The Tacoma Art Museum presents The Marioni Family. Radical Experimentation in Glass and Jewelry an exhibition on view through n view through September 23, 2012. The Marioni Family: Radical Experimentation in Glass and Jewelry showcases how the artists of the Marioni family engage with form, materiality, and tradition, each in their own thought-provoking and individual styles.
Needle Vase, 1995. Blown glass, Overall: 30 x 7 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Marin Marioni, Heaven Is There (Suite of ring, earrings, pendant, and brooch), 2006. Sterling silver, clear and colored resin, decals, porcelain, silver leaf. Courtesy of Marina Marioni. Paul Marioni, The Visitor, 1984. Blown glass, Overall: 12 x 6 inches approximately. Courtesy of the artist.
Exhibition highlights include a retrospective survey of the work of Paul Marioni, one of the nation’s foremost innovators in glass art; a selection of works by his son Dante that underscores his world-renowned skill as a glassblower; and jewelry by his daughter Marina that showcases her humor and wit. The three family members were recently subjects in the “Family Episode” of the PBS documentary series Craft in America.
The Marioni Family features 140 works and celebrates the gift of the Paul Marioni Glass Collection to Tacoma Art Museum, a collection that traces the evolution of the Studio Glass Movement through Paul’s engagement with the Pilchuck Glass School. The exhibition also showcases works by Dante Marioni, including more than 100 of his glass goblets and large-scale vessels. Dante began as a glass blower learning the Venetian tradition and has become one of the nation’s foremost artists working in glass. Marina Marioni’s artwork rounds out the exhibition. Her passion and ingenuity as a self-taught jewelry artist has taken shape through her use of alternative materials and pop culture inspirations. – www.tacomaartmuseum.org