The Variety ShowThe Variety Show
Independent Artist
by Keith Bearden
J
oseph Cavalieri sees life as a stove with four burners. One burner
represents family, one friends, another is health, and the last is ca-
reer. When teaching, he asks his students to visualize turning the career
burner high and the remaining three down to a simmer. The burners can
go back to their normal settings after the class ends, but for the length
of the class they have a break from “regular” life.
When asked to describe his own set of burners, Cavalieri lists one for
exhibitions, a second for teaching, and a third for commissions. Family,
friends, and health were consolidated in the fourth burner. In 2016, his
exhibition burner is turned up the highest. It includes working on new
art for five one-man exhibitions, four in New York, including the Ivy
Brown Gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan.
“Other than U.S., Canadian, and European classes, I had a good
amount of time to concentrate on making these works,” Cavalieri shared.
“I was aiming to have 20 to 30 pieces to show and I’m thankful that I
have a few talented apprentices to help out with the production.”
After teaching at the Fire Station and NCAD in Dublin and being
the keynote speaker at the Glass Society of Ireland Conference in 2015,
Cavalieri’s teaching schedule is full for 2016, with 11 classes in Europe
and the United States. These include painting and silk screening on glass
classes at UrbanGlass, Brooklyn Glass, Bryn Athyn College, Pittsburgh
Glass, D&L Art Glass Supply, Delphi Glass, Creative Glass in the U.K.
and Zurich, Switzerland, Anla Glas in Denmark, Glass Axis, The Studios
of Key West, and his fourth class at Pratt in Washington State. He will
also be a visiting artist at Uroboros Glass.
Catching Up with Joseph Cavalieri
Joseph Cavalieri, The 4 Seasons, hand painted and silk screened
kiln fired stained glass, 68" x 21", 2015. This colorful and fun inter-
pretation of the four seasons starts with winter at the top and is set
into a stainless steel frame with internal LED lights.54 • Glass Art TM • May/June 2016 http://www.GlassArtMagazine.com