Raising glass to new heights

Sunday, March 19, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.

At first it was the chandeliers. Forty of them. Four-foot glass-and-steel sculptures created to hang above the audience at Mandalay Bay's now-defunct Latin-themed production show "Storm."

From there, Barbara and Larry Domsky's world would change.

The chandeliers caught the eye of the hotel's executives and the show's designers. Soon the Domskys were creating installations for Mandalay Bay's display areas. When a glass gallery was opened near the lobby, they were featured artists.

Now, nearly five years later, they're thriving.

They create commissioned works for collectors throughout the country. Their glass art is sold in Las Vegas in the Wynn Home Store and in the Holsum Lofts at L Maynard Galleries and at Lynn Peri Collection.

They have two shows opening in April, one at Lynn Peri Collection, another at an estate in Palos Verdes, Calif., and they remain active in children's cancer charities through their art.

"When we started off we were making bowls, 18-inch bowls, and we were making a living selling them all over the country," Barbara Domsky said. "Then we got into painting, then sculptures. We're constantly evolving.

"It's just endless what you can do with glass."

Their large glass paintings and sculptures are multilayered works - bright and vividly colored. They combine the old tradition of glass blowing with glass fusion, and they continue to experiment.

But they lacked acceptance in an art world where some say their type of work is too commercial or craft-based.

It's a common complaint, said Pam Figenshow Koss, executive director of the Seattle-based international Glass Art Society, which has 3,000 members. "It's been batted around forever."

The truth, Koss said, "depends on who you talk to."

"For a long time it was all glass blowing," Koss said. "But it has gradually moved to using special techniques and has now become very sculptural."

She said the "studio glass movement" is only about 40 years old. Glass making was largely limited to industry.

Basically, Koss said, "It comes down to original thought."

And that's where the Domskys fall into the conversation.

"We don't see our work as being commercial. We see it as being inventive," said Barbara Domsky.

The Domskys have been working together as artists since 1990. They have seven mid-sized kilns, an oversized kiln, two hot glass work stations and a metal shop, which allows them to have complete creative control over their work.

Larry Domsky's background in metal comes from working as an apprentice stagehand after high school in the 1970s for the original "Jubilee!" when masters of the craft were building sets in the parking lots of the hotels.

Barbara Domsky, who studied interior design, art appreciation and art history in South Africa, worked in a glass studio in Washington state. She came to Las Vegas and painted scenic backdrops for conventions and Strip shows.

"They are both just as talented as the other," said Bill Uglow, who was vice president of retail at Mandalay Bay at the time and set them up with commissioned opportunities.

"Larry has a flair for metal. Barbara is a genius with glass and color."

To get their desired effect, the Domskys create long tubelike canes of multicolored glass, slice them up and set them within other layers of glass and glass bits, then fuse it all together. Though they have control of its structure, details of the design take on a life of their own as the glass moves in the kiln. Barbara Domsky's pieces incorporate color bouquets that vary in form and color.

"This is many layers of infused glass and color," said Jerry Hall, co-owner of Lynn Peri Collection. "The paintings are huge. It's extraordinary."

Chuck Macy, a glass-art collector in Jacksonville, Fla., owns three Domsky pieces. He said that even the Domskys couldn't replicate their own original works.

"It's very unique," he said. "It pops with light."

In keeping with their practice of evolving their work, the Domsky's have tapped into another form: a new kind of chandelier.

The glowing works, weighing as much as 350 pounds, differ from the Domskys' traditional use of color. The glass is clear and the structure, rather than color, takes artistic precedent.

Each piece is hand-blown and distinctively shaped, then connected to a metal structure. The result is a cross between the celestial and the surreal. When asked how long it takes to make a chandelier, the Domsky's jokingly respond in unison, "15 years," in reference to the amount of time they've been collaborating.

The actual process takes about three weeks of hours in their 5,000-square-foot studio and gallery on West Oquendo Road near Russell and Valley View.

With their small staff, which includes the Domskys and Will D'Errico, a 26-year-old gaffer - a master glass blower - from western Massachusetts, they keep busy.

"Even when we're not working, we're here doing our art," Barbara Domsky said.

But, she said, it's not a problem.

"We all have the same passion for glass."