The arts of Venice have become increasingly important at WMODA thanks to our Carnival & Cabaret exhibit. We now have an exciting partnership with the Venetian Arts Society and last month hosted one of their inspiring Art Salons in our Hot Glass gallery. Lladró’s porcelain masterpiece Carnival in Venice continues to astonish our visitors with its grandiose scale and intricate craftsmanship. Our relationship with Balocoloc Artisans of Venice has introduced traditional mask-making techniques to a new audience of revelers. We are grateful also to Sergio Gnesin for introducing us to more maestros of Murano glass and lending the Venetian Harlequin fountain, another highlight of our exhibit.

The Venetian Arts Society Salons are multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural artistic experiences combining performance, education and stimulating social interaction. On May 31st, the Hot Glass gallery at WMODA was the setting for a brilliant performance by the Cuban classical guitar virtuoso, Jose Angel Navarro, accompanied by percussionist Joel Hernandez Roque.

Balocoloc Artisans of Venice have become huge supporters of WMODA. Their mask-maker Matteo Montagner has demonstrated his artistic techniques on two occasions and the museum shop now stocks a wide range of authentic Venetian masks. Some of their most spectacular masks are on display in the Carnival & Cabaret exhibition and the latest addition is a massive rhino mask, hand-painted with details from The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. Balocoloc have also supplied the museum shop with porcelain trinket boxes decorated with mask motifs and a collection of glass jewelry from Murano.

The Magic of Murano exhibit curated by Sergio Gnesin introduced us to more Venetian glass maestros. We still have several key pieces on loan to WMODA including a glass mask by Ermanno Nason, a stylized black serpent by Rosin, and the paintings of Diberg, which feature thousands of fragments of Murano glass. Sergio has also arranged for the museum shop to sell some gorgeous goti from Murano. These unique glasses were originally made by the maestros to show off their technical skills and to use as drinking glasses to cool off beside the hot furnaces. Now they also look lovely as floating candle holders. All proceeds from sales at WMODA benefit the museum’s educational programs.

Photography by Mike Brodie