It is said that there are six degrees of separation between all of us.

Whidbey Island has its many artists.

The Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash. is the best of its kind in the world.

Off the coast of Venice, Italy there is the island of Murano where the history of glass art dates back to 1291 and from where the greatest glass artist of all time, Lino Tagliapietra, came.

It was Tagliapietra who taught at Pilchuck in 1979 and infused the glass art movement into the United States along with Pilchuck founder Dale Chihuly.

And at MUSEO gallery in Langley, the 10th Annual Whidbey Island Glass Invitational will show the work of 40 glass artists who all work and live on Whidbey, which some now call “Little Murano.”

It opens with an artists’ reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 7 and runs through Sunday, July 29.

Many of those artists have trained and taught at Pilchuck.

It seems less than six degrees of separation and more like a phenomenon.

Something special has been happening here since the crafts movement of the 1970s brought a bevy of northwest artisans to this island.

Collectors are bedazzled by the sight of so many masters showing so many exquisite pieces together in one gallery at the same time. That’s what makes this MUSEO annual showing so unique.

If Murano’s stellar history of glass art will always be remembered for producing the likes of Tagliapietra and many other fine masters of glassblowing, so Whidbey Island will go down in history for housing the greatest population of glass artists that ever lived in such close proximity to each other and brought their work together to be shown in one place.

Artists usually show at galleries exclusively and do not often cross paths in the wide world of art.

Island artists have the advantage of living and working in the tranquil refuge of a place like Whidbey, while remaining accessible to metropolitan areas by air travel. They also have the luxury of shipping their work any where in the world, allowing them to remain where they are if they please.

Perhaps it was the inexpensive tracts of land that were easily bought by artists in the ’70s when Whidbey Island was not the most fashionable must-have vacation spot.

Whatever the reason, the fates have deemed Whidbey Island a destination of a centuries old art form that reveals itself as one of the most luminous forms of art.

If you love art. If your collection has room for some of the finest glass art the world may ever know. Or if you are curious about how a phenomenon displays itself to us in life, go see the 10th Annual Whidbey Island Glass Invitational before it ends.

MUSEO is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is located at

215 First St. Visit www.museo.cc or call 221-7737 for more information.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.