The Stroemple Collection boasts more than five hundred vintage Venetian
vessels that illustrate the height of Venetian glassblowing during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 2012, George Stroemple
commissioned James Mongrain--Dale Chihuly's current gaffer and an
exceptional glass artist--to make a series of ten vessels to replicate
major examples of vintage Venetian glass in the Stroemple Collection.
The finished pieces exemplify Mongrain's extraordinary ability to
re-create traditional Venetian mastery in glass.
Since then, the Stroemple Collection has commissioned Mongrain to make
more series, all based on the historic works in the Stroemple
Collection. For these, Mongrain uses traditional techniques and imagery
to reimagine the Venetian style, working on a large scale to create
monumental and sculptural pieces that reference tradition but are firmly
within contemporary glassmaking. This book documents each of the James
Mongrain commissions and will also include various examples of historic
Venetian glass that inspired Mongrain in the making of these series.