Rocko Belloso: Creating Narratives in Boro

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

An American glass artist best known for his modern approach to centuries-old techniques, Rocko Belloso specializes in murrine, cut and flip, stringer drawing, and sculpture. He is an innovator in his combination of these elements as well as his custom color mixing methods. His work presents an updated aesthetic with influences from comic books, cult movies, metal music, and lowbrow art, ranging from stylized depictions to hyper-realistic portraits.

As a young teen, Belloso anticipated attending art school to become a cartoonist, but his plans changed in 2003 when he saw the two-dimensional rendering possibilities of murrine glass. He consequentially accepted a glassblowing apprenticeship and employment at Third Eye Design in California, where he spent the next seven years as a production artist, assigned to making mostly dry pipes.

In his free time, Belloso took classes from artists including Scott Deppe, Jesse Taj, Marcel Braun, and Jason Lee, whom he respectively credits with learning murrine, chip stacking, line-work, and reticello. In 2010, Belloso began doing hourly work for an independent glass distributor, affording him more freedom to explore these specialized techniques. In 2014, as his murrine work gained popularity in flameworking circles, the artist took the leap and began working for himself.

Since becoming an independent artist, Belloso has received accolades for his unique work, which has been displayed at galleries and created at live demos across the country. His art has been included in various glass competitions, for which he has received medals and first-place awards. He has also served as a judge at the World Series of Glass and Champs Glass Games. The artist was recently a selected competitor among some of the best boro artists in the industry at Midwest Meltdown. To date, Belloso has been an integral part of every Molten Build – the brainchild of friend and artist Adam Hoobrey aka “Hoobs” – an incredible collaboration with some of the most skilled torch artists, resulting in massive, detailed functional boro sculpture.

As a result of his extensive knowledge and groundbreaking applications, Belloso has been invited to teach workshops at institutions including the Corning Museum of Glass, Carlisle School of Glass Art, and numerous glass studios coast-to-coast. He just finished a glass sculpting class at Salem Community College Glass Center and will be teaching Creating Narratives in 2D: Borosilicate Cut & Flip Techniques, August 3 – 14, 2024, at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, with Eriko Kobayashi as his TA. Info and registration:

https://www.pilchuck.org/programs/session_5_storykeeping

Over the past year, Belloso and flameworking icon Paul Stankard have been transferring the soft glass techniques Stankard pioneered into borosilicate glass. The duo recently demonstrated the processes at Salem Community College’s International Flameworking Conference, held March 15 – 17, 2024. They are currently developing a new body of work, Momento Mori, for future exhibition at WheatonArts, Millville, New Jersey, dates TBA.

Stankard states: “Rocko Belloso, who is a master in the borosilicate world, was able to interpret my botanical vocabulary in a way that has inspired me, knowing that a new botanical aesthetic is going to evolve in borosilicate glass. I was assisting Rocko with keeping things hot, organizing the vacuum pick-up for the honeybees, and all-around taking advantage of his incredible talent. I’m fascinated with the possibility of different aesthetic results that could develop by using borosilicate glass. The quality of the colors and clear glass rods is impressive. It takes a lot longer to encase the components and ball up the glass; that said Rocko brings skill and patience to the task. I prefer the title Boro Flower Balls and believe that future collectors will embrace this new work – going beyond the paperweight world with enthusiastic collectors building large collections with a wide range of artists represented.”