picture: Goblet series, Patrick Primeau 2009
Skills… One thing we talk about a lot working with glass… In our dream world, in the studio, for fun, every day would end with making a goblet. A lot of them end up on the wall of shame (most of then have nothing to be ashamed of). Once a year, we melt a colour pot to make goblets and other pieces. This time is coming soon (right before we shut the furnace off for the holidays). This year, LAVENDER…
While handling objects made out of glass, because of their ‘fragile’ nature, the perceiver have to manipulate them with gentle precise movement thus allowing time to investigate surface, form and depth. The object alter the handler…
It might seem, at first glance, that a seventeenth-century Venetian wineglass is quite unsuited to its function. The stem looks fragile; the junction of the stem and bowl is surely weak; and the curiously shaped lip will certainly make this quite difficult to drink from. In fact, the function of such an object has been carefully considered by its makers.
Such wine glasses were popular at the time among the Venetian nobles precisely because of the care needed to use them. To drink form such a glass requires self-control and delicacy of movement. The function of the glass, therefore, is not simply that of holding wine and allowing it to be conveyed to the mouth. Rather, it is that of constraining the movements and impulses of the user. The user must abandon brusque habits and acquire a more gracious style[1].
[1]Armstrong, John. The secret power of beauty. London: Penguin, 2005. page 23.
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