Kait Rhoads

Richmond, VA (American, b. 1968)
Before I worked with glass I studied painting for six years, during which I further developed a love for color and pattern. For me, glass is a wonderful material to work with, it is extremely plastic and it is also possible to make work with strong, vibrant colors that will never fade. At the start of my experience with glass I encountered an Italian glass master who exposed me to Venetian techniques of patterning glass. I have been practicing and studying the history of Italian glass production and design for twelve years now. With the incorporation of these age-old techniques into my work, I strive not to copy my inspirations/instructors, but to be innovative and strike out along new paths. My search for knowledge has taken me to Venice, Italy where I have spent the last year studying glass design on a Fulbright scholarship (September 2001 – 2002). It has been a dream come true and very rewarding to be able to see how the Muranese work with their glass in contrast to the manner in which Americans approach color application.

The peacock pattern on my vases is made up of zanfirico cane and murrine. These terms come from or are Italian words that each refer to forms of glass. A cane is a pre-formed thin rod of colored glass that is to be ‘picked up’ and incorporated into a new form, it can come in many different thicknesses and layers of color. Zanfirico refers to a spiral pattern that is the result of pulling out a solid glass cylinder with cane on the surface, rotating each end of the pull as the cane is stretched. Murrine are pieces of a thicker rod or a cane form of glass that has been cut into slices so that the surface you see is the cross section of the rod. Murrine can be very complicated or simple, in the case of the peacock pattern, I use simple color rings to emulate the ‘jewels’ on the tip of the peacock’s feather.

My desire for strong vibrant color has led me to use multiple layers of the initial cane pickup for the zanfirico twist; this results in a color that has variety and depth. I carefully construct the murrine to complement and enhance the colors of the zanfirico cane. The peacock pattern is best displayed on a classical vessel shape with simple lines. It is my love for challenge that makes me blow some of the vessels so thin, although it is difficult because different colors react differently when the glass is hot and a multicolored pattern tends to be problematic to blow out. When the glass gets too hot some colors want to move faster than others, resulting in a texture on the surface of the glass that can be felt when the piece is cold. I also leave some of the pieces very thick, with a layer of clear glass on the outside and on the inside, trapping the color between the clear, this acts in a more stable fashion and allows me to make more complicated shapes without distorting the form.

Visit Gallery