SPOTLIGHT
Faculty artist earns prestigious grant
STORY BY BRIAN VERNELLIS
PHOTOS BY KENDRA STANLEY-MILLS
A prestigious national grant will help a Grand Valley visual and media arts faculty member expand his research and artistic practice with glass.
Norwood Viviano holds a cullet of commercially-produced gray glass from Bullseye Glass in Portland, Oregon. A cullet is made when they wash out the furnaces between colors.
Norwood Viviano holds a cullet of commercially-produced gray glass from Bullseye Glass in Portland, Oregon. A cullet is made when they wash out the furnaces between colors.
Norwood Viviano, associate professor of sculpture and foundations and area coordinator for sculpture, was one of 50 recipients of the United States Artists Fellowship, a highly competitive award that supports artists across disciplines. The $50,000 award will enable Viviano to make infrastructure improvements to his home studio, he said.
Viviano is currently in Australia, at the Australian National University in Canberra, continuing his research and studio work. One of his ongoing projects uses 3D modeling and glasswork to explore and visualize the long-term effects of climate change on urban environments.
“A lot of my artwork focuses on data visualization or turning raw data into visualized information. So over the course of the last 15 years, I've created several projects where I've looked at demographic information and turned it into 3D models,” said Viviano, who teaches a course in 3D modeling and printing.
“The primary reason I was interested in having the Fulbright experience at the Australian National University was to really dig into and talk to specialists and figure out what their mitigation strategies are for the effects of climate change.”