Glass Sculpture by Tom Patti, c. 1977

c. 1977 Patti was born in Pittsfield, MA on October 16, 1943. He attended Pratt Institute where he studied with Rowena Reed Kostellow. Receiving both his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Industrial Design. While in school, Tom experimented with inflatable plastics, embracing the relationships between art, engineering and architecture, seeking and developing solutions for global housing issues. In the l960's he was involved with E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology), a project co-founded by Robert Rauschenberg to promote collaboration between artists and engineers. During the late 1960s and early '70s, Patti became interested in glass for its form potential. He pioneered an exploration of its sculptural possibilities combining design theory with his innovative technique of fusing and laminating. This exploration was to become a predominant theme in all of Tom's work a persistence of vision that has spanned 40 years — the development of formable transparent materials for art, industrial and architectural application. Honored in 1987 as Massachusetts Living Treasure by the Foundation on the Arts, has received international attention for a body of work that includes small scale sculptural works, visionary architectural systems, product designs and large architectural art commissions. Published and exhibited throughout the world, his work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and numerous others. Patti is considered one of the most highly regarded artists working with glass. His art reveals itself in transparent cross-sections that encapsulate veils and patterns within the borders of simple, sophisticated forms. His work reflects a multidisciplinary spirit - encompassing an interest in architecture, design education, engineering, science, and the power of creativity.