Laura de Santillana
Italian, 1955 - 2019Bodhi (Ivory), 2006
Not on view
Blown glass, hand ground with mirrored interior
Dimensions16 × 16 × 16 in. (40.6 × 40.6 × 40.6 cm)
Courtesy of the Isabel Foundation, L2017.31
Laura De Santillana often remarks that she was practically born inside of a glass factory. Her family operated a famous factory in Murano, Italy, and from a young age she was immersed in the glass-making world. This work was made using the traditional Venetian technique of mouth-blown glass. The artist used a colorless, milky glass to emphasize its sculptural shape and form. Its title Bodhi [bow-de] is Sanskrit for the Buddhist concept of “enlightenment” or “awakening.”