Museum features marvelous Murano glass

DEBBIE CAFAZZO AND LISA KREMER; The Tacoma News Tribune (9/3/04)

When New Yorker Nancy Olnick acquired her first piece of Murano glass more than 15 years ago at a Sotheby's auction, it was an impulse buy. A half-cobalt blue, half-emerald green hourglass caught her eye. She placed a bid, then didn't think about it until the auction house called to tell her the piece was hers. She brought it home, placed it next to an Andy Warhol painting and the bewitching began. That first piece launched a love affair with Murano glass for Olnick and her husband, Giorgio Spanu. Soon, they were traveling the world collecting examples of glass from Murano, an island in the Lagoon of Venice that traces its heritage in glassmaking back to the 13th century. Beginning Saturday, visitors to the Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art in Tacoma can share in the couple's passion with an exhibit that includes more than 200 pieces from their personal collection. This is the only West Coast showing of the touring exhibit. It's in Tacoma for nine weeks.

"To enter our collection, the glass has to be made on Murano - no matter where the artist is from," Spanu said. Originally, the collection was intended to cover the 20th century, but as Spanu and Olnick delved deeper into the world of glass, they discovered new, young artists producing fabulous work. Thus, the exhibit spans the years 1914 to 2002. "It's one of the most important collections of 20th-century glass in the world," said Tina Oldknow, curator of modern glass at the Corning Glass Museum in New York. "It's incredibly representative in terms of its breadth and depth of a period." The exhibit was designed by Lella and Massimo Vignelli, with David Law, and is curated by Marino Barovier.

The collection is mainly vessels, with only a few glass figures. It's arranged chronologically, beginning with a brightly colored piece produced around 1914 by Barovier and Co., one of Murano's glass house dynasties, and ending with a nearly colorless glass and copper vase made by Giorgio Vigna in 2002. Walking through the exhibit is not only a tour through the history of glass art, but also of the major artistic and political movements of the 20th century.

From the boldly colored floral designs of the early part of the century, through the echoes of classicism and images of strength projected during the fascist 1930s to the boundless creativity unleashed following World War II and into the modern era, each of the glass pieces is a reflection of its times. Oldknow praised Olnick and Spanu for the variety of their collection. "They're very rare in that many people who collect 20th and mid-century art don't always collect contemporary," she said. Spanu is a walking encyclopedia, whose knowledge of both the art of glassmaking and the artists - including Paolo Venini, Artisti Barovier, Carlo Scarpa, Thomas Stearns and others - is impressive. Where did he acquire it? "I read a lot," he said with a smile. One reason the Olnick-Spanu collection is unusual is that glass art hasn't always been considered high art, Oldknow said. "It's always been allied with applied arts, or the decorative arts," she said. "Until recently it hasn't been used as sculpture. Like ceramics or fiber, these are subjects that have really expanded beyond their roots." Art glass was never meant to be used, Spanu explained. "It is meant to embellish everybody's life ... to make your life richer," he said. In the end, Spanu wants those who visit the museum to take away from the Murano exhibit the simplest of pleasures: beauty and peace of mind. "That's why I have it," he said. "To relax."

If you go:

What: "Murano: Glass from the Olnick Spanu Collection"

Where: Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art, 1801 E. Dock St., Tacoma

When: Saturday through Nov. 7 Information: 253-284-4750; www.museumofglass.org

Also: Collectors Nancy Olnick, Giorgio Spanu and artist Benjamin Moore will offer a panel discussion about the exhibit at 2 p.m. Sunday.