It was the year 2013, and Judi Harvest’s foresight and willpower knew one thing: one couldn’t possibly look at the glorious past of Murano without trying to challenge a tradition way beyond the tight borders of customary Venetian near-sightedness, uncapable of concrete action. Harvest’s garden/installation at Sacca Serenella, close to the Giorgio Giuman glass furnace in Murano, made a name for itself internationally, even the New York Times dedicated it ample coverage. It’s not the first time the press tell the adventure of this American artist who, relying on her own strength alone, managed to convert a glass furnace waste yard into a blooming garden and art installation, where bee live happily making more and more honey every year, using only beauty and harmony.
One of the appointments of The Venice Glass Week (this year, The Italian Glass Weeks) that nobody would want to miss is the picnic that Judi Harvest hosts in her garden.
A real busy bee – pun intended – the artist personally tends to each plant and to the health of the bee colony. The picnic will take place on September 24, and is the perfect chance to visit again, or visit for the first time, a garden that is the bees’, naturally, but that also welcome bats, essential critter for a balanced ecosystem, and whose presence is endangered by man.
What’s new for the 2022 edition is the artist’s idea to make visitors try their hand at making a glass cup, supervised by master glassblowers, and make them feel in their hands the craft’s centuries-old history. Participants will be instructed about glass working techniques, pick scrap glass, choose their colours, and, if all goes well, have their cup be part of the exhibition, and also use it at the picnic, instead of single-use plastic.