Artist

José Chardiet

born Havana, Cuba 1956
Media - portrait_image_113184.jpg - 90119
Courtesy José Chardiet.
Also known as
  • Jose Chardiet
Born
Havana, Cuba
Active in
  • New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Nationalities
  • American
Biography

José Chardiet fled Cuba with his family in 1960 and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. He studied glassmaking there and at Kent State University in Ohio, and taught for many years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Chardiet thinks of the glass vessel as a kind of interior, a refuge for the imagination. His sculptural groups---which have been called still lifes in spite of their energy---often evoke human families, undersea creatures, and exotic, otherworldly plants, all acting out dramas of love, sex, and conflict.