Angelo Rossi exhibit of hand blown glass on now at the Timmins Museum

Impressive glass vase made for Al Gore being raffled off June 18

It's the intense colour of Angelo Rossi's hand blown glass on display at the Timmins Museum until June 18 that really strikes the viewer. The shimmering blues, oranges and cranberry colours should be appreciated in a mining town like Timmins, as each colour is made by different minerals.

Rossi, now retired and living in Smooth Rock Falls with his daughter, made a cranberry colour using 22-karat gold. He used cobalt for blue and copper for green. According to the Museum of Glass Art in Venice, gold has been used to create cranberry red since the 13th century.

"I make all my own colours," said Rossi at the show's opening on Saturday. He brought his own flashlight to the gallery to illuminate his vases, serving dishes and figurines to show visitors how the colours come alive in the light.

"It's absolutely beautiful," said local artist Anne MacKinnon, who was reminded of the art made by glassblowers in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she used to winter. "We’re so lucky to have a fellow like him come here and show us his art."

Rossi was born in Murano, Italy, an island north of Venice that has been the manufacturing centre for Venetian glass since the 13th century. He became an apprentice under his father at age 11.

"I worked for my father for so many years and he never paid me, that's why I’m here," he said in his introductory remarks.

In Canada he worked at Lorraine Glass in Montreal and then Chalet Glass in Cornwall, Ontario. In 1981, he struck out on his own, opening Rossi Artistic Glass in Cornwall, producing his signature decorative cranberry glassware there until 1994. He then opened Rossi Glass in Niagara Falls.

Rossi subsequently spent a few years in the U.S., teaching at glass blowing studios across the country and working as a consultant with Fenton Glass.

Following his return to Canada, he opened the Angelo Rossi Galleria and Studio, at the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls, where his clients included celebrities like Elton John, Carol Burnett, and OJ Simpson.

To claim his title of "maestro", he became certified by the University of Toronto of PDK International, an educational foundation based in Arlington, Va.

A large, heavy-bottomed cranberry, yellow and clear glass vase is being auctioned off when the Angelo Rossi exhibit closes on June 18th. Raffle tickets are $2.

The vase was initially made for a Texas fundraiser for Al Gore, the former American vice-president under Bill Clinton. Rossi was asked to create something with an environmental theme for Gore, a noted environmentalist.

"This shows the four classical elements; air, fire, water and earth," Rossi said in an interview with the Timmins Museum. "The bubbles in the glass represent the water blowing into the glass. The form represents the air and the red flames represent the fire. The base was representing the earth. This was my first try – the piece that you have."

The fundraiser organizers were not satisfied with this first attempt and asked him to redo it with a larger base representing the earth. However, they allowed him to keep the original.

"They asked me not to sell this vase. I’m happy to donate it to the Timmins museum. My thought was maybe to help the museum itself."

The Angelo Rossi exhibit is on at the Timmins Museum programming space until June 18. The museum is open Monday to Friday, 9 to 4 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

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