A leading collector on colour, craft, and recognising something he hadn’t seen before
A Collector Who Sees Differently
For thirty years, Ray Chimienti has been surrounded by glass, in galleries, studios, museums and collectors’ homes.
He's lived with glass art, studied it, travelled for it, and built a life around it.
He thought he had seen most of what the medium could do.
Today he’s deeply involved in the American glass world, serving as a board member of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) and President of the Michigan Art Glass Society (MAGS), both central organisations in the contemporary glass community.
He’s part of the small group of collectors helping shape how contemporary glass is seen, discussed and preserved.
That matters, because when someone like Ray says he has found something genuinely new in glass, people pay attention.
This is not casual opinion. It’s a trained eye.
And that is exactly what happened when he came across Linda Rossiter’s work.
Not in a grand gallery, but on Facebook.
“I happened to see one of your reels,” he told Linda in their recorded interview. “And then after that, I was intrigued.”
That word matters: intrigued.
Ray is not new to this medium. He’s spent decades around collectors, galleries, museums and artists’ studios. He first fell for glass because, unlike painting, it never settles into a single fixed state.
“It’s unique to any other medium, how it reflects light.”
“I can have a painting in my house, and it pretty much looks the same every day.
I could have a piece of glass in the house, and depending on the weather outside, the light coming in the window, it’s always changing. Always something new to look at.”
That is the language of a real collector: not someone admiring surface beauty, but someone attentive to the life of a work.
From First Piece to Obsession
Ray’s own journey, like many, began modestly enough with a small vase from a local art fair.
But his collecting changed when he discovered Habatat Gallery, the largest dedicated glass gallery in the United States, and bought what he calls his “first serious piece” of glass art.
“Once I bought that, I knew I was hooked.”
Learning to See Properly
From there, his interest deepened into expertise.
He took classes in glassblowing, flameworking and casting, not because he intended to become an artist, but because he wanted to understand what he was looking at.
“When I started to get serious about glass collecting, I thought, I better learn more about it, so I know what I’m looking at.”
A Role in the Glass World
That same proactive instinct eventually led him into wider leadership within the glass community.
He became involved with AACG because he wanted to meet others who shared the same passion and, in his words, “learn from them”.
Over time, he became more than a member. He became part of the culture that keeps serious glass collecting alive.
AACG describes local groups like MAGS as part of its outreach effort to educate the public and increase recognition for contemporary glass, and its local-groups page names Ray as the Michigan contact.
Ray takes that responsibility seriously.
“If you’re a serious collector, you want to keep promoting the medium of glass,” he said. “If collectors don’t do that, then other people are losing out.”
What Makes Glass Exceptional
That sense of stewardship runs through the way he collects. He doesn’t speak like a casual buyer. He speaks like someone who’s trained his eye over years.
“What separates the good from the exceptional,” he said, “would be the process … the particular technique that the artist used.”
And after three decades?
“After all these years, I’m always looking for something I haven’t seen before.”
That line could almost serve as the key to this whole story.
Recognising Something New
What Ray saw in Linda’s Hard Edge glass art was not merely something attractive.
It was something unfamiliar in the best sense: A visual language he did not already know.
For people new to Linda’s work, Ray describes it simply and well. It has something of stained glass about it, he says, but without the heaviness people expect.
“It’s similar to stained glass, without the bulky lead holding the pieces together. It has a better seamless flow.”
That’s exactly the point.
From Idea to Artwork
Linda’s Hard Edge style is immediately recognisable.
The colour is stronger.
The shapes are cleaner.
The image has the graphic decisiveness of design, but also the changeability that only glass can bring.
It looks unlike the softer, blurrier, or more familiar modes of fused glass most people already know.
Ray noticed this at once, and proved it by commissioning a new work.
His piece, Alluring Montage, began as a smaller idea.
In early emails he enquired about a face miniature, then quickly began exploring something more ambitious: a vertical composition of eye, face and lips.
“The more I get involved in helping to create this piece,” he wrote during the design stage, “the more excited I am to actually start the process.”
That sentence is revealing. Ray was not passively placing an order.
He was entering the experience.
Designing the Piece Together
As a longtime designer, he brought thought, structure and visual instinct to the commission. He sketched his own rough mock-up. He considered scale, spacing and presentation.
He responded strongly when Linda proposed replacing a more cumbersome metal structure with a bold black glass border.
“Brilliant, I love the idea!” he wrote. “I would prefer the black glass frame version. I feel it adds drama and really makes the colors pop!”
Alluring Montage in progress, as construction and framing decisions began to shape the final piece.
That choice became central to the finished work.
It also shows something important about Ray.
He’s not just a collector of glass.
He’s someone who recognises when an artwork is becoming more itself, when it becomes its own personality.
During the interview, he explained that the project became personal once the design conversations began in earnest.
“As soon as you and I got involved with the Zoom meetings, and we were actually working on the design, then it felt very personal to me.”
That is one of the loveliest parts of this story.
The Power of Colour
The commission was not a cold transaction between artist and buyer.
It was an unfolding conversation.
Emails led to sketches.
Sketches led to Zoom calls.
Preferences around colour, mood and composition gradually sharpened into a finished work.
Ray’s love of colour played a major role.
Though much of his collection is, by his own account, more restrained, he had long wanted a “stronger, happier, more saturated presence in glass.”
“Your piece is probably the most colorful piece I have. I was a color designer, so… yeah, I love color, and it’s just a good, happy feeling.”
Then comes perhaps the strongest remark in the entire interview, because it does more than compliment Linda. It places her work in context.
“I’ve collected glass for 30 years, I’ve been to artist studios, galleries and museums, other collectors’ homes … and I’d never seen one piece of glass that has that much color in it.”
That’s not ordinary praise. That’s recognition.
It’s also why Ray matters so much as the subject of this article. He’s the kind of collector who helps readers trust their own reaction.
Living With the Work
If someone new to Linda’s work feels a jolt of excitement, interest or surprise, Ray’s words reassure them that the response is real. They’re not imagining it. They’re seeing what a seasoned collector sees too.
When Alluring Montage finally arrived in America, the impact deepened again.
“The piece looks absolutely beautiful!”
Ray wrote afterwards. “It was a true pleasure working with you. I really appreciate all your efforts. I will enjoy this piece for many years to come.”
And he is enjoying it. He’s installed special lighting for it at home, and on brighter days the colours cast themselves onto the wall behind.
“My favorite thing is, if the sun comes in at the right angle, then the colors of the glass shine onto the wall.”
Visitors respond strongly. Fellow collectors notice it.
Most strikingly of all, Ray said a curator from a local museum with a major glass collection recently visited his home and commented on how unique the piece was.
Again, that’s not casual approval. It’s informed recognition.
The technique was the first thing the collector noticed.
Why This Piece Matters
After all these years, Ray still collects with curiosity.
Still looks for surprise.
Still wants to encounter something he hasn’t seen before.
And that, perhaps, is the most powerful endorsement Linda’s Hard Edge glass art could have.
“The biggest reason why this piece matters to me,” he said, “is the technique. I’ve never seen it before, never heard about it before … I always think, oh, there’s nothing new out there in glass.
And then, you know, I came across you.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“Hi, I’m Kevin, Linda’s lifelong soulmate. I’m a professional scriptwriter by trade, for which I’ve won many awards.
My mission is to bring Linda’s genius for colour & form into plain words everybody understands and enjoys.”
