Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky (American, b. 1951). Filet-de-verre fused and thermo-formed colored glass threads titled "Italian Chaos X" in the form of a colorful undulating bowl, 1995. Signed with a Z in one thread along the underside. With a lucite stand for display.

Provenance: Elliott Brown Gallery, Seattle, 1995; Private Minnesota Collection.

Lot Essay:
Zynksy went by the name of "Toots" almost from birth. She was raised in Massachusetts and studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1973. It was here she was one of a group of pioneering glass artists who studied with Dale Chihuly. In the summer of 1971, she accompanied Chihuly along with fellow RISD students and friends of Chihuly to Washington state where she would participate in the founding and early development of the Pilchuck Glass School.

In 1980 she would become the assistant director and head of hte hot shop at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop in New York City, now known as UrbanGlass. While there she experimented with barbed wire and glass which eventually evolved into "spun glass" vessels. Her 1982 vessel titled "Clipped Grass" was her first foray into the use of the filet-de-verre technique she would pioneer and that would soon become her hallmark.

Filet-de-verre involves pulling fine threads from a glass cane. She then layers thousands of these strands onto a round heat-resistant fiberboard plate. These threads are then fused inside a kiln. While still hot, the glass is allowed to slump over bowl-shaped forms. After the glass has achieved the desired shape, she then reaches into the kiln with heat-resistant gloves and squeezes the glass into unique undulating forms.
(Not including stand) Height: 7 1/2 in x width: 15 3/4 in x depth: 8 1/2 in.

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