Dalton Ghetti -- Graphite Guy

On a recent visit to the New Britain Museum of American Art I came upon three framed pieces of Dalton Ghetti's amazing carved pencils.

The focus of the visit was to see the Escher exhibit (which was fascinating) after which we decided to look at the contemporary art galleries. Poking around, I was surprised to see Ghetti's work. I ran to my friend all most yelling. "He's here, the pencil guy!" Fortunately good friends usually understand my distinctly ridiculous stringing together of words when I am excited. My friend Sosse Baker of the Chester Gallery loves all things pencil and in August she sent me a bunch of his images. They are literally mind-bending. You'll see what I mean when you get to the final image.

Brazilian born Dalton Ghetti is a Bridgeport (CT) artist who has spent years carving magnificent miniature masterpieces on graphite pencils. His tools consist of a razor blade, sewing needle and a sculpting knife. The process is extremely slow; pieces can take years to complete, but they can also break while being worked. In the event a piece must be scrapped Ghetti keeps it and places it in a sort of broken object cemetery. What struck me when viewing the life-size framed pieces -- having only seen images on the computer -- was that they are really small. The "Alphabet" below gives you a hint of the actual size.

They are not for sale. But . . .

He would love to do a gallery show in London if his travel expenses were included.

Love it.

This last one demands serious consideration.

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Vittorio Constantini -- Glass Artista

Departures Magazine most recent issue is devoted to the city of Venice and gives a shout out to one of the most amazing glass artists, Vittorio Constantini.

I visited his studio a few years ago. It's tiny and not easy to find, but it is heaven. If you ask for direction from Piazza San Marco, you will be told to take a vaporetto, but don't. Look at Googlemaps; it's really a very short walk. And you probably will get lost. If your heart is set on seeing him, call ahead. He's busy, he travels. I think he visits the States at least once a year. Some of his work is at Harvard with their magnificent Blaschka glass flowers.

He had been represented by a gallery in Nantucket, but I do not recall its name. My love of bugs and fish brought me to him. Here is a link to a bunch of great videos.

Cocchinella



Bees and honey are glass.

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