Object Details
Artist
Tom Patti, born Pittsfield, MA 1943
Luce Center Label
Tom Patti originally experimented with glass by blowing laminated glass cubes into spheres, capturing a bubble inside while retaining the squared edges outside. This progressed into constructing glass "wings" that supported the blown bubble. His meticulous forms are compact yet monumental, suggesting giant columns reproduced in miniature.
Luce Object Quote
"The opening for me is the hidden complexity of something solid that has an interior, a thin wall within a thick wall. The opening appears and disappears as your eye moves over the piece; it's not asking you to look in, it's a three dimensional volume inside a series of two dimensional forms." Tom Patti, American Craft, 1983
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Eleanor T. and Samuel J. Rosenfeld
Date
1985
Object number
2002.8.10A-B
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Decorative Arts-Glass
Crafts
Medium
glass
Dimensions
5 7/8 x 4 1/8 x 2 3/4 in. (14.9 x 10.5 x 6.8 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Renwick Gallery
On View
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor, 56A
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_2002.8.10A-B