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Artist Profile: Norwood Viviano
December 06, 2024
Artist Norwood Viviano is an Associate Professor and Sculpture Emphasis Coordinator in the Department of Visual and Media Arts (VMA) at Grand Valley State University. Viviano teaches a variety of courses, including sculpture, 3D Design, computer 3D modeling, and digital fabrication, and runs the VMA foundry. He has also worked significantly to push the limits of rapid prototyping technology, which has led to collaboration between engineers and industry specialists.
One of Viviano’s first major body of work was First Generation Artifact , a series of bronze sculptures that explores the connection Italian immigrants had to their heirlooms. On that body of work, Viviano states, “I chose to focus on objects brought to America during the great immigration of the early 20th century. These objects embody the Italy and culture the immigrants left behind, but also contain many of the hopes and dreams for a future in the New World. Stories and family traditions are built around their possessions, which in many cases, are the only traces from the first generation. I am fascinated by these artifacts for a number of reasons. These objects were created in a time when handwork and craft were considered the only mode of construction; they embody the personality of their place and time.”
In more recent work, Viviano has been exploring population shifts and industry in the manufacturing cities of Michigan. He combines his traditional sculptural works of bronze or glass with 3D modeling and printing technology. In his project, Cities: Departure and Deviation, Viviano tracks shifts in population growth and decline relative to their dependence on the expansion and contraction of local industry. Blown-glass sculptures are on view next to typology charts, providing a timeline for making connections and drawing comparisons in population among major American cities such as Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York.
Explore more artwork by Norwood Viviano.
Norwood Viviano, Making Way, bronze, 2009, 2008.375.3.
Norwood Viviano, Cities: Departure and Deviation, City of Chicago,
1833-2009, digital vinyl cut drawing on paper, 2011, 2012.110.8.
Norwood Viviano, First Generation Artifact: Tablecloth, cast bronze,
2004-2008, 2011.17.8.