Kechi
artist's sculpture greets Piztros' visitors BY CHRIS SHULL
The Wichita Eagle
When the Italian restaurant
Piztros opens April 3, folks will be able to enjoy a
meal of fresh-made pizza, pasta and sandwiches. But
as they enter the restaurant at the Waterfront on Webb
Road, they can also feast their eyes on a large glass-and-steel
sculpture by Kechi-based glassblower Rollin Karg.
The sculpture, a long, twisting steel tube surrounded
by glass discs and flower-shaped bowls, is mounted high
on a wall in the restaurant's entrance foyer.
It is already turning heads.
"We've been experimenting with the lighting, and
people are pulling off to the side of the road to see
what's going on," said P.K. Lippoldt, managing
partner of Piztros.
"This will be a landmark."
Lippoldt, 45, was inspired to put a glass sculpture
in Piztros after he saw work by the famous glass artist
Dale Chihuly at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. (A
Chihuly chandelier also hangs in the Farha Great Hall
at the Wichita Art Museum.)
But he had Karg's work in mind from the start.
"I used to live right behind Rollin's gallery and
studio out there (in Kechi)," Lippoldt said. "I
used to go in and watch him blow glass."
Karg, 61, has been blowing glass for years. He sells
his work at art fairs around the country, and at his
Karg Art Glass gallery and studio in Kechi. He has a
booth at the Art and Book Fair during the River Festival
every year.
Karg said his work at Piztros is the first commercial
commission he has undertaken.
"I really don't do this kind of stuff," Karg
said. "But somehow, this fell on fertile ground.
"It may be the best thing I ever did."
Karg's installation for Piztros covers a wall 16 feet
high by 23 feet wide. A 3-inch diameter steel tube snakes
through an array of flower-shaped glass bowls and discs.
His inspiration for the tube came from a roller coaster
he watched while on a visit to an amusement park with
his wife and grandson in England last August.
He began making the sculpture last fall. Though Lippoldt
declined to say what he paid for the sculpture, glass
discs similar to the kind used at Piztros sell for around
$400 each at Karg Art Glass; the flower bowls start
at around $175.
As work progressed, Karg and his assistants installed
the sculpture on a wall he built in his studio. Then
they took everything down and carted it over to the
restaurant and installed it on the wall there.
"It's been a work in progress," Lippoldt said.
"We've added, changed, subtracted."
More of Karg's colorful glass discs are scattered throughout
the restaurant's interior, including seven mounted in
the restrooms.
Lippoldt appreciates Karg's sculptures as fine art.
But he also hopes they will give his restaurant a wow
factor that will get visitors talking.
"People can do the same type of entertaining that
restaurants do," Lippoldt said. "People have
movie theaters in their homes now. Everything they can
go out for they can now stay home for.
"We have to be able to provide something besides
great food and great service, and that's the entertainment
value of the atmosphere, the ambiance."
Karg's sculpture sometimes reminds Lippoldt of the pasta
his restaurant will serve.
"The silver is the noodles, and the glass plates
are the fresh herbs," Lippoldt said, and laughed.
"It is quite a montage. It is fabulous. I love
it."
Piztros
Pizza Bistro Bar: 1720 N. Webb Road - Wichita, KS | 316-634-2006
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