Directions, map and couponA Brief History of Lampworking
by Robert A. Mickelsen
Although there is no real way to accurately determine the age
of lampworking because many of the techniques associated with
working glass at a flame were established long before the first
lamp, or burner, was developed; lampworking as we know it today
was born with the Italian Renaissance. Angelo Barovier, working
on Murano, created, "cristallo" -- a clear soda glass -- in
1450. As chemical science developed through the inquiries of
alchemists, there arose a concurrent need for clear, durable
vessels to contain, mix, and measure components. No material was
better suited for the task than this new clear glass. The first
apparati were primitive and not really precise. Off-hand, pipe,
glass blowing was poorly suited for making the necessary
objects: Off-hand techniques simply could not provide the
precision demanded and the energy demands for full scale furnace
work seemed wasteful of a tremendous amount of energy and
natural resources (glass furnaces were fueled by cutting down
the forests of Europe) to produce such small things.
The search for precision led (al)chemists to technical
advancements: by forcing a narrow stream of air into the flame
of an oil lamp, sufficient heat could be generated to soften and
work small pieces of glass. However, this stream of air had to
be continuous to yield the desired results. At first the
fledgling lampworkers actually blew through a tube directed at
the flame, but dizziness brought on by hyperventilation made
this solution good only for very short periods. The next step
was a hand bellows, but this did not produce a constant stream
of air as the bellows had to be released in order to refill with
air for the next pump, and it made modeling difficult as the
craftsman had to hold it in one of his hands. These drawbacks
were overcome by adding an expandable bladder to the bellows and
developing a foot bellows which allowed the worker to use both
hands at all times.
The versatility of this new technology was quickly apparent and
gave the lampworker several important advantages over the
glassblower. Because the lampworker was able to selectively heat
the object by directing the flame at a specific area, he could
realize exacting procedures which were extremely difficult for
the off-hand glassblower, who could only reheat the entire piece
all at once. Additionally, as the energy demands of lampworking
were just a tiny fraction of those of glassblowing, it was much
more economical and lampworked creations could be afforded by
common people.
By the beginning of the 18th century localized industries
devoted to making small items for public consumption had sprung
up all over Europe. The town of Nevers, France, was noted for
tiny figurines of people and farm animals which were so popular
that their production continued until the beginning of this
century. The village of Lauscha, Germany, was entirely employed
in the making of Christmas ornaments at the lamp. Venice itself
employed lampworking techniques in making beads and millefiori,
tiny murrines that looked like flowers.
At the turn of the 20th century the Polish father and son team,
Rudolph and Leopold Blaschka, combined to create what is
arguably the most stunning example of lampwork the world has
ever seen. They were already well known for their glass models
of marine life when Virginia Ware of the Harvard Botanical
Museum commissioned them to undertake a mammoth project, the
creation of detailed botanical models of every known variety of
common plant in Europe. Using only a simple bellows-driven lamp
and a variety of home-made tools, the Blaschkas produced the
models with wire frameworks to give them structure and enamels
and paints to duplicate the coloration and texture of the
plants. For the next thirty years they created some 800 models.
The results were stunning! The models are so lifelike that even
close scrutiny cannot distinguish between the glass and the
"real thing". Most are still on display at Harvard's Peabody
Museum. To this day, no one has ever succeded in reproducing the
Blaschkas's techniques or in duplicating the quality of their
work.
The demand for refined scientific instruments continued unabated
through the 19th century. Although equipment and tools became
more sophisticated, the basic material -- the glass formulas --
were the same as when invented more than 200 years before.
Therefore, the apparati were prone to leaching when exposed to
caustic chemicals and had a tendency to shatter when repeatedly
heated and cooled. In 1924 scientists working at the glass
factories in Corning, New York, invented a new, more resilient
glass which was composed of a large percentage of uncombined
silica, used boron instead of soda or lead, and contained a
small percentage of aluminum for clarity. This new borosilicate
glass, named Pyrex, has a very low coefficient of expansion and
is very resistant to thermal and physical shock. As it is about
15% lighter by volume than traditional glass, but much stronger,
Pyrex was ideal for apparati. However there was one problem: the
melting temperature was so high that the forced-air lamps could
not melt the glass and the material could not be worked.
Borrowing from the welding trade and combining oxygen and
natural gas, new burners were designed that produced a flame of
sufficient heat to melt Pyrex; and torches clamped to the
lampworker's bench top replaced traditional oil lamps. These too
were eventually replaced by the modem surface-mix bench burners
in use today.
The advent of Pyrex revolutionized lampworking in north America.
Although developed for scientific instruments, Pyrex soon found
its way into the hands of artists and artisans who adapted the
glass for "artistic" and novelty pieces. "Glassblowers" began
popping up at county fairs and tourists traps across the United
States making and selling their items in front of appreciative
crowds. No one called it art, but everyone enjoyed it just the
same, and all across America the public came to associate
"glassblowing" with the lampworkers they encountered at
carnivals, theme parks and, later shopping malls --blown swans
filled with colored water, little spun glass ships, animals that
could be made cheaply and sold quickly. Quality and creativity
were not relevant issues and lampworkers copied each other
mercilessly until all novelty lampwork started to look alike.
In Europe, however, the introduction of borosilicate glass did
not denote the death toll for old traditions. In Lauscha, local
craftsmen continued working strictly with German soda-lime
glass, busily perfecting centuries-old techniques and, at times,
unconsciously crossing the line from novelty to art. In
particular, Albin Schaedel, developed and perfected a technique
-- montage -- that came to characterize East German lampwork
from the l960's on. Montage is simply the assembly of many
pieces of tubing into one large bubble which is then shaped into
a final vessel form. This technique is incredibly difficult and
time consuming, and Schaedel and a few other Lauschans are the
only ones in the world who have mastered it. The resulting
vessels are impossibly intricate and very, very beautiful.
Perhaps the greatest master craftsman from Lauscha is Kurt
Wallstab, whose work is internationally acclaimed for its beauty
and perfection.
Venetian lampworkers also clung tenaciously to their traditional
soda glass formulas, primarily for color compatibility,
especially as the Moretti factory there continued to produce a
broad spectrum of brilliantly colored cane, which local lamp
workers were busily mastering to create brightly colored pieces
of a quality unequaled anywhere in the world. Modern masters
like Lucio Bubacco, Vittorio Costantini, and Gianni Toso carry
on the Venetian traditions and techniques.
However, in Czechoslovakia one remarkable woman, Vera Liskova,
elevated borosilicate lampworking into a fine art. Her large,
striking, abstract sculptures captured the imagination of art
critics and collectors during the 1970's until her untimely
death in 1979. Liskova's influence can be seen today in the work
of several prominent East European lampworkers including the
Poles Paulina Komorovska and Anna Skibska who make large,
fragile, austere sculpture composed of impossibly thin pieces of
glass assembled into a greater whole.
Godo Frabel, a young East German who had completed his
apprenticeship with Jena Glaswerke in Mainz, emigrated to the
United States in 1965 and got a job as a scientific glass blower
in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1968 realized his life long dream by
establishing his own studio and gallery which presented
lampworking as a true art medium for the first time in America.
He specialized in the depiction of everyday objects in glass in
unexpected contexts: a sculpture of coat hangers, a row of giant
glass nails pounded into a plank with a glass hammer frozen in
mid-strike, a faucet with a drop of water suspended forever.
Frabel's innovative approach to lampworking was an inspiration
to a generation of lampworkers, many of whom copied him
shamelessly, but all of whom were deeply influenced by him. All
across America, young lampworkers followed Frabel's example and
tried, with varying degrees of success, to emulate his approach.
One of these was a young woman who had just received her degree
in fine art from the University of Georgia--Ginny Ruffner. She
began working for Frabel in 1975 and, although her background
was in painting, she saw something in the glass that intrigued
her. She worked with Frabel for five years, developing her
ability, then set out on her own and began exploring her own
vision of lampworked glass as a serious art medium. Her work was
so unique in its approach, so undeniably creative, that she
received almost immediate acclaim. By sandblasting the glass,
she found that she could then paint on the surface. The rough
surface allowed paint to adhere to the
non-porous material and, suddenly, the possibilities were
endless. The results were undeniably art and, for the first time
lampworking was recognized as a medium for fine art by art
critics, gallery owners, and collectors. Ginny had cleared the
way, and soon the path was filled with young artists, emboldened
by her success. The old image of the carnival novelty, the side
show attraction, was swiftly replaced by a new breed of daring
and innovative artists who were not afraid to break rules and
turn their backs on tradition.
In the past ten years a revolution of sorts has taken place in
lampwork, not just in the acceptance on the part of the public,
but in the vision lampworkers have of themselves. Traditional
themes have given way to outrageous forms of expression and
endless experimentation. Lampworked art is being shown and sold
along side painting and sculpture in the finest art galleries in
the United States, Europe, and Japan. Around the world
flameworking artists of all nations share a hunger for
knowledge, both technical and esoteric, that will drive the
development of this medium for years to come.
c. Robert A. Mickelsen
Melborne, Florida April 1998
Robert A. Mickelsen is an artist who specializes in lampworking.
He shows his work in some of the finest galleries in the United
States. He has taught at the Pilchuck Glass School, Penland
School of Crafts, and is scheduled to teach at the Studio at the
Corning Museum of Glass this year. He writes for two glass
publications. A devoted husband and father, he maintains a
delicate balance between his love of glass and his love of
family.
© 1998 Centro Studio Vetro Murano
Thanks to CSV, Murano
