Donna Rizzo is a dancer-choreographer turned studio artist who uses her background when she creates with clay.

Wood turner, glass sculptor also featured at library gallery
By JOAN LAWLER
For Brentwood Home Page
The Friends of the Brentwood Library will feature the works of Scott Hodes (glass sculpture), Donna Rizzo (ceramics), and Brenda Stein (turned wood) in the Glass Showcase for the months of September and October. 

The public is invited to view the art works in the Glass Showcase during regular business hours at the library, 8210 Concord Road.  For further information call 615-371-0090. 

Glass sculpture by Scott Hodes

Scott Hodes, a Nashville native, graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor's in art with an emphasis on glass and neon.

Upon graduation he attended Tennessee Technological University’s Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, Tenn., where he studied with glass master Curtis Brook and blacksmithing expert Robert Coogan.  Following this he studied in the Master of Fine Arts program at Kent State University. 

After graduate school, Hodes established Chaos Glass and Metalworks and built it from the ground up on his 50-acre farm near Bon Aqua, Tenn. He has won many awards for his fine work, and in 2002 he was requested by the State of Tennessee and then governor-elect Phil Bredesen to display his crafts at the Governor’s 2003 inaugural ball.

Hoes' work also is part of the permanent collection of the Tennessee Arts Commission, and can be found in the Tennessee Governor’s Residence. 

Donna Rizzo is a well known dancer, choreographer and former co-director of the Tennessee Dance Theatre, an innovative company that performed throughout the United States and abroad.  In recognition of her contributions in the field of dance, she received a Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Award and the Governor’s Award in the Arts. 

Rizzo now works full time as a studio clay artist, infusing her creations with the energy and spirit she once expressed through dance.

“After dancing all my life, I turned to clay.  My choreographing, performing and teaching children have definitely had an impact on my clay world," she said.

"The themes I used and characters I portrayed in dance are now finding themselves in my ceramic sculptures and functional pottery.  Hopefully they reflect the love, joy and playfulness I find in making them. 

Rizzo’s mostly figurative work is hand built and/or thrown and altered, then fired in a raku or electric kiln.  She exhibits her work nationally through arts and crafts shows and galleries. 

Brenda Stein's Samadhi, from yellowwood

Brenda Stein is a studio artist living in Nashville.  She grew up in Wisconsin, spent some time in Los Angeles, and fell in love with trees when she moved to Tennessee.  As a wood-turner Stein creates gallery quality art that moves the viewer by expressing the individual spirits of Tennessee’s magnificent trees through the strong and graceful forms she brings out of them. 

Stein works closely with arborists to reclaim wood from selected trees and is well known for creating commemorative commissioned pieces for private individuals, organizations, and institutions. She was selected to create the 2007 Governor’s Awards in the Arts for the State of Tennessee, and she has several pieces in the permanent collection of the Tennessee State Museum. 

This exhibit features artwork made of trees from significant sources, including the Tennessee Executive Residence, Nashville Warner Parks, and the University School of Nashville.

“Combining the prefect curve with the richness of our Tennessee trees brings me great joy -- whether the final piece is a classic bowl of figurative sculpture.  Every tree has a story.  Each piece is the voice of the tree inspiring deeper connections with our natural world.”