Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky

Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky was born in Boston and educated at the Rhode Island School of Design. She then went to Seattle to study with Dale Chihuly at the Pilchuck Glass School. Since then, she's returned to Pilkchuck as a teacher on numerous occasions. Although trained in a wide variety of glassmaking techniques, the art for which she is best known are bowl-shaped vessels made of fused glass threads -- a technique called "filet de verre". She had also lived in Europe for 16 years and now divides her time between her studios in Providence, Rhode Island and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Her works of art can be seen in a variety of public collections including the Corning Mueum of Glass, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington D.C. She currently resides in Paris, France.