DANTE MARIONI

Dante Marioni was exposed to and enamored of glassblowing by the age of 15, when he moved with his family to Seattle. The son of pioneering studio glass artist Paul Marioni, Dante Marioni grew up with a family of artists that includes two well-known uncles, painter Joseph Marioni and conceptual artist Tom Marioni. Dante received an intensive early training at Pilchuck School in Stanwood, Washington, working overtime to practice glassblowing. Here, he met Lino Tagliapietra, whom he credits as the greatest living glass artist, and whom he gratefully calls mentor. Marioni is strongly inspired by Benjamin Moore (some of his more monumentally tall and thin vases were created in Moore’s studio) and Richard Marquis (with whom he developed the mosaic technique).

By the late-1980s, Marioni could claim his own successful career, exhibiting in major galleries and museums such as the Bellevue Art Museum, Washington and the American Craft Museum, New York. In 1995, he was invited to the Clinton White House as part of an exhibition, and his work graced the cover of the accompanying publication, The White House Collection of American Crafts. In 2008, he had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. His works are part of major collections and museums throughout the world, including: the Corning Museum of Glass (NY); the Chrysler Museum (Norfolk, VA); the New Zealand National Museum of Art (Wellington); the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC); and the Yokohama Museum of Art (Japan).