Marge Organo

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS 

Marge Organo molds her story through stained glass masterpieces 

Monday, March 18, 2019 / C-2

Text by Hannah Jo Uy 

In the agile hands of Marge Or­gano, glass, otherwise cold and unbending, writhes to form the fantastical shapes of her imagi­nation. Likening the process to child­birth, she delights in her craft despite the laborious nature of its execution. 

“For a medium this elegant, I believe that working on it for a lon­ger time defines the medium bet­ter,” Organo says. “It’s like having a child—having a waiting period of nine months is what makes it more spe­cial. I want to nurture my work as if it were my baby. That’s what sets it apart from factory-made pieces. Of course, factory-made [products] are more perfect than handmade pieces, but that’s where the beauty lies—the imperfection of the pieces serves as an indication that they were made by human hands.” 

The elegant nature in which Or­gano approaches her art is rooted in her passion to master her medium. As she remains hard at work trying to meet growing demand, she never for­gets to satisfy her unquenchable hun­ger to learn, which is why she actively attends classes abroad to update her knowledge, get ideas, and refine tech­niques. 

Last year, Organo took a trip to the Czech Republic to study Glass Casting and Mould Making, a tech­nique that involves melting glass in a kiln and pouring it in a mold to get the shape intended by the artist. “It is called the warm glass technique,” she explains. “Before this, I was just doing coldworking, a glass technique by which the artist works with glass in its cold or annealed stage.” In this manner, glass is carved and polished using hand tools and machines and no heat is involved, unless one is doing lamination. “Coldworking can stand on its own as a glassmak­ing technique because one can create a piece of glass sculpture using it.” Organo also has plans to go to the Corning Museum of Glass, in New York, by summer. 

Ever the student, she’s steadfast commitment to learning traditional techniques doesn’t stop her from breaking the rules. Experimentation drives her and so does curiosity, as she believes that, in glass, everything is possible “I am very daring when it comes to my work,” she admits. “I think outside the box and try to break tradition. Once, I did something in one of my glass classes and my teacher said, ‘Yeah, you can do that if you want, but don’t tell anyone you did that in my class.’” When she came back to the Philippines, Organo continued to innovate and with wonderful results. 

These wild experimenta­tions trickled down to her recent works showcased at Gallery Nine, which featured one cast glass sculpture, the most important in the collec­tion for her up­coming exhibit at The Gallery in Solaire Re­sort and Ca­sino, “Magnum Opus.” As the name suggests, the collection offers stunning graceful mas­terpieces from Organo’s hands, with the unveil­ing of a pièce-de-résistance that is an immense cast glass sculp­ture of a piano, in which Organo employed a mix of both warm and cold techniques. “It’s like doing a collabo­ration with myself,” she says, “as I have cast glass, cast bronze, and lami­nated optical glass in one piece.” The body of the piano, she explains, is cast glass, the keys and cover are optical coldworked laminated glass, and the legs are cast bronze. 

Reflecting on how her new collec­tion reveals her evolution as an artist, Organo says: “A year ago, I think I was more conservative, more calculating, and very sensitive to the desires of the market. But now I have thrown all care to the wind.” This new respect for the sires of her own heart has moved her toward warmer hues that exude el­egance along with bold combinations of colors, imbuing her works with a youthful, carefree attitude. The works pulsate with joyful energy, borne from an artist that sees the world through rose-tinted glass. 

Organo continues to take deep pleasure in new challenges, always making designs that are particularly difficult to execute, now even ventur­ing to incorporate plants and flowers in her works, encapsulated inside the glass. “I spend sleepless nights thinking of the procedure I will apply in making the design I have created in my mind,” she says. “I challenge my medium and my materials. I go to the extent of testing its strength and resilience.” 

The opening reception for Or­gano’s “Magnum Opus” will be held on March 21 at 6 p.m. at The Gallery at Solaire Resort and Casino. The ex­hibit will run until April 15.