John Denning Artist Bio

During his student days at the Los Angeles Art Center School, John Denning became fascinated by the human figure. His background in the arts is rooted in painting and drawing with a particular exploration of watercolor. The work of Nathan Olivera, Richard Diebenkorn, and Francis Bacon served as inspiration in the two-dimensional medium, while sculptors such as Manuel Neri and Stephen De Staebler began to emerge as gateways to the third dimension.

Denning’s sculptural figures, often female, oscillate in time and space as they simultaneously appear to be emerging and withdrawing in ruin. This conveyance of flight and repose echoes within the presence of accompanying birds that grace the figures with another opposition: familiar and other. Via these leitmotifs, Denning acknowledges dichotomy, as if embracing every vicissitude of experience.

Val Sanders Artist Bio

Has been working in glass in California since the 1960’s.

Val Sanders taught at Palomar College from 1968 to 1998. He retired from Palomar as the Chair of the Art Department. Val was a pioneer of glass blowing in Southern California and started the Palomar glass program in 1971. The glass blowing program at Palomar was one of the first in Southern California and is well known throughout the state.

valsanders

 

valcloseup

Pam Morris Artist Bio

Started working in glass in 1974.
www.Pam-Morris-Designs.com

Pam Morris is a distinguished pioneering glass artist and innovator of sculptural luminaire design. In 1974 she discovered the immediate and visceral power of light penetrating glass while in New York City at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral viewing the sunlight stained glass. As a consequence of being moved so deeply, she resolved to devote herself to work with this powerful effect, glass and light.

It is hard imagine now….but at that time there were no classes or way to learn.  So she made the bold move of going to Durhan Studios, the most noted Stained fabricator in the country. At that time only males were accepted thru a journeyman program.  Despite this obstacle, she managed to convince the renowned Albinas Elskus to take her as his apprentice.

By the late 1980’s restaurants in America became what the public cathedrals of the Renaissance had been. Places for ordinary people to go and be in a space full of hand crafted works.  The adoption of halogen light sources; with its ability to focus light added the theatrical effect necessary to create grand environments. Unlike cathedrals however they were nighttime places.  It was the perfect storm for a glass artist capturing natural and man made light to use these public spaces as her galleries to display her illuminated sculptural glass work that was prized for being original and captivating.

For over 25 years Pam Morris has been recognized as a creative design force, pioneering using blown, kiln formed and cast glass with forged and cast metal to capture light. Her highly original and evocative trend-setting pieces have been commissioned in high-end projects around the world.

Pam Morris
36″x20

Pam Morris
“Chysalis”
48″x22″

Pam Morris
Glass Wall
14’x30″

Pam Morris
Loading her kiln

Pam Morris
Making glass sculpture patterns

John Leighton Artist Bio

Has been working in glass in California since 1970.
www.fullerton.edu/arts/art/faculty/leighton.html

John is an artist, designer, and educator. He has worked with glass for more than 40 years. He received his B.A. in Environmental Design from Cal State, Fullerton and his M.F.A. in Sculpture from the California College of Arts and Crafts, in Oakland.

John was Head of the Glass Program at San Francisco State University for 24 years. In the fall of 2003 he became Glass Program Coordinator at California State University, Fullerton.  He has been a guest instructor at numerous schools including the Pilchuck Glass School, the Tokyo Glass Art Institute, and Osaka University of Arts, in Japan.

He has maintained a studio since 1972. John’s cast and blown glass sculpture are exhibited in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Currently his work is exhibited in private galleries throughout the country and in many private and public collections including the National Museum of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution, The Corning Museum of Glass, the Oakland Museum, the Ebeltoft Glasmuseum in Denmark, the Lemberk Castle, in the Czech Republic, the Notojima Glass Museum, and the Kanazu Art Museum in Japan. John has twice been invited to work at the International Glass Symposium, in the Czech Republic and participated in Glass Art Documents ‘98, held at the new glass studio in Kanazu, Japan.

John has completed major architectural stained glass commissions throughout the U.S. and in Japan. He has designed and built his home, studio and a 20-foot sailboat! He was University Art Gallery Director at SFSU for eleven years.

John was a member of the Glass Art Society’s Board for seven years, and was Co-Chair of the ‘94 Oakland GAS Conference. He served as Secretary, Vice President, and a two-year term as President. In 2009, John was awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership in the Glass Art Society.

“Dotaku”
2010
Cast Glass Basswood
54” X 41” X 35”
from the Ishikawa Tani Series

“Pratu”
2011
Monumental Public Art Sculpture
Cit of Brea, CA
8 feet wide X 10 feet high X 15 feet deep
Copper, Stainless Steel and Mold Blown Glass

john leighton-3 Dotaku

“Dotaku”
2010 Cast Glass Basswood
54” X 41” X 35”
from the Ishikawa Tani Series

Katrina Hude Artist Bio

 Started working in glass in the 1990’s.
whidbeyworkingartists.com/Katrina_Hude.html

Katrina began working with glass as an undergrad at California College of Arts and Crafts and then received an MFA from San Jose State University, California in sculpture in 1995. Since then, she has been awarded the fellowship at The Creative Glass Center of America and Emerging Artist in Residence at the Pilchuck Glass School. Katrina has lectured and demonstrated as a guest artist in Japan, Australia and here in the US. Recently she taught at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and the Edwin T. Pratt Center for Fine Arts in Seattle.

Katrina Hude

 

Shari Maxsom Hopper Artist Bio

Started working in glass in the 1970’s.

Shari Maxsom Hopper and her husband David Hopper both attended San Jose State University in the late 1960s. David received the first MA in Glass in 1969. They went to Europe 1960/70 and Shari wrote a paper for Dr. Fritz on glass factories and processes in Europe. On returning they joined Douglas and Carol Boyd in Chico and co-founded Orient and Flume. The partnership ended in 1982. David Hopper went on to innovate photo ceramic processes. From the late 1970s to the mid 1980s Shari Hopper visited glass beadmakers in Central Europe to learn their techniques and document how they made beads. Shari is one of the founding members of the International Society of Glass Beads and uses intricate photo processes in her work.

Bohemian Beadmaking 
by Shari Maxson Hopper
Copyright 2000
www.artcoinc.com/bohemian_beadmaking.php 

Shari Maxsom Hopper
1998 Lamp blown; photographic transfer applied and fired, enamel, borosilicate glass

Katherine Gray Artist Bio

Started working in glass in 1990s.
www.katherine-gray.com

Katherine Gray received her undergraduate degree from Ontario College of Art in Toronto and her MFA 1991 from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Her work has been exhibited most recently at See Line Gallery and Acuna-Hansen Gallery, both in Los Angeles, and been reviewed in the LA Times and on Artforum.com. It can also be found in the collections of the Corning Museum of Glass and the Tacoma Museum of Glass, among others. Katherine has written about glass, curated several exhibitions, and has taught workshops around the world. Currently, she lives and works in Los Angeles, California. In 2007 she joined the Art Faculty at California State University, San Bernardino.

My work primarily involves glass. It is a material that we spend a lot of time not looking at, but I have invested a good part of my artistic livelihood trying to perfect working with it, to make visible the invisible. This means highlighting both the material itself but also the long journey towards glassblowing mastery. I want my work to represent the inequity that exists between sublime beauty and manufacturing extravagance, because I have arrived at a place where I am no longer confident that I made the right choice. At the very least, my subtle disillusionment is overwhelmed by the value in making things in a society increasingly ruled by machines and simulated experiences.

“Aglow”
Katherine Gray
2012
pre-existing ice buckets, lead crystal and acrylic stand
48″ tall, 30″ diameter

“White Mounds”
Katherine Gray
2008
Blown Glass
20 x 20 x 10 in.

Lee Granberg Artist Bio

Has been working in glass since 2004.

After 40+ years in social services and the business world, on her 60th birthday, Lee decided to change directions.  She had always wondered if she had a creative bone in her body and this seemed like the time to begin to explore this.   She happened upon The Crucible, and enrolled in Beginning Fused Glass with Mary White and Janet Hiebert.   She has been working with glass (fusing, kiln casting, and flame working) ever since and discovered her  passions:  creating glass art, teaching glass art at the Crucible’s Youth Camps, and supporting art education for youth.

Lee loves the challenge and the infinite potential in glass.  It enables her to be creative in ways unlike any other medium (she has dabbled in painting and welding).  Lee’s  inspirations are her life experiences, family, friends, and humankind, in general.

Lee works with 2 other glass artists in a shared studio at the Crucible.  They call themselves “Go Go Glass” (one of Lee’s  first “careers”, back in the 60’s, was as a Go Go Dancer).  Lee is so happy when she’s working in the studio, that she dances and sings, joined at times by her studio mates, Barbara Barnett and Peggy Wilson, thus the name of the group.

 

Jeremy Cline Artist Bio

Started working in glass in 1987.
www.jeremycline.com 

Jeremy Cline’s glasswork reflects his love for the medium, his fine craftsmanship and an ongoing endeavor to better his working processes. He started working with glass in 1987 at Santa Monica College, then furthered his education at the California College of Arts and Crafts and Pilchuck Glass School.

In 1991 he apprenticed with Pino Signoretto, Master Glass Artist, in Murano, Italy. This experience was a turning point in Jeremy’s career, whereby he heightened his level of proficiency in Venetian glass techniques and achieved a comprehensive understanding of the Artist-Designer relationship.

After his return from Italy, Jeremy opened his studio, Incline Glass, in 1992. Jeremy’s personal work examines the vessel as an art form, taking cues from the glass itself, as well as from antiquity and contemporary sources.

Besides creating his own unique work, Jeremy uses his facility to produce various pieces for other artists and designers, including custom lampshades for the lighting industry, and work as diverse as Venetian style stemware to solid sculpture to prototypes for industry. Jeremy continues to expand his abilities, techniques and methodology in pursuit of excellence in glass.

Birds of Paradise series
Jeremy Cline

Assorted scavo vases
Jeremy Cline
12″ to 16″ tall

 

Ron Carlson Artist Bio

Started working in glass in 1988 at Blodgett Glass.

Ron Carlson taught at UC San Diego Crafts Center from 1973 and was Director from 1977-2011. In 1988 he started working with glass at Blodgett Glass with Wally Blodgett. He reopened the glass program in 1996 at UCSD, “Fat Baby Glass Works,” with the help of Thor Bueno. He started the Neon Program at UCSD in 1988, “Grove Gas & Electric Co.”  He has been an active supporter of the glass and neon arts in Southern California.

“I started in 1988 at Blodgett Glass in a program I put together with Buzz’s father Wally. I put together the glass program at UCSD in 1996 with the help of Thor Bueno (CLARIFY)Impressive list, the only other things I can think of are: Wally Blodgett started his glass studio “”Blodgett Glass”” in Lucadia, Ca in 1969 or 70. Buzz would know. Wally was a true pioneer . The program I put together with Wally lasted two years, he had so much work he didn’t have time or space for classes. I started the Neon Program at UCSD in 1988, “”Grove Gas & Electric Co.”” The Glass Blowing program at UCSD that re-opened on campus in 1996 was “”Fat Baby Glas Works”””

Ron Carlson is a member at large of the Art Glass Association of Southern California.