Thomas Stearns: Poet in Glass Susan Sacks

Thomas Stearns is a poet. He’s also a teacher. A sculptor. A physicist. An engineer. A chemist. A philosopher. And a humanist.

His chosen form of expression happens to be light. And he teases it, captures it, and forces it to talk to us in a language we all understand. He makes it speak to us, thankfully, in glass.

His fascination with light led him to Murano, the sacred space of all glassblowers, where he was one of the first Americans to have his designs incorporated into the Venini line. He was chosen by Paolo Venini himself, months before his death, on the basis of flatwork designs Stearns had created for windows while attending the Cranbrook Academy of Art (1957-1959). Stearns was enraptured by windows–the way light would stream through them, how the intensity of light could change. His designs, inspired by pictures in magazines Stearns had seen when he was in college, would earn him coveted passage across the vast psychological ocean separating his hometown of Oklahoma City from Murano. He arrived in Venice in October 1959. Unfortunately, he was never to meet the founder of Venini & C., the man who changed the course of his life and the history of modern glass.

Once in Murano, Stearns proceeded to extend the accepted boundaries of glassblowing with conceptual techniques never before conceived, much less attempted. Perhaps it was his isolation and loneliness, compounded by the fact that he didn’t speak one word of Italian, that forced him to keep uncommonly close company with his art. Image and color were his most intimate relationships. Venice exposed them to him by night and then he would tell of his experiences by day, translating them into shapes that are at once evocative, strong, and emotional.

Knowing that Stearns did not speak Italian, his brief two-year stint in the small factory outside Venice becomes even more extraordinary. His work, forged in silent tandem with renowned glassblower maestro Francesco Ongaro, known as Checco, takes on an even deeper meaning–the meaning of metaphor, insinuation, and trust. Together, their patient, sweaty journey into light and form resulted in statements about life that were to change the shape of handblown glass for eternity.

Reliquiario del Doge (cat. 174), a prototype never produced, makes its debut in the Olnick Spanu Collection. In thick, transparent crystal, a medium most unusual in Venice, this piece was for Stearns related more to the style of Stueben than Murano–its asymmetricality a symbol of the juxtaposition of two philosophies. Nebbia Lunare (cat. 175) sits firmly and staunchly.

Breaking all tradition in glass, it represents the traditional way one finds one’s place in the world–via the moon, the sun, and the stars. Spiralato (cat. 178) is perhaps one of the most successful pieces that Thomas Stearns designed for Venini, made with the use of the incalmo technique and an applied spiral of green glass. La Sentinella di Venezia (cat. 177) is a piece reminiscent of the eternal flame. Stearns saw Venice melting because of acid rain coming from the mainland. The air and water pollution evident everywhere concerned him deeply. Inspired by the work of abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, La Sentinella di Venezia, shaped much like a lighthouse, is a warning. Only three pieces were made, as Stearns saw this work as a sculpture and never intended it for multiple production. One was destroyed. Only two remain. Cappello del Doge (cat. 178), the emblematic symbol of the protector of Venice, represents the governing force of an individual. Stearns’s playful interpretation brings an unexpected humor to this quintessential icon. Lacrime del Doge (cat. 179), another prototype never before produced or exhibited, also makes its debut in the Olnick Spanu Collection. Executed in green symbolizing the stratification of the sludge and slime in the silt of Venice, the cross at the top reminds one of the pursing of lips. The cross, an insignia of the Catholic faith, says the receptacle is full–full to the brim with the tears of any government official who must cry at night for what he cannot fix during the day.

The piece was designed for consideration by Cristofle. The silver and gold aperture, designed by Thomas Stearns, was handcrafted by Vincenzo Rossi. As one can see by his work, Stearns’ journey to Venice was indeed a rewarding one, several pieces winning him the coveted 31st Venice Biennale in 1962, an award never before received by an American. And although this was taken from him when it was realized that he was not from Italy, these pieces, and others by Thomas Stearns, continue to earn him this mighty distinction. Their philosophical underpinnings separate them from most pieces of glasswork–the emotions and struggles they represent a tribute to the emotions and struggles at the heart of Venice.