Remembering Elio Quarisa
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Maestro Elio Quarisa worked for years at the finest glass factories in Murano. In his "retirement," he taught glass at schools throughout the world. A well-loved instructor at The Studio, Elio inspired hundreds of artists through his works and instruction. After his death in 2010, a scholarship fund was created by Elio's friends and students to support furnace glassworkers who shared his passion for Venetian glassblowing.
In Elio's memory, Roberto Donà, proprieter of Carlo Donà, maker of fine Venetian glassworking %%tools%% and important friend of Elio, has generously donated a set of 14 %%tools%% to The Studio to be presented to an artist who learned from, or was inspired by, Elio. These %%tools%% will help an artist continue Elio's tradition of Venetian glassblowing.
Those interested in participating may submit one entry with their personal information, a statement about how they were influenced by Elio (either in person or by his work), and up to three images of their own work. The images and statements may be added to this page below. The deadline for submissions is December 1st. Submissions will be reviewed shortly thereafter and the %%tools%% will be presented to the chosen winner.
Special thanks to Roberto Donà for making and donating these %%tools%% in Elio's memory.
Employees, trustees, and fellows of The Corning Museum of Glass may submit images and statements in Elio's memory but are not eligible to win the %%tools%%.
Entry to the contest is now closed. View some submissions below, or to see all of the submissions, visit the Remembering Elio page on Flickr.
Submissions
Eric Meek
Eric Meek
Elio's greatest lesson for me - Whatever you bring into the shop will manifest itself in your glass. If you approach your work with passion, humility and respect great things will happen.
DH McNabb
When I first met Elio Quarisa, I was quite green or naïve in my glass experience. In the summers between semesters at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky I would take classes at the Studio in Corning to expand what I knew, how I thought and what I made. I am deeply enamored and enchanted with Venetian glass. However, I am an American, a melting pot of travelers who came here to the United States starting in the 1600s. The work I make is set up and approached from what would be a Venetian perspective. I believe in making things new and learning from the past. Elio was someone who showed glass enthusiasts, and makers the past, specifically the golden age of Venetian glass. Dragons and Seahorses – Guggenheim’s and Veronese’s were all part of the dialog that swirls in the Venetian Lagoon.
A few years later I took another class with Elio, he had been to Pilchuck and his lore had spread. He was one of the maestro’s at Elite, the legendary goblet firm now defunct on Murano. I remember while taking the class and watching a demo that Beagles, a friend in the class, said to the rest of the class and Eric Meek the teaching assistant “ It wouldn’t surprise me if he took a piece of sheet glass on the marver and bent it”! That stuck with me – regardless of the challenge Elio never gave up. A piece would fall on the floor and he would put it in the garage, a piece would break in annealing and he would be pick it up again and fix it. He never stopped pushing the boundaries or limitations of self and material. What one knows is just the simple beginning. These moments along with others from many other glassmakers have influenced me as a maker and a thinker of glass.
I remember the last time I saw Elio, it was on Murano. In February of 2006 Chihuly sent a crew to Finland to work and I was a part of the crew. After the trip a friend and I traveled to Murano to work for a week. On the Island it was my goal to see Elio, as well. We were walking and stopped in one of the many places for a juice down from Venini. As I walked out there was Elio, tall and smiling. We shook hands, had a hug and talked. These are the fading memories I now have of a man who helped so many create beauty with glass.
I have now finished my Masters at RISD and am traveling around the country searching for work much as I did a decade ago when I met Elio at the Studio in Corning. In my thesis I came to the conclusion that it is not necessarily about what one can make, but what one can expose, and Elio exposed all of us to a lot.
DH McNabb
DH McNabb
Daniele Fratarcangeli
In 2008 after graduating from college, I flew to Murano and began an apprenticeship at the Abate Zanetti School of Glass. There I apprenticed under the direction of Elena Rosso, Vittorio Ferro, Livio Sereno and Elio Quarisa. I worked for each of these glass masters and learned a great deal about glassblowing. More importantly, I learned about the history of Murano, the Venetian language, and eventually I was able to work for Silvano Signoretto in his factory.
Working in the factory was such hard work. We made up to 12 chandeliers a day. I would get up at 5 in the morning and work harder then I had ever worked in my life for 30 euro a day. I would get burnt during production and had to grit my teeth and bare it while putting away chandelier parts. One day when coming home from work on Vapperetto I ran Into Elio who greeted me with a bright smile. He saw the soot on my face the burns on my arms and kind of laughed. He asked how long I planed on staying on Murrano. I told him, “as long as I could.”
He told me, “six months here (Murano) and you will make una sacca di soldi for the rest of your life.” His words encouraged me to stick through the hard work. I saw Elio several times after that. He always greeted me with a “Ciao DANIELE” and it is hard for me to imagine returning to Murano and not seeing Elio drinking an espresso at a local bar. The international glass blowing community was so lucky to share in the genies of Elio Quarisa.
I now design and fabricate modern chandeliers and teach glassblowing classes to students of all ages at the Fallbrook School of the Arts in San Diego California.
Daniele Fratarcangeli
Daniele Fratarcangeli
Submitted by Lee Harris
One day, a partner of Chicago Hot Glass came to me in a panick..."we have an opening for Maestro Elio Quarisa's workshop, and miscalculated the budget"! I smiled, though goblet's weren't my area of sculpting, agreeing to meet the shortfall, and attend this workshop. From the first moment of meeting Elio, and his wife Adriana, I knew I was in the presence of not just a great & passionate Maestro, but one who loved life, his wife, people.
My wife & I were asked if we could show Elio & Adriana Chicago, and immediately connected, like old friends. I was fortunate to spend many times (though not enough), at our homes in Murano & the US. Elio and I became something greater than friends, he was like the brother I always had envisioned. Many times, without speaking, we found we had the same thoughts, at the same time...could finish each others sentences.
One of the hardest things I've experienced, along with losing my father, was losing Elio.
On the one hand, I know a friendship, besides your spouse, is possibly something that happens once in your lifetime, if at all. And, times you experienced, profound & amazing as they are at the time, become benchmarks of your life. To me, each time with Elio was like that. I think of times, laughing with Elio, of watching him walk thru the streets of his beloved Murano, with anyone & everyone near him yelling out "Ciao, Elio", and knowing he then asked how they were, their family, friends, listening intently-to each word. Elio constantly demonstrated his passion-of glass, of life, for people.
I told Elio, if he ever ran for Mayor of Murano, he would win by a landslide!
So, now as we approach 2 years since losing Elio, I realize how fortunate I was, how fortunate we all were, for having Elio with us, as a teacher, husband, Maestro, friend. My heart still has the same heaviness as when Adriana told me that he had passed on, but the joy of knowing the place in my heart-where he lives, as with so many others he touched & loved him. He is in my mind when I'm working in glass, I hear him saying "Lee, easy, easy, breathe...elegante!", meaning, love the glass, relax, enjoy.
I think to the month before he passed away, how energetic he was, still, without anyone knowing his suffering & battle with cancer. I remember our visiting Roberto Dona, at Carlo Dona Tools watching Elio & Roberto conversing, like father & son, Elio's hand on Roberto's shoulder, with such concern...their laughter together!
Elio affected so many lives, from the aspiring future glass Maestro thru Maestro Pino Signoretto, who knew each other since children, to some of the last people to collaborate Elio...Josh Simpson, Dante Marioni (both speaking of him with reverence). Watching him on You Tube, assisting him, you share the feeling of being in the presence of a great person, a caring person, an unspoken Maestro of Maestro's.
I know Jeff Mack was right when he told me "I believe that Elio will live forever, that more & more people will look at his legacy, his work, earning him the place he so deserved"...a Maestro that comes around every few generations.
Elio's only request was to have his beloved Muranese Glass techniques, which he passionately learned & embraced, from 9 years old, not die with his generation, with the end of his life.
I know this, he repeated it to me many times, as his greatest hope.
To this I end..."Ciao Elio"-we love you, always will.
Submitted by Lee Harris
Elio pointing to the ancient gate on Murano-which I used for my logo-as Elio knew-in homage to him.
Submitted by Lee Harris
Elio with Roberto Dona -
Submitted by Harry Seaman
Elio was amazing. From the Venetian stemware and cane vessels to the small whimsies he would make, Elio never ran out of things to make and techniques to share. The Studio and I worked hard to create a comfortable atmosphere for him, and it was this desire that had us build our first gas annealer. We literally worked off a drawing on a napkin. Elio designed and used a turntable inside to adjust and tweak his stemware to perfection.
When watching him work, I never ceased to be amazed at how Elio could boil down the process to a few crucial steps. He worked casually, with a smile, and would happily take bits and help from the students only to wave them away half the time as they showed up too early or too late for what he needed. Working with Elio was fun. Often times we didn't dare take our eyes off the glass for fear we'd miss some nuance or hand movement. This only made us worse assistants, trying to gather and still watch what he was doing.
The image I am including is a small branch with a bird and 2 flowers, something Elio made and gave me after the gas annealer was finished. Even though he made a lot more stemware, he always had time to, without anyone knowing what the finished item would be, put together these little glass animals and constructions. These are something that I always found attractive, and the process, along with the subject, seemed a good symbol of freedom and pleasure in glass, and a good way of remembering Elio.
Tracy Weisel with Elio Quarisa
In 2004, my wife and I had the opportunity to go to Italy. Being a glassblower, there was no way that we would miss visiting Murano. Prior to the trip, I had gone to a workshop in California where Elio was showing his skills. Just before we left, a friend of mine said that he would send me Elio’s contact information in Murano. As it happened, I never received it before I departed for Europe. After arriving and settling in Venice on our first day, we made plans to go to Murano on our second day. We did the typical tourist things of going in and out of a couple of studios and galleries, and then decided to venture down some of the side streets. We basically got to a dead end and were turning around when someone started to speak to us in Italian. I’m sure we looked lost. As I looked into the eyes of the person speaking to us, I realized it was Elio. He didn’t personally know me or my wife, but my friend Jim Stewart from CA was a friend of his so I mentioned his name. Elio’s eyes lit up. From that point on, he made our day in Murano incredible. One of the first things he did for us was to take us to his home and we sat on his back porch and had a glass of wine in an absolute incredible setting on the water. I got to play darts with him a little and then we went out to lunch. After that we went to a number of studios through the back door as opposed to the front door. Only he could have gotten us in, and found the places. We got to watch incredible artists work. Then I mentioned that I was looking for a specific optic mold that was unavailable in the States. Elio took us to a small shop, in a residential area, with no signs on it, that only a glassblower from the island would know how to find. I was able to purchase the “pineapple stampa” which I have used many times in my career, and every time I use it, I think about my adventure with him. After that point on our trip, everything else seemed like a small piece. That day was the highlight of our adventure to Italy. His generosity with his time and efforts was at a standard I only hope to reach in my life.
Austin Littenberg
My first introduction to Elio Quarisa was in the summer of 2005 while I was attending a goblet making class with Emilio Santini in The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass. Elio was teaching goblets in the adjacent hotshop at the time, and every opportunity I had, I would go over to watch him work. I was pretty sure at the time that I wanted to learn goblets, especially in the Venetian approach, but I was a lampworker at the time. Seeing him working in the hotshop changed my interest to hot glass in the hotshop on the spot. I started college at Bowling Green State University in the spring of 2007 and we welcomed Elio as a visiting artist, as the glass program did there every year. I was again blown away (pardon the pun) by his work and was introduced to Jeff Mack (currently my manager at the Toledo Museum of Art's Glass Pavilion). the following year Elio came to visit Bowling Green again and I was by that time at a level where I could lend a hand. Even though I was still a novice in the hotshop, he made me feel like I knew what I was doing and was very encouraging. In the spring of 2009 he visited Bowling Green for the last time. Again I was able to lend a hand while he was working, as well as create a relationship with Jeff Mack based on Venetian work that has continued to this day. While Elio was working, I told him in my best italian, I had been studying the last year in college for this very reason, that I was due to be married in August of that year. Over the course of a few goblets he agreed to make our champagne flutes. That summer the GAS Conference was held in Corning and while walking toward the museum, Elio yelled to me and my soon to be wife to congratulate us again, all be it a little early. The GAS Conference of 2009 was the last time I saw Elio before his passing. Since that last demo I watched and before, I have been studying Venetian glass with Jeff Mack who had directly taken Elio as a mentor and now mentors me. I am sure that I would not be where I am now if it weren't for the generosity of Elio and his kind heartedness in teaching the Venetian techniques to preserve this history that I am now a part of professionally.
Austin Littenberg
Austin Littenberg
Steven Harrie
The rich tradition and awe-inspiring skills shared by Elio Quarisa, carries on through our understanding of how these magical Ventian objects are made.
Steven Harrie
Steven Harrie
David Russell
David Russell
I had the privilige of studying with Elio more than a few times. The comradery bred in that first class along with the vast information that was brought forth compelled me to study with him more and more in the coming years. Elio had always said how glass had taught him how to live life outside of the shop. Over time while he was teaching and sharing with us, it was us, his students that were learning how a glass master works in and out of the shop and how to shape our trajectory accordingly. When we would gather outside of the studio we would all discuss our lives back home and the things we enjoy apart from glass. It was like a personal, intimate, cultural exchange where Elio was as interested in your origins as you were in his. It was never long before wide eyed students veered the talk back towards his incredible glass history. Factory stories from his childhood all the way through the stories of being caught working for factories in the black after retirement, Elite comes to mind, Elio was enriching us with a dose of culture and technical skill that was unrivaled. Perhaps my greatest and most influential moment with Elio was just before my last class with him and on the way to Corning we ran into each other in the philly airport. I had opened my own hot shop since last I had studied with Elio and was eager to show him my promotional materials for the upcoming Baltimore and Philly shows. With Adrianna and his daughter we all sat down for a meal and begun to discuss my images and body of work. After studying with Elio several times over the past years it was with great pride that I showed him my body of work. That conversation with its compliments and advice still resound with me and rudder me to this day and will stay with me forever. Thank you maestro! And thank you Adrianna and The Studio at Corning.
David Russell
Amy Schwartz
The thing that impressed me most about Elio was his ability to inspire his students. When he was teaching at The Studio in Corning, he was always with his students, both in class and outside of class. I remember seeing tall Elio surrounded by a group of students, all happily walking together. Elio shared his strong glassblowing technique and his many Venetian-style tricks freely with his students. We are all grateful for the time he spent teaching here at The Studio.
Amy Schwartz
Eric Meek
Eric Meek
Elio's greatest lesson for me - Whatever you bring into the shop will manifest itself in your glass. If you approach your work with passion, humility and respect great things will happen.
DH McNabb
When I first met Elio Quarisa, I was quite green or naïve in my glass experience. In the summers between semesters at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky I would take classes at the Studio in Corning to expand what I knew, how I thought and what I made. I am deeply enamored and enchanted with Venetian glass. However, I am an American, a melting pot of travelers who came here to the United States starting in the 1600s. The work I make is set up and approached from what would be a Venetian perspective. I believe in making things new and learning from the past. Elio was someone who showed glass enthusiasts, and makers the past, specifically the golden age of Venetian glass. Dragons and Seahorses – Guggenheim’s and Veronese’s were all part of the dialog that swirls in the Venetian Lagoon.
A few years later I took another class with Elio, he had been to Pilchuck and his lore had spread. He was one of the maestro’s at Elite, the legendary goblet firm now defunct on Murano. I remember while taking the class and watching a demo that Beagles, a friend in the class, said to the rest of the class and Eric Meek the teaching assistant “ It wouldn’t surprise me if he took a piece of sheet glass on the marver and bent it”! That stuck with me – regardless of the challenge Elio never gave up. A piece would fall on the floor and he would put it in the garage, a piece would break in annealing and he would be pick it up again and fix it. He never stopped pushing the boundaries or limitations of self and material. What one knows is just the simple beginning. These moments along with others from many other glassmakers have influenced me as a maker and a thinker of glass.
I remember the last time I saw Elio, it was on Murano. In February of 2006 Chihuly sent a crew to Finland to work and I was a part of the crew. After the trip a friend and I traveled to Murano to work for a week. On the Island it was my goal to see Elio, as well. We were walking and stopped in one of the many places for a juice down from Venini. As I walked out there was Elio, tall and smiling. We shook hands, had a hug and talked. These are the fading memories I now have of a man who helped so many create beauty with glass.
I have now finished my Masters at RISD and am traveling around the country searching for work much as I did a decade ago when I met Elio at the Studio in Corning. In my thesis I came to the conclusion that it is not necessarily about what one can make, but what one can expose, and Elio exposed all of us to a lot.
DH McNabb
DH McNabb
Daniele Fratarcangeli
In 2008 after graduating from college, I flew to Murano and began an apprenticeship at the Abate Zanetti School of Glass. There I apprenticed under the direction of Elena Rosso, Vittorio Ferro, Livio Sereno and Elio Quarisa. I worked for each of these glass masters and learned a great deal about glassblowing. More importantly, I learned about the history of Murano, the Venetian language, and eventually I was able to work for Silvano Signoretto in his factory.
Working in the factory was such hard work. We made up to 12 chandeliers a day. I would get up at 5 in the morning and work harder then I had ever worked in my life for 30 euro a day. I would get burnt during production and had to grit my teeth and bare it while putting away chandelier parts. One day when coming home from work on Vapperetto I ran Into Elio who greeted me with a bright smile. He saw the soot on my face the burns on my arms and kind of laughed. He asked how long I planed on staying on Murrano. I told him, “as long as I could.”
He told me, “six months here (Murano) and you will make una sacca di soldi for the rest of your life.” His words encouraged me to stick through the hard work. I saw Elio several times after that. He always greeted me with a “Ciao DANIELE” and it is hard for me to imagine returning to Murano and not seeing Elio drinking an espresso at a local bar. The international glass blowing community was so lucky to share in the genies of Elio Quarisa.
I now design and fabricate modern chandeliers and teach glassblowing classes to students of all ages at the Fallbrook School of the Arts in San Diego California.
Daniele Fratarcangeli
Daniele Fratarcangeli
Submitted by Lee Harris
One day, a partner of Chicago Hot Glass came to me in a panick..."we have an opening for Maestro Elio Quarisa's workshop, and miscalculated the budget"! I smiled, though goblet's weren't my area of sculpting, agreeing to meet the shortfall, and attend this workshop. From the first moment of meeting Elio, and his wife Adriana, I knew I was in the presence of not just a great & passionate Maestro, but one who loved life, his wife, people.
My wife & I were asked if we could show Elio & Adriana Chicago, and immediately connected, like old friends. I was fortunate to spend many times (though not enough), at our homes in Murano & the US. Elio and I became something greater than friends, he was like the brother I always had envisioned. Many times, without speaking, we found we had the same thoughts, at the same time...could finish each others sentences.
One of the hardest things I've experienced, along with losing my father, was losing Elio.
On the one hand, I know a friendship, besides your spouse, is possibly something that happens once in your lifetime, if at all. And, times you experienced, profound & amazing as they are at the time, become benchmarks of your life. To me, each time with Elio was like that. I think of times, laughing with Elio, of watching him walk thru the streets of his beloved Murano, with anyone & everyone near him yelling out "Ciao, Elio", and knowing he then asked how they were, their family, friends, listening intently-to each word. Elio constantly demonstrated his passion-of glass, of life, for people.
I told Elio, if he ever ran for Mayor of Murano, he would win by a landslide!
So, now as we approach 2 years since losing Elio, I realize how fortunate I was, how fortunate we all were, for having Elio with us, as a teacher, husband, Maestro, friend. My heart still has the same heaviness as when Adriana told me that he had passed on, but the joy of knowing the place in my heart-where he lives, as with so many others he touched & loved him. He is in my mind when I'm working in glass, I hear him saying "Lee, easy, easy, breathe...elegante!", meaning, love the glass, relax, enjoy.
I think to the month before he passed away, how energetic he was, still, without anyone knowing his suffering & battle with cancer. I remember our visiting Roberto Dona, at Carlo Dona Tools watching Elio & Roberto conversing, like father & son, Elio's hand on Roberto's shoulder, with such concern...their laughter together!
Elio affected so many lives, from the aspiring future glass Maestro thru Maestro Pino Signoretto, who knew each other since children, to some of the last people to collaborate Elio...Josh Simpson, Dante Marioni (both speaking of him with reverence). Watching him on You Tube, assisting him, you share the feeling of being in the presence of a great person, a caring person, an unspoken Maestro of Maestro's.
I know Jeff Mack was right when he told me "I believe that Elio will live forever, that more & more people will look at his legacy, his work, earning him the place he so deserved"...a Maestro that comes around every few generations.
Elio's only request was to have his beloved Muranese Glass techniques, which he passionately learned & embraced, from 9 years old, not die with his generation, with the end of his life.
I know this, he repeated it to me many times, as his greatest hope.
To this I end..."Ciao Elio"-we love you, always will.
Submitted by Lee Harris
Elio pointing to the ancient gate on Murano-which I used for my logo-as Elio knew-in homage to him.
Submitted by Lee Harris
Elio with Roberto Dona -
Submitted by Harry Seaman
Elio was amazing. From the Venetian stemware and cane vessels to the small whimsies he would make, Elio never ran out of things to make and techniques to share. The Studio and I worked hard to create a comfortable atmosphere for him, and it was this desire that had us build our first gas annealer. We literally worked off a drawing on a napkin. Elio designed and used a turntable inside to adjust and tweak his stemware to perfection.
When watching him work, I never ceased to be amazed at how Elio could boil down the process to a few crucial steps. He worked casually, with a smile, and would happily take bits and help from the students only to wave them away half the time as they showed up too early or too late for what he needed. Working with Elio was fun. Often times we didn't dare take our eyes off the glass for fear we'd miss some nuance or hand movement. This only made us worse assistants, trying to gather and still watch what he was doing.
The image I am including is a small branch with a bird and 2 flowers, something Elio made and gave me after the gas annealer was finished. Even though he made a lot more stemware, he always had time to, without anyone knowing what the finished item would be, put together these little glass animals and constructions. These are something that I always found attractive, and the process, along with the subject, seemed a good symbol of freedom and pleasure in glass, and a good way of remembering Elio.
Tracy Weisel with Elio Quarisa
In 2004, my wife and I had the opportunity to go to Italy. Being a glassblower, there was no way that we would miss visiting Murano. Prior to the trip, I had gone to a workshop in California where Elio was showing his skills. Just before we left, a friend of mine said that he would send me Elio’s contact information in Murano. As it happened, I never received it before I departed for Europe. After arriving and settling in Venice on our first day, we made plans to go to Murano on our second day. We did the typical tourist things of going in and out of a couple of studios and galleries, and then decided to venture down some of the side streets. We basically got to a dead end and were turning around when someone started to speak to us in Italian. I’m sure we looked lost. As I looked into the eyes of the person speaking to us, I realized it was Elio. He didn’t personally know me or my wife, but my friend Jim Stewart from CA was a friend of his so I mentioned his name. Elio’s eyes lit up. From that point on, he made our day in Murano incredible. One of the first things he did for us was to take us to his home and we sat on his back porch and had a glass of wine in an absolute incredible setting on the water. I got to play darts with him a little and then we went out to lunch. After that we went to a number of studios through the back door as opposed to the front door. Only he could have gotten us in, and found the places. We got to watch incredible artists work. Then I mentioned that I was looking for a specific optic mold that was unavailable in the States. Elio took us to a small shop, in a residential area, with no signs on it, that only a glassblower from the island would know how to find. I was able to purchase the “pineapple stampa” which I have used many times in my career, and every time I use it, I think about my adventure with him. After that point on our trip, everything else seemed like a small piece. That day was the highlight of our adventure to Italy. His generosity with his time and efforts was at a standard I only hope to reach in my life.
Austin Littenberg
My first introduction to Elio Quarisa was in the summer of 2005 while I was attending a goblet making class with Emilio Santini in The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass. Elio was teaching goblets in the adjacent hotshop at the time, and every opportunity I had, I would go over to watch him work. I was pretty sure at the time that I wanted to learn goblets, especially in the Venetian approach, but I was a lampworker at the time. Seeing him working in the hotshop changed my interest to hot glass in the hotshop on the spot. I started college at Bowling Green State University in the spring of 2007 and we welcomed Elio as a visiting artist, as the glass program did there every year. I was again blown away (pardon the pun) by his work and was introduced to Jeff Mack (currently my manager at the Toledo Museum of Art's Glass Pavilion). the following year Elio came to visit Bowling Green again and I was by that time at a level where I could lend a hand. Even though I was still a novice in the hotshop, he made me feel like I knew what I was doing and was very encouraging. In the spring of 2009 he visited Bowling Green for the last time. Again I was able to lend a hand while he was working, as well as create a relationship with Jeff Mack based on Venetian work that has continued to this day. While Elio was working, I told him in my best italian, I had been studying the last year in college for this very reason, that I was due to be married in August of that year. Over the course of a few goblets he agreed to make our champagne flutes. That summer the GAS Conference was held in Corning and while walking toward the museum, Elio yelled to me and my soon to be wife to congratulate us again, all be it a little early. The GAS Conference of 2009 was the last time I saw Elio before his passing. Since that last demo I watched and before, I have been studying Venetian glass with Jeff Mack who had directly taken Elio as a mentor and now mentors me. I am sure that I would not be where I am now if it weren't for the generosity of Elio and his kind heartedness in teaching the Venetian techniques to preserve this history that I am now a part of professionally.
Austin Littenberg
Austin Littenberg
Steven Harrie
The rich tradition and awe-inspiring skills shared by Elio Quarisa, carries on through our understanding of how these magical Ventian objects are made.
Steven Harrie
Steven Harrie
David Russell
David Russell
I had the privilige of studying with Elio more than a few times. The comradery bred in that first class along with the vast information that was brought forth compelled me to study with him more and more in the coming years. Elio had always said how glass had taught him how to live life outside of the shop. Over time while he was teaching and sharing with us, it was us, his students that were learning how a glass master works in and out of the shop and how to shape our trajectory accordingly. When we would gather outside of the studio we would all discuss our lives back home and the things we enjoy apart from glass. It was like a personal, intimate, cultural exchange where Elio was as interested in your origins as you were in his. It was never long before wide eyed students veered the talk back towards his incredible glass history. Factory stories from his childhood all the way through the stories of being caught working for factories in the black after retirement, Elite comes to mind, Elio was enriching us with a dose of culture and technical skill that was unrivaled. Perhaps my greatest and most influential moment with Elio was just before my last class with him and on the way to Corning we ran into each other in the philly airport. I had opened my own hot shop since last I had studied with Elio and was eager to show him my promotional materials for the upcoming Baltimore and Philly shows. With Adrianna and his daughter we all sat down for a meal and begun to discuss my images and body of work. After studying with Elio several times over the past years it was with great pride that I showed him my body of work. That conversation with its compliments and advice still resound with me and rudder me to this day and will stay with me forever. Thank you maestro! And thank you Adrianna and The Studio at Corning.
David Russell
Amy Schwartz
The thing that impressed me most about Elio was his ability to inspire his students. When he was teaching at The Studio in Corning, he was always with his students, both in class and outside of class. I remember seeing tall Elio surrounded by a group of students, all happily walking together. Elio shared his strong glassblowing technique and his many Venetian-style tricks freely with his students. We are all grateful for the time he spent teaching here at The Studio.
Amy Schwartz
