Tornado Wearing a Necklace, The Opulence of the Heart
Artist
Ruffner, Ginny
(American, 1952-2025)
Date1988
OriginUnited States of America
MediumOil pastels on lamp-worked glass
Dimensions21 × 14 1/2 × 10 in. (53.3 × 36.8 × 25.4 cm)
ClassificationsGlass
Credit LineGift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
Object number2017.113
Label TextGinny Ruffner (American, born 1952)
Tornado Wearing a Necklace, The Opulence of the Heart
Lamp worked glass, 1988
Gift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
During the 1980s, Ruffner emerged as a leader in the national glass community, making flameworking (heating glass over the flame of a torch, then shaping it with tools) her technique of choice. In 1985, she first applied oil paints to her glass sculptures, thereby creating her signature style.
The artist uses the term tornado to describe the personal disaster that struck, when a car accident left her in a coma and upended her life, and to describe her personal need for creativity and the creative process. Her early themes express the meaning and uses of beauty, fecundity, literature, language, and what it means to be a female artist.
Status
Not on view
