Internationally acclaimed glass sculptor, industrial designer Tom Patti to reopen Arno Maris Gallery at Westfield State College

November 9, 2009

“Illuminating the Invisible,” an exhibition by Tom Patti, a Pittsfield artist internationally recognized for his glass sculpture, will be the opening exhibit for the newly renovated Arno Maris Gallery in the Ely Campus Center at Westfield State College, Nov. 19-Dec. 18.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and artist reception is set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, followed by a lecture by Patti at 6:30 p.m. The event is part of the college’s Guest Lecture Series, which is free and open to the public.

The ceremony and exhibit celebrate the reopening of the gallery, closed for two years during building renovations.

“Tom Patti’s work and philosophy of art make him a very appropriate choice to reopen the Arno Maris Gallery,” said Evan S. Dobelle, president of Westfield State.”  “He is an internationally respected artist, whose advocacy for public art is in keeping with the college’s ongoing efforts to bring more public art to downtown Westfield. His multidisciplinary approach to art — merging with science, mathematics, architecture and design of public spaces — also blends the interests of our students in various majors.”

Patti received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from Westfield State in 2008.

Trained as an industrial designer and sculptor, Patti is known for his innovative use of glass and plastics to create visionary architectural systems, small-scale sculptural works, and large architectural art commissions.

Published and exhibited throughout the world, his work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and numerous others.

He has collaborated with architects and engineers in the United States and abroad, including Cesar Pelli, Graham Gund, FX Fowle, Arquitectonica and Buro Happold, on major public projects. These include Night Passage, a large curved glass wall of blast-resistant glass at a New York subway station where over two and one half million people per day experience the artwork, and Light Monitor, a sculpture on the waterfront in Greenwich Village.

Patti, who was born in 1943, lost an eye in an accident at the age of 8 while playing with a homemade toy.  Nevertheless, he overcame his disability to pursue is fascination with the combination of science and art.

"When I was a kid General Electric was in my backyard,” Patti said. “They were experimenting with man-made lightning and I went to the building where they were doing the test. When I saw it for the first time I knew what I was looking for – that mystery event of discovery between science and creativity.”

He has since received numerous awards for his art projects and has been a technical consultant on glass design for Corning, Owens Corning, PPG, and Solutia.  The Massachusetts Foundation for the Arts honored Patti in 1987 at a Massachusetts Living Treasure.

He is also scheduled to receive the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award in New York City in January.  The award recognizes people who advance the principles of design developed by the late professor at the Pratt Institute, where Patti studied industrial design theory.

“Miss Reed was both my teacher and mentor,” Patti said. “In the 1960s Pratt’s industrial design theory was about maximizing creative potential. All the design problems were about defining a method of think/work and developing a cognitive pathway to understanding.”