(Mary Ann) Toots Zynsky
American, 1951
Mary Ann Toots Zynsky was born in 1951 and raised in Massachusetts. Known professionally and to her friends as Toots Zynsky, she received her bachelor of fine arts in 1973 at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. There, she was one of a group of pioneering artists studying with Dale Chihuly, who made studio glass a worldwide phenomenon.
In the summer of 1971, Chihuly brought a small group of his friends and a few RISD students, including Zynsky, to Washington State. There, she participated in the founding and early development of Pilchuck Glass School. By early 1972, she was making installations with slumped plate glass. In 1973, she began experimenting with video and performance works that incorporated hot and cold glass with artist Buster Simpson. Her experimental work—which was characteristic of much of the art being made in the 1970s—was important for the development of glass as a material to explore issues in contemporary art.
In 1980, Zynsky became assistant director and head of the hot shop at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop in New York City, which is now known as UrbanGlass and located in Brooklyn. At the Experimental Glass Workshop, she brought together her interests in barbed wire and glass. “I wanted to make a vessel that was a perfect heavy glass, a simple crystalline object enveloped in barbed wire,” she says. These experiments evolved into the “spun glass” vessels.
By 1982, she was working on pieces combining fused nets of glass threads with blown forms. She gave a name to the new technique that she developed, calling it “filet de verre,” or layers of glass threads that are fused and hot-formed inside of a kiln.
In early 1983, Zynsky set off on a three-week trip to Europe, and she ended up staying there for 16 years. Settling in Amsterdam, she and Mathijs Teunissen Van Manen collaborated on the development of the glass thread-pulling machine. Now incorporating sophisticated electronics and custom software, these unique machines, which make thread in a manner not unlike how glass optical fiber is made, are still used by her.
In 1984, she was invited to the famous Venini glassworks on Murano. While she was there, she reconsidered her early, thread-wrapped blown vessels.
She also had an important insight into her own work while she was at Venini. One day, a group of architects came to watch her make a fused thread vessel, using a small, collapsible kiln, designed and built with Van Manen, that she had brought to Italy. “The architects were so curious and I was so nervous and the piece just wasn’t going right,” Zynsky says. “All of a sudden, I reached into the kiln, grabbed the vessel, and gave it a big squeeze. Finally, I had the form that I wanted! And I thought, Why didn’t I think of this before? I was fed up with the piece, so I tried something different because I had nothing to lose.”
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations and her technique.
To make her vessels, she first layers thousands of multicolored glass threads onto a round heatresistant fiberboard plate. For her, this part of the process is like drawing or painting. This mass of glass threads is then fused inside a kiln. While hot, the fused thread disk is allowed to slowly slump into a series of consecutively deeper and rounder preheated bowl-shaped metal forms. To make taller vessels, the piece is turned upside down and slumped over a cone-shaped mold. Finally, Zynsky reaches into the kiln, wearing special heat-resistant gloves, and she squeezes the glass into a unique undulating form.
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations and her technique.
In 1999, Zynsky and her family moved from Europe to the United States, establishing themselves in Providence, Rhode Island where she lives and works today.
Selected public collections
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, U.S.A
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, U.S.A.
Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, U.S.A.
de Young Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, U.S.A.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, U.S.A.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
Musée des Arts Décoratifs du Louvre, Paris, France
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I., U.S.A.
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
National Gallery of Victoria, Victoria, Australia
National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian), Washington DC, U.S.A.
Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, U.S.A.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, U.S.A.
Saint Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, U.S.A.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
The White House Collection, Washington DC, U.S.A. (now housed at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A)
Bibliography:
Arthur Danto, Toots Zynsky, exhibition catalogue, Glasmusset Ebeltoft, 2001.
Ferdinand Hampson, Studio Glass in America: A 50-Year Journey, 2012.
Lloyd E. Herman, American Glass: Masters of Art, exhibition catalogue, Smithsonian Institute, 1998.
A Passion for Glass: The Aviva and Jack A. Robinson Studio Glass Collection, 1998.
Suzanne Ramljak, Crafting a Legacy: Contemporary American Crafts in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002.
Kurt Varnedor et al., Modern Contemporary: Art at MoMA since 1980, 2000.
In the summer of 1971, Chihuly brought a small group of his friends and a few RISD students, including Zynsky, to Washington State. There, she participated in the founding and early development of Pilchuck Glass School. By early 1972, she was making installations with slumped plate glass. In 1973, she began experimenting with video and performance works that incorporated hot and cold glass with artist Buster Simpson. Her experimental work—which was characteristic of much of the art being made in the 1970s—was important for the development of glass as a material to explore issues in contemporary art.
In 1980, Zynsky became assistant director and head of the hot shop at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop in New York City, which is now known as UrbanGlass and located in Brooklyn. At the Experimental Glass Workshop, she brought together her interests in barbed wire and glass. “I wanted to make a vessel that was a perfect heavy glass, a simple crystalline object enveloped in barbed wire,” she says. These experiments evolved into the “spun glass” vessels.
By 1982, she was working on pieces combining fused nets of glass threads with blown forms. She gave a name to the new technique that she developed, calling it “filet de verre,” or layers of glass threads that are fused and hot-formed inside of a kiln.
In early 1983, Zynsky set off on a three-week trip to Europe, and she ended up staying there for 16 years. Settling in Amsterdam, she and Mathijs Teunissen Van Manen collaborated on the development of the glass thread-pulling machine. Now incorporating sophisticated electronics and custom software, these unique machines, which make thread in a manner not unlike how glass optical fiber is made, are still used by her.
In 1984, she was invited to the famous Venini glassworks on Murano. While she was there, she reconsidered her early, thread-wrapped blown vessels.
She also had an important insight into her own work while she was at Venini. One day, a group of architects came to watch her make a fused thread vessel, using a small, collapsible kiln, designed and built with Van Manen, that she had brought to Italy. “The architects were so curious and I was so nervous and the piece just wasn’t going right,” Zynsky says. “All of a sudden, I reached into the kiln, grabbed the vessel, and gave it a big squeeze. Finally, I had the form that I wanted! And I thought, Why didn’t I think of this before? I was fed up with the piece, so I tried something different because I had nothing to lose.”
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations and her technique.
To make her vessels, she first layers thousands of multicolored glass threads onto a round heatresistant fiberboard plate. For her, this part of the process is like drawing or painting. This mass of glass threads is then fused inside a kiln. While hot, the fused thread disk is allowed to slowly slump into a series of consecutively deeper and rounder preheated bowl-shaped metal forms. To make taller vessels, the piece is turned upside down and slumped over a cone-shaped mold. Finally, Zynsky reaches into the kiln, wearing special heat-resistant gloves, and she squeezes the glass into a unique undulating form.
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations and her technique.
In 1999, Zynsky and her family moved from Europe to the United States, establishing themselves in Providence, Rhode Island where she lives and works today.
Selected public collections
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, U.S.A
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, U.S.A.
Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, U.S.A.
de Young Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, U.S.A.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, U.S.A.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
Musée des Arts Décoratifs du Louvre, Paris, France
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I., U.S.A.
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
National Gallery of Victoria, Victoria, Australia
National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian), Washington DC, U.S.A.
Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, U.S.A.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, U.S.A.
Saint Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, U.S.A.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
The White House Collection, Washington DC, U.S.A. (now housed at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A)
Bibliography:
Arthur Danto, Toots Zynsky, exhibition catalogue, Glasmusset Ebeltoft, 2001.
Ferdinand Hampson, Studio Glass in America: A 50-Year Journey, 2012.
Lloyd E. Herman, American Glass: Masters of Art, exhibition catalogue, Smithsonian Institute, 1998.
A Passion for Glass: The Aviva and Jack A. Robinson Studio Glass Collection, 1998.
Suzanne Ramljak, Crafting a Legacy: Contemporary American Crafts in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002.
Kurt Varnedor et al., Modern Contemporary: Art at MoMA since 1980, 2000.
She also had an important insight into her own work while she was at Venini. One day, a group of
architects came to watch her make a fused thread vessel, using a small, collapsible kiln, designed
and built with Van Manen, that she had brought to Italy. “The architects were so curious and I
was so nervous and the piece just wasn’t going right,” Zynsky says. “All of a sudden, I reached
into the kiln, grabbed the vessel, and gave it a big squeeze. Finally, I had the form that I wanted!
And I thought, Why didn’t I think of this before? I was fed up with the piece, so I tried something
different because I had nothing to lose.”
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in
Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations
and her technique.
To make her vessels, she first layers thousands of multicolored glass threads onto a round heatresistant
fiberboard plate. For her, this part of the process is like drawing or painting. This mass
of glass threads is then fused inside a kiln. While hot, the fused thread disk is allowed to slowly
slump into a series of consecutively deeper and rounder preheated bowl-shaped metal forms. To
make taller vessels, the piece is turned upside down and slumped over a cone-shaped mold.
Finally, Zynsky reaches into the kiln, wearing special heat-resistant gloves, and she squeezes the
glass into a unique undulating form.
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in
Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations
and her technique.
In 1999, Zynsky and her family moved from Europe to the United States, establishing themselves
in Providence, Rhode Island where she lives and works today.
architects came to watch her make a fused thread vessel, using a small, collapsible kiln, designed
and built with Van Manen, that she had brought to Italy. “The architects were so curious and I
was so nervous and the piece just wasn’t going right,” Zynsky says. “All of a sudden, I reached
into the kiln, grabbed the vessel, and gave it a big squeeze. Finally, I had the form that I wanted!
And I thought, Why didn’t I think of this before? I was fed up with the piece, so I tried something
different because I had nothing to lose.”
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in
Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations
and her technique.
To make her vessels, she first layers thousands of multicolored glass threads onto a round heatresistant
fiberboard plate. For her, this part of the process is like drawing or painting. This mass
of glass threads is then fused inside a kiln. While hot, the fused thread disk is allowed to slowly
slump into a series of consecutively deeper and rounder preheated bowl-shaped metal forms. To
make taller vessels, the piece is turned upside down and slumped over a cone-shaped mold.
Finally, Zynsky reaches into the kiln, wearing special heat-resistant gloves, and she squeezes the
glass into a unique undulating form.
While maintaining a studio in Amsterdam, Zynsky moved to Paris in 1990. In her studios in
Amsterdam and Paris, she made series of vessels in which she developed her color combinations
and her technique.
In 1999, Zynsky and her family moved from Europe to the United States, establishing themselves
in Providence, Rhode Island where she lives and works today.
