX TV CBS 5 Blows Glass

2011-10-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Bay Area TV host Brian Hackney will be blowing glass at Nourot Studio on the show "Eye on the Bay". This segment will air October 27th!
The series follows a popular weatherman and TV host around to points of interest in our local area. The TV segment is called “Point A to B: Piedmont to Benicia” ; so don't miss it Thursday, 10/27….7pm on KPIX TV channel 5.
This just in from the producer, Reuben Maness: "the whole episode will be posted on our website a day or so after."

CBS 5 / KPIX-TV
855 Battery St., San Francisco CA

Farmer's Market in Corning, New York

2011-10-06T07:42:00.000-07:00

Today we want to share a video about how the biggest glass pumpkins are made. At Nourot we are doing maybe 5 sizes, all smaller than this, have a look.Oh, yeah, it takes five guys. Also it takes some special equipment and a half dozen tries, apparently.

And the fisherman picture is just for our guys. Get busy, a boat of glass would be really cool.

The Glass Pumpkin Sale at the Corning Museum of Glass is in the parking lot this weekend. Check out the details on the Corning Museum of Glass site. www.cmog.org

Pumpkin Patch in Benicia

2011-10-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

Usually I'd just post these images to FB but the FB page isn't working today. So folks, yes, Nourot has been making glass pumpkins. We couldn't make them all the same, never. We have short ones, tall, ones, black ones, orange ones, silver mirrored ones and well, just about any color! The pale ones are my personal favorite. There is allot to making these as we found out. The stems are kind of tricky and time sensitive. Not real forgiving once they touch down!

For more images write us at the shop or call. We are off to an outdoor art fair this weekend at Phil and Chad Glashoff's near Green Valley, CA. Not our usual venue, but it's a party so what the heck. Try and catch your self one this month before they are all gone. The prices start at $50. Thanks for reading.

Dallas Addison Area Art Show

2011-09-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

The 21st Anniversary of our favorite Texas gallery is having a "One of a Kind" show of glass artists. Micheal Nourot's work titles: Low energy bowl will be one of the pieces in this show. Michael Riffkind and Barbara Kittrell have operated a fine craft art gallery showcasing American made glass since 1990. The show runs October 1st through November 5th. For more information call: gallery 972-239-7957 or the studio (classes in slumping and stained glass) 972-239-7989.

Gorilla Glass Takes on the Tough Jobs in Tech

2011-09-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

When we think of sweaty gaffers toiling at the glory hole around here, we think of pure animal strength. Now Corning has put some of their high tech knowledge to use in creating a durable fused layered glass for tech applications called "Gorilla Glass."

It's Manufactured using "Corning’s proprietary fusion process" says the website. We imagine this to mean it's a layered glass like the strengthening process that makes bulletproof glass. Isn't it great to know a Gorilla couldn't hurt your cell phone? Especially since we leave it out where little hands can get to it.

Or we drop it off our laps as we exit the car onto the asphalt. Ouch. That used to mean a totaled screen. I know I destroyed my first i-pod this way.

The surface of Corning's "Gorilla Glass" has the same surface quality as all of Corning’s high-technology display substrates. A substrate is a layer that underlies something. Makes sense.

Gorilla Glass is RF compatible, and has the optical clarity that makes it ideal for HD and 3-D television screens.

Mr. Rodgers and Koko image courtesy of the Feefee the RN's Blog. The Gorrilla watching the laptop is from Fast Company's (one of my favorite magazines) website.

Steuben No More, Say NO!

2011-09-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Cornell Daily sun reported today, September 8, 2011, that Steuben, the 100 plus year old American Crystal factory will close later this year.
In the press release, the company said its sole factory and a store, both located on the Corning Museum of Glass campus, will close Nov. 29
The flagship store in NYC will close when it's inventory is sold.
What a shock. I can hardly think. I know the costs involved in keeping the furnaces stoked. The increase in energy, materials, chemicals, transportation, labor, benefits, safety, and gosh what else? I know the drop offs in sales. Don't we all know the drop off in sales of objects of beauty for the American home?
It is truly an American Art Glass Armegedon. Nobody can imagine an American art glass scene without Corning New York's iconic century old lead crystal factory curning out those one of a kind designer works by visiting artists and the usual cigar ash trays, trumpet flower vases and the like. The polishing room there was as close as we, Americans got to a traditonal glass works where there were actual highly skilled glass finishers working daily on loads of fabulous flawless objects d'arte. The blowers were on a par with many other countries, it was in the melting and the polishing that Steuben in the later half of the 20th Century excelled.
It's all too much for me. I have to go and chill now.

Pulling Hard Time in Murano

2011-09-07T18:00:00.001-07:00

Ah, Venice. City of mystery, light and spectacle. For our Nick Nourot, however, it is a learning experience on Murano at the Abate Zanotte School of Glass (Scuola Del Vetro.)

Like father, like son, Nick is walking in the footsteps of many Americans who have traveled to Venice to learn the ancient techniques of glass making. Nick is no stranger to either a glass works or the Italian style. He began making glass at the Nourot Studio of his parents when he was nine years old, but this trip he is meeting the glass world of today.

In the past the secrets of Venician glass making were forbidden to be shared outside of the lagoon. Now in the 21st Century, Italian maestri welcome foreign students who wish to learn 'retticello" and some of the other Italian glass making techniques. Many American glass artists try their hand at this, but few produce works of light and airy beauty as the Italians have done for centuries.

Venice is a place of tourists, all looking to touch the magic of a city that was the first center of the Western World. Usually your hotel in Venice will have a"private boat" to ferry you to "a very good" factory on Murano. Most likely the hotel and the glass works are in cohoots so you see a crew making schlock and are taken into the sales room by your equally "private guide" to purchase a pricey and mediocre souvenir. Those in the know take the vaporetto (bus) to the island and look among the shops along the few main "streets" on Murano.

At the Abate Zanotte School of Glass today the teacher of the glass blowing class is Livio Serena. His family has been involved in the art of glass blowing since the 16th century. According to promovetro.com, his family were the inventors of the technique known as "zanfirico". Moretti was the glass house that his father and grandfather worked for, he himself at the age of fourteen worked at the well-known Fratelli Toso Glass Factory. Now he helps others realize their dreams in glass and teaches often at the Abate Zanotte School.