২৬ অক্টোবর, ২০২৬

"In a 1993 cover story — 'Revenge of the Philistines' was the headline — Forbes lumped a Stankard piece in with 'junk collectibles.'"

"If he heard the sneering, Mr. Stankard did not seem to care. A devout Catholic, he saw melting his woodland worlds into miniature as a higher calling. Wearing purple didymium lenses to protect his eyes from the sodium flare heated glass emits, Mr. Stankard worked beneath a Benedictine motto: Laborare est orare, Latin for 'to work is to pray.'"

From "Paul Stankard Has Died. Behold What He Did With Paperweights. Yes, paperweights. Working over a nearly 5,000-degree gas flame, he created glass marvels that sold for tens of thousands of dollars. He was 83" (NYT)(gift link, with photos).

৭টি মন্তব্য:

Jamie বলেছেন...

Not nearly enough pictures - at minimum, what's there is charming, and I can't for the life of me figure out how he did it. Glass is fascinating.

Craftsman, artist - I just walked Santa Barbara's Art Walk yesterday and virtually everything there was "primitive" crap. I know I'm supposed to stand there and let it grow on me, realize that the red coyote that looks as if an right-year-old painted it actually involves artistic decisions, mixing paint, whatever the heck. But all I see is a red coyote that looks as if an right-year-old painted it, and I don't want it on my (non-existent) wall. It evokes nothing in me.

The few pictured paperweights, on the other hand, invited me to zoom in and study and, as I said, be charmed by the detail, and even wonder if by some miracle he managed to encase living flowers in melted glass - and to appreciate the beauty of nature through its faithful and seemingly impossible representation.

Ice Nine বলেছেন...

Jamie, I've collected fine glass paperweights for fifty years - my advice: Don't start "studying" them; it will trap you. Just kidding. Do it, for they are exquisitely beautiful and there are many fantastic, creative styles beyond Stankard's gorgeous but now commonplace florals. I wanted a Stankard in my early years but couldn't afford it. Now that I can, I won't get one because I'm starting to sell my collection off, so it doesn't make sense.

CJinPA বলেছেন...

Everyone admires the person who loves what they do. It's contagious.

Joe Bar বলেছেন...

Looks like he was a marvelous hobbyist/craftman.

Magilla Gorilla বলেছেন...

The Art Institute of Chicago used to have a room on the lower floor dedicated to paperweights. Gorgeous, and mystifying. They use the room for something else now. The paperweights may still be in their collection, but they have not been displayed in a very long time, I think.

RJ বলেছেন...

A junk magazine sneering at beautiful objects.

Rustygrommet বলেছেন...

A guy who could actually make something. Are you paying attention usual suspects?

একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন

Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 4 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith. Also: No italics, even briefly. Use asterisks for emphasis. And don't play with the format by changing fonts or using boldface or all caps. Never include more than one extra line break between paragraphs.