Description
Eduardo A. LaChall Bencomo was born in the province of Habana in Cuba and lived in the town of El Cotorro where his father, a chemist, worked for a company later known by the name of UniRoyal, located about 30 kilometers away from Habana. He is the grand-nephew of Jose A Bencomo Mena, a well-known Cuban artist in charge of the Alejandro School of Art. On the 4th of July 1960, his family left Cuba for political reasons. After a couple of months, his father was transferred to Caracas Venezuela for two years. Eduardo, his mother, and his sister came to New York a few months early and, finally, his father got transferred to UniRoyal footwear in Naugatuck, Connecticut, where he grew up.
While in college, a friend challenged Eduardo to do some painting. He did and was very happy with the results. Eduardo got involved in oils, then pen and ink, which he used to develop control, balance, and design. In 1978 while living in Moosup, Ct. he took a continuing education class at RISD in stained glass. His instructor was an assistant to Dale Chihuly, who was the head of the glass department at the time. For the class, he had quite a bit of scrap glass and threw it on the table. This opportunity, along with his background in painting with oils, made him come up with a unique methodology for how to design his windows. Traditionally, when a stained glass window is done, an artist makes his design and makes three copies, one for the wall so he can see what he is doing, one for the table so he can place the pieces where they belong, and the third he cuts into pieces which, once cut, go on the table according to the number to which they are assigned. This way as each piece is cut, it goes on the table matching the drawing that is on the wall.
Eduardo developed his own technique where he blended painting with glass art, meaning he starts a piece with a set dimension and looks at it as he would a painting. A piece, here a piece there, until the window is completed. This gives his work a spontaneity that can’t be matched by traditional methodology. This technique was very enthusiastically accepted when he gave a guest lecture at Dr. Forman’s art class at the University of Connecticut. He has three basic styles of his work. Representational which, as the name implies, represents something like a Maine seascape or a bird in flight or any representational item. The second is linear which, as the name implies, has the most geometrical patterns. And the third is abstract, or as he would prefer, curvilinear, his favorite choice. He decided to use the same technique when he decided to do his granite art a few years later.
After moving to St Pete, he made friends with Duncan McClellan of St. Pete Glass Works and Duncan McClellan Gallery. He talked Duncan into giving him the glass that they broke. He fires the glass in a kiln, creating his own glass which he uses in his windows.
