Downtown Brooklyn artist returns to glassblowing after cancer battle
Charles Provenzano says he was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2023 — a devastating blow for someone whose work depends on using his mouth.
A Brooklyn artist who was told he might lose his ability to speak and his ability to continue his craft is now back in the studio and sharing his story exclusively with News 12.
For 75-year-old Charles Provenzano, glassblowing is more than art. It is his passion.
“I’ve studied with seven of the greatest Italian masters,” Charles Provenzano said. “I’ve been all over the world blowing glass. It’s my passion. I do private commissions. I did 200 glasses for Michael Bloomberg for his mansion in Bermuda.”
Provenzano has been creating art at UrbanGlass in Downtown Brooklyn for 40 years. He says glassblowing takes patience, skill and a willingness to fail before getting it right.
“I teach classes every spring and fall,” Provenzano said. “There’s a lot of failure, but out of that failure comes success.”
But in 2023, Provenzano says his world changed when he got a call telling him he had tongue cancer.
“I was at a bus stop on 8th Street in the Village, and I got a call and she said, ‘You have tongue cancer, and we need to talk about your life options,’” Provenzano said. “I got really scared.”
For Provenzano, the diagnosis was especially devastating because glassblowing requires exactly what it sounds like: using one's mouth to blow. Without his tongue, continuing his lifelong passion would have been nearly impossible.
Everything changed when Provenzano got into a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. After months of treatment, he says his tumor shrank by 90%. He later underwent surgery and is now in remission.
“The days were long and grueling, taking immunotherapy and chemotherapy for five and six, seven hours,” Provenzano said. “But if you are sick, that’s the place to go.”
Now, Provenzano is back at UrbanGlass, creating art and sharing his story of survival.
