The Journey to Murano Island
Turning a Greensboro photographer’s work into priceless art
Story by Sam Dick, photos by Kevin Maggiore
A Murano Glass Master carefully grips a hollow steel pipe at one end and maneuvers the other end with a globe of molten glass inside a stone furnace.
The 2,000-degree heat is intense. At 1,500 degrees, it can melt glass. Master glassblower Damiano Carrer keeps rotating the pipe for no more than a few minutes inside the furnace before pulling it out. Dressed in black jeans, a short sleeved shirt, tennis shoes and safety glasses, Carrer works at the Original Murano Factory, a short boat ride from Venice, Italy.
The 52-year-old Carrer is following in the footsteps of generations of glass artists going back to the 10th century in Venice. Today, the glass art made by Murano Masters is known worldwide as the benchmark for handcrafted glass sculptures, chandeliers, jewelry and vases.
This is the story of how a Greensboro, Georgia man’s photo of the Northern Lights outside of Fairbanks, Alaska was transformed into glass art by a Murano Glass Master in Italy.
Seventy-year-old Kevin Maggiore has traveled the world as a professional photographer. The walls of the University of Georgia graduate’s (ABJ ’79) home are lined with photos of nature’s wonders from Africa to Alaska. Last September, Maggiore spent five nights photographing the Northern Lights in Fairbanks, Alaska.
“We saw them three out of five nights. You don’t know what you’ll see-what the intensity, color or speed will be, as they’re constantly moving and changing shape,” Maggiore said.
Noting that it’s easy to be overwhelmed with the beauty taking place above you, Maggio took hundreds of photographs as the light show of colors moved in waves across the night sky. When he returned to his hotel room to review his work, one photo stood out.
“At the bottom is a tree line in a forest, and out of it shoots a whirlwind of bright green light with a deep blue sky as the backdrop,” he described. “The green light resembles a twister spinning out of the treetops. When I looked at the photograph, it struck me that the shape of it looked like a vase, and I just couldn’t get it out of my mind.”
Maggiore, who is an admirer of Murano glass, went to their online store and purchased a vase called “Fantasy Lava.” When it arrived at his home, it included contact information for Gianluca Rossi with the Original Murano Glass Factory. It sparked an idea for Maggiore that involved the photograph he took of the Northern Lights.
“I sent him the photograph and asked him what he thought of possibly turning it into a Murano vase called the Northern Lights," Maggiore said. “Of the 3,000 items available online, not one features the Northern Lights.”
Four months later, Maggiore got his answer. The Original Murano Glass Factory agreed to use the Northern Lights photo and create a vase. Maggiore says he was stunned and immediately planned a trip to Murano to watch and photograph the Master making a vase from his photograph.
On April 28, he arrived in Venice and took a short boat ride to Murano.
“You can see Venice from Murano-it’s only a 15 minute boat ride across the water,” he said.
“There are many water taxis that are constantly moving from island to island. I stayed in Murano.”
That’s where he met Damiano Carrer, the Master glassblower who would make the vase from Maggiore’s photograph. He says Carrer’s spoken English was limited so Rossi served as translator for the Master.
“He’s very quiet,” Maggiore recalled. “I met him, and we communicated more with eye contact. He listened to me talk to Gianluca.”
Carrer began his glassmaking apprenticeship at 15, and by the age of 21 he was a Master.
Most glassmaking apprenticeships last 10 to 15 years. Rossi said that the Master got into the glassblowing world because he likes and is fascinated by how the material can be shaped and molded by his hands. He likes to think that what he has in his mind can be translated into glass pieces.
To say the Master doesn’t work from a photograph is an understatement. So far over his illustrious career, it is estimated he has created over 18,000 pieces of art. He has only worked from a photograph less than 50 times.
As Maggiore stood by and took photographs, Carrer went through the process of turning a blob of molten glass into a vase. Maggiore says Carrer had several assistants, and for the next hour the men rarely talked. They communicated with their eyes and gestures.
“It’s like watching a ballet,” Maggiore said. “Everybody knows what they’re supposed to do. They don’t have to be asked, they know the expectations of the Master even though they haven’t seen the finished product.”
Carrer constantly heated and shaped the molten glass, starting with the bottom of the vase. He rolled the heated glass in colored glass granules. The Master created layers of colors, using a technique the Italians call “submerged”. This gives the optical illusion that the colors are immersed and floating. After an hour of heating and shaping, the new vase cooled, and Maggiore saw the finished vase for the first time.
“I was blown away,” he said. “I thought he was going to create a green vase that would look
almost identical to the photograph. He actually took the elements of the Northern Lights and created a piece of art.”
A photo shows Maggiore holding his original photo of the Northern Lights and standing next to Carrer with the 31-pound vase. It’s 4.5 inches at the base, 11 inches across the top, and 15.5 inches high. A deep blue colored mass of glass sits at the bottom of the vase. Part of the middle of the vase is clear, and a green colored mass of glass looks like it’s been dropped into the open top of the vase.
Maggiore said that the Master was very humble about his creation, and smiled when asked about the finished glass piece.
After completing the vase, the Master agreed to make this a very limited edition. There will be only 10 made and sold from the Original Murano Glass Factory.
As for Maggiore, he bought the original No. 1 out of 10 and had it shipped to his home in Greensboro. He says the entire experience from Alaska to Italy puts a bow on an outstanding career of Photography.
“It’s amazing that this has happened this late in my career,” he said. “To put it in simple terms, this thing is the Academy Award, the Oscar, the Emmy, any award in television. I will put this vase right up there with any of them. That’s how much this vase means to me.”
If you would like to purchase one of these vases go to info@originalmuranoglass.com and request the Northern Lights Vase.
Sam Dick is a friend and fellow UGA alumnus of Kevin Maggiore. They both received their Bachelor of Arts in Journalism in 1979.
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This story appeared in Lakelife magazine, Volume 20, Issue 5. No portions or photos may be used without written consent from Kevin Maggiore or Smith Communications, Inc.
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