Biography
Gary Steven Genetti was born in 1953 in Fort Dodge, Iowa where he spent his early years. In 1959 he and his family moved to a lake house in rural southern Wisconsin. His father, Leonard John Genetti, was an electical engineer and his mother Doris Elise Fife Genetti was a registered nurse. As a youth, Gary would accompany his father on many fishing expeditions not only in the chain of lakes that started in his front yard but up into nothern Wisconsin which at that time was
dotted with summer cabins, fishing lodges and hunting camps. These experiences instilled a love of wilderness and adventure. As a young man he was a hiker, hunter, trapper and reader of Jack London novels. In his late teens he became interested in a kind of natural spirituality including American Indian legends and practices. Upon graduating high school in 1971 he ventured on his own personal vision quest by living outside at a remote campsite for a month. During this time he established that his interests were more suited to the artistic depiction of natural imagery as a representation of inner life rather than a harvester of it's form.
The year 1973 saw Genetti enter a fine art program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the sudden death of his father. This traumatic time served to deepen his interest in the esoteric religious traditions of the world including many of the eastern doctrines that were migrating to America during the 1960's and 70's. His trips into the wilderness continued but were combined with classes spent at the local zoo. Drawing the animals during the early morning hours
provided a very lively exchange between artist and animal as it seemed that there was a freedom of movement not found during the public open hours. The impact of these diverse inspirational sources did not become focused until his visit to Greece and Turkey in 1984. There amidst the ancient architecture and crafted objects a reverence for a more classic visual vocabulary was born. The stress on the modern, more conceptual aesthetic found in the academic world of the time was relieved to find accessible roots in the narrative imagery and graceful forms of the ancient world. Genetti's interests expanded from there to include a variety of Asian and indiginous traditional art forms.
While he had already been blowing glass for several years, it was not until after this trip that Genetti began to incorporate the narrative animal imagery into the geometric patterning that characterized his work to that point. Still using the same process of pressure carving with sand he began to develop his version of the "incalmo" color joining and a variety of overlay techniques that form the basis of his work today.
Genetti's current work represents over 26 years of developing a particular dexterity not only in the drawn and pressure etched imagery, but he is also one of only a handful of cameo glass artists in the world who also blows his own glass blanks. Traditionally these skills are held by separate people as they are so dramtically different and complex. He has been able to integrate his efforts to accomplish a more personal and unique aesthetic vision. His work displays the same integrity and high level of attentiveness given to the finest antiques and a subtle contemporary quality in color use, surface texture and form.
Genetti lives and works in Warwick, a small, rural community in New York state. He and his wife Mena traveled to mainland China in 1996 and again in 1999 to adopt their daughters Rosa and Josie who are 9 and 6 years old respectivly.
Gary Steven Genetti was born in 1953 in Fort Dodge, Iowa where he spent his early years. In 1959 he and his family moved to a lake house in rural southern Wisconsin. His father, Leonard John Genetti, was an electical engineer and his mother Doris Elise Fife Genetti was a registered nurse. As a youth, Gary would accompany his father on many fishing expeditions not only in the chain of lakes that started in his front yard but up into nothern Wisconsin which at that time was
dotted with summer cabins, fishing lodges and hunting camps. These experiences instilled a love of wilderness and adventure. As a young man he was a hiker, hunter, trapper and reader of Jack London novels. In his late teens he became interested in a kind of natural spirituality including American Indian legends and practices. Upon graduating high school in 1971 he ventured on his own personal vision quest by living outside at a remote campsite for a month. During this time he established that his interests were more suited to the artistic depiction of natural imagery as a representation of inner life rather than a harvester of it's form.
The year 1973 saw Genetti enter a fine art program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the sudden death of his father. This traumatic time served to deepen his interest in the esoteric religious traditions of the world including many of the eastern doctrines that were migrating to America during the 1960's and 70's. His trips into the wilderness continued but were combined with classes spent at the local zoo. Drawing the animals during the early morning hours
provided a very lively exchange between artist and animal as it seemed that there was a freedom of movement not found during the public open hours. The impact of these diverse inspirational sources did not become focused until his visit to Greece and Turkey in 1984. There amidst the ancient architecture and crafted objects a reverence for a more classic visual vocabulary was born. The stress on the modern, more conceptual aesthetic found in the academic world of the time was relieved to find accessible roots in the narrative imagery and graceful forms of the ancient world. Genetti's interests expanded from there to include a variety of Asian and indiginous traditional art forms.
While he had already been blowing glass for several years, it was not until after this trip that Genetti began to incorporate the narrative animal imagery into the geometric patterning that characterized his work to that point. Still using the same process of pressure carving with sand he began to develop his version of the "incalmo" color joining and a variety of overlay techniques that form the basis of his work today.
Genetti's current work represents over 26 years of developing a particular dexterity not only in the drawn and pressure etched imagery, but he is also one of only a handful of cameo glass artists in the world who also blows his own glass blanks. Traditionally these skills are held by separate people as they are so dramtically different and complex. He has been able to integrate his efforts to accomplish a more personal and unique aesthetic vision. His work displays the same integrity and high level of attentiveness given to the finest antiques and a subtle contemporary quality in color use, surface texture and form.
Genetti lives and works in Warwick, a small, rural community in New York state. He and his wife Mena traveled to mainland China in 1996 and again in 1999 to adopt their daughters Rosa and Josie who are 9 and 6 years old respectivly.