Toots and the Trip to Royal Oak

This December, the glass artwork of Toots Zynsky has been featured in all-day exhibits at Royal Oak's 12,000 square-foot Habatat Galleries. This is the oldest and largest art gallery in the United States exclusively working in glass art and began in 1971.

Boston's Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky is displayed in the White House Collection of American Craft, as well as the Smithsonian, Corning Museum of Glass and many other museums across America. The girl who was more interested in the stained-glass church windows than the sermons became one of the first artists to be commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art during 2005.

She began at the Pilchuck Glass School, founded by Dale Chihuly in the greater-Seattle area, and was one of the 16 pioneering pupils.

Her sculpture took a turn in 1972 when she started creating sculpture from found materials. By 1982, she developed a technique called "filet de verre," using threads of glass shaped into distinctively recognizable works.

Three more Habatat Galleries - in Boca Raton, Fla., Chicago and the new Tysons Corner, Va. - are dedicated to the same principles. They serve both private and public collections, actively developing artists deserving of recognition and exhibits displayed in more than 100 public institutions.

http://www.ci.royal-oak.mi.us/portal/event_calendar

http://www.michigan.org/Property/Detail.aspx?p=B10183

http://www.glassfacts.info/indexbd1a.html?fid=47