Lot 450
Rick Ayotte (American, b.1944), Miniature Toucan and Flower Glass Paperweight, 2004
Provenance:
Collection of Jane & Ken Wright, Cambridge/Toronto
Purchased from the artist, 2004
Note:
Born and raised in New Hampshire, Rick Ayotte explored the woods and waterways, and studied the animals that crept and flew and swam. In 1978, Ayotte entered hitherto unexplored territory when he began to create wildlife art with glass. Today, Rick Ayotte’s naturalistic portrayals of wildlife, represented in their natural habitat, are renowned throughout the world. Being an admirer of the antique paperweight makers, Ayotte developed his works along the classic models of the French glasshouses of Baccarat, Saint Louis, and Clichy: the spherical presentation, the optical qualities of crystal, and the use of color to seduce the eye. Ayotte, however, has left the nineteenth century far behind in terms of subject matter.