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Norwood Viviano

He // Him // His

Glass and Multimedia Artist

Kalamazoo, Michigan

A portrait of a man smiling with his arms crossed. He is wearing glasses, a t-shirt, an apron and standing in an outdoor work space.

Photo courtesy of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

“As an artist, I present data-driven information in a three-dimensional format using traditional craft materials in ways that allow viewers to place themselves in the work.”

Norwood Viviano grew up in suburban Detroit with first-and second-generation family members from Sicily, Russia, Cuba, and Canada. Having a family with such disparate ties to the world instilled in Viviano a curiosity that has shaped the way he creates artwork. 

Using mapping tools and industrial materials, he creates installations and sculptures that consider various social and environmental factors driving population changes in American cities. His current projects explore the cross-sections of geography, cartography, and history, merging urban landscapes with the symbols of industry that have fueled their booms, busts, and builds. 

He received a BFA from Alfred University and an MFA in Sculpture from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He has held residencies at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, Museum of Glass Tacoma, Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Pilchuck Glass School, and an Arts/Industry Residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. His work is represented in the collections of museums in the US, Europe, and Asia. Exhibitions of his artwork include the Venice Architectural Biennale, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, and Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, MI; Heller Gallery, New York, NY (2011, 2014, 2018, and 2021); Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI; Fuller Craft Museum; and UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY. Viviano is an Associate Professor and Sculpture Program Coordinator at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

Donor -This award was generously supported by donors of the USA Fellowship Awards program.

This artist page was last updated on: 01.14.2026

Craft
A cityscape rendered in glass sits atop a cast iron engine block. The imagery fuses elements of the city’s industrial past with its present-day architectural landscape.

Recasting Detroit by Norwood Viviano, 2021. Kilncast glass and 3D printed pattern, 16 × 13 × 11 inches. Created by combining an original cast iron engine block with a 3D printed LiDAR scan of the city of Detroit. Through several steps of the mold making process the project was lost wax cast in kilncast glass.

Photo by Tim Thayer/RM Hensleigh.

A cityscape set atop a wood log rendered in glass. The imagery merges urban landscapes with the symbols of industry that have fueled their booms and busts.

Recasting Portland by Norwood Viviano, 2019. Kilncast glass and 3D printed pattern, 17.25 × 17.5 × 5 inches. Recasting Portland examines the early lumber industry in Portland, OR. Created by combining a 3D scan of a log with a LiDar scan of the city of Portland. The combined scans were 3D printed and taken through several steps of the mold making process to be lost wax cast in kilncast glass.

Photo by Tim Thayer/RM Hensleigh.

Three glass sculptures that resemble funnels or spinning tops hang from wire. Behind them are renderings of the sculptures with annotations about the data they represent. The blown-glass objects, created entirely in shades of clinical white, black and gray, reference the weight and precision of hanging plumbs and the precariousness of spinning tops.

Detail of Cities: Departure and Deviation - New York, Newark, and Philadelphia by Norwood Viviano, 2010–2011. Twenty-four blown-glass forms based on 3D rotations of statistical data for major urban centers in the United States, vinyl cut drawings, dimensions variable. In the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

Photo by Cathy Carver.