Open daily. Always free.
In Memory of Two Angels

In Memory of Two Angels

On View

Not currently on view

Toots Zynsky

"In Memory of Two Angels" consists of a pair of winged glass pieces by the influential female glass artist Toots Zynsky. These are rare works created early in her career when she was still earning her BFA under the tutelage of Dale Chihuly. Zynsky states that she blew the pieces at RISD in October of 1971: “I remember it very well because the title [refers to] two very dear friends of mine [who] were tragically killed in a terrible automobile accident in Texas in August 1971, just as the first summer of building Pilchuck was ending.” The artist blew the pieces with the glass available at RISD at the time and then sandblasted them. “We were sneaking down to use the sandblaster in the Metal Department before the Glass Department had its own,” Zynsky recalls, demonstrating the lack of structure around studio glass in the early years of its emergence and the experimentation and combination of methods on the part of its early practitioners. When Bob Pfannebecker visited the Rhode Island School of Design in late spring of 1973, Zynsky sold him the work because she needed funding to travel west to Pilchuck that summer. She was also aware that “after graduation my life would become very migratory. By having them in Bob's collection, they would be stable and well taken care of, which was important to me.” The artist states that these are some of her favorites from her early semesters of glass blowing.
Artist
Toots Zynsky
(American, b. 1951)
Title
In Memory of Two Angels
Date
October 1971
Medium
Blown glass, sandblasted
Dimensions
a: 4 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.; b: 5 1/2 x 10 x 2 7/8 in. overall
Credit
Joen Greenwood Endowment Fund purchase
Accession No.
2022.32.3a-b
Classification
Glass
Geography
United States

Related

late Spring 1973, sold by the artist to Robert Pfannebecker (Lancaster, PA); August 2022, sold by Robert Pfannebecker (Lancaster, PA) to the Chazen Museum of Art

The Chazen Museum of Art welcomes comments or inquiries about works in our collection. Please allow two–three weeks for a response. Chazen staff is not able to provide valuations or authentications and such inquiries cannot be answered.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name*