Find the Perfect Gift
Where to Buy Glass Art
PGC will be closed for the holidays
Nov. 24 - 28
Dec. 23 - Jan. 2, 2012
Hours
CLOSED Monday
Tuesday thru Thursday
10 am – 7 pm
Friday thru Sunday
10 am – 4 pm
Visiting Artists & Instructors
Pittsburgh Glass Center attracts an exciting and diverse roster of glass artists from outside of the region to teach in our studios each year.
If you are interested in joining this dynamic line-up of instructors at PGC, contact Heather McElwee at 412-365-2145 ext.206.
Meet our Visiting Artists & Instructors
Masahiro Asaka
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Masahiro Asaka graduated from Tokyo International Institute of Glass Art in 2000. He then moved to Australia to work for Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott as a coldworker until 2005. He completed a Master of Arts (Visual Arts) from the Australian National University in 2008. He is now based in Canberra and is a resident artist at the Canberra Glassworks. Masahiro’s work is included in the collections of Art Gallery of South Australia and Palm Spring Art Museum.
Jane Bruce
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Jane Bruce is currently an independent artist and educator living in New York City. Born in England, Bruce received a Masters degree from the Royal College of Art, London, and undertook further post-graduate study at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred. She has taught extensively in the US, Australia, Canada and Europe; from 1994-2004 she was a Senior Lecturer in the Glass Workshop, Australian National University, including Head of Workshop 2001-03. From 2002-2007 she was the Artistic Director for North Lands Creative Glass, Scotland, and most recently she was the Rawlinson Visiting Artist-Faculty for 2011 in the Glass Program at the Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary. Throughout her career Bruce has been the recipient of a range of Fellowships, Visiting Artist Awards and grants, including Fellowships from the Creative Glass Center of America and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Artist-in-Residence at The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, and a New Work Grant from the Australia Council. She exhibits her work internationally and it can be found in many prestigious museum collections world wide, including those of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Coburg, Germany, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA, The Corning Museum of Glass, USA, and The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia.
Joseph Cavalieri
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
“You could call me a glass missionary with the purpose of taking stained glass from the church to the people.” – Joseph Cavalieri. He has taught classes in the US, South America, Australia, India and Europe. Cavalieri mixes concepts learned during his career as a Magazine Art Director in New York (People, GQ, Good Housekeeping), with the Gothic tradition of stained glass. He is best known for his Simpsons and R. Crumb series. His work has be seen in art galleries and museums in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and SOFA Chicago. His permanent instillation “North, South and Home” can be seen at the Philipse Manor Train Station in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
Kristin Deady
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
When Kristin Deady was first introduced to flameworking in 1998, she was immediately hooked. Since this initial discovery of the material Kristin has continued to learn as much as possible about every aspect of glass. She received an Associate in Art degree from Salem Community College in 2005 while enrolled in their Glass Art program; and in 2010 completed a BFA in Glass and Glass Sculpture at RIT. Kristin has also studied and been a teaching assistant at The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Penland School of Crafts, RIT, and Pilchuck Glass School. Kristin’s work utilizes a variety of glass forming techniques including flameworking, casting and blowing. Her more recent works explore the ideas of identity and individual perception through the forensic lens of science and sociology.
Nadège Desgenétez
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Born in France, Nadège Desgenétez graduated from CERFAV (Centre Européen de Recherche et de Formation aux Arts Vérriers) in 1995. After working in studios in Europe and travelling the US as a teaching assistant to Lino Tagliapietra in 1996 and 1997, she moved to Seattle in 1998. There she worked as a hot shop team member for artists such as Dale Chihuly, Benjamin Moore, Dante Marioni, Dan Dailey, Preston Singletary, and others. Nadège moved to Australia in 2005, and has been a lecturer in the Glass Workshop at the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia) ever since. She has taught workshops in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan. Over the years, Nadège has received several prizes and awards, including the "prix d'honneur de la Foundation de France" (Paris, France), the Saxe Award from Pilchuck glass school in 1997 and 2004 (Stanwood, USA), the Cheryl Yokohama Scholarship from Pratt (Seattle, USA), the "Prix de la Vocation" from the Foundation Marcel Bleustein Blanchet (Paris, France), and grants from the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts ACT. She was awarded residencies at Northlands Creative Glass in Scotland, at Pittsburgh Glass Center, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and the Canberra Glassworks. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, the USA, South East Asia and Australia.
Mark Ditzler
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Mark Ditzler is a Seattle-based artist & designer working in kilnformed glass. His work ranges from glass sinks and lighting to commissions and public art installations. Mark has worked in glass for over 20 years, and has taught at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, Pratt Fine Art Center, and the Glass Furnace in Istanbul.
Shelley Doolan
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Shelley is a glassmaker working predominantly with the lost-wax casting process. She has extensive experience of a diverse range of projects, from small-scale wafer-thin castings to large cast panels. It is a technique, which affords enormous scope for expression. Her over-arching preoccupation has been with the unique interaction between glass and light. By gaining knowledge of glass forming she has been able to create forms, which exploit this relationship to explore a broad range of themes. Shelley lives and works in the UK and is currently undertaking research focusing on the creative potential offered to artists by ‘technology’. Shelley has exhibited her work widely and been fortunate to be awarded the prestigious Glass Sellers Award at the British Glass Biennale 2010, as well as the ‘Popular’ Award at Bullseye Emerge 2010.
Fritz Dreisbach
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Fritz Dreisbach now lives and makes glass as an independent artist at Island Glass Studio in Freeland, Washington. He is working on a new series of wheel-carved glass, in addition to his singular show pieces: the “Mongos,” playful goblets, tricks, and “toys.” He continues to teach workshops and short classes all over the world. For 45 years Fritz, “the Johnny Appleseed of Glass,” has presented hundreds of lectures and demonstrations in North America, Europe and Asia. His glass is represented in numerous global public and private collections, “…all the usual suspects!”
RETURN TO TOP
Micah Evans
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Micah began flame working in 1999 in Seattle Washington and glass has led him across the country over the last decade working and studying with some of the most talented artists in flame working and hot glass today. His work relies on a combination of techniques adapted from many art forms from scientific glassblowing to oil painting and illustration. His recent work focuses on traditional craft forms with a contemporary twist sometimes weaving in subtle narratives of his rural roots. A balance of technique, difficulty, process and concept can be seen in his work throughout his career. Micah lives and works in Austin Texas.
Beccy Feather
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Beccy Feather was born in Suffolk, England. She attended Wolverhampton University in the UK and graduated with a 1st class BA (Hons) in Glass. She has travelled and worked for studios in Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Turkey. In 2010 she completed an MFA in Glass from Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York. Presently Beccy works at Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center in Millville, New Jersey.
Kim Fields
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Kim Fields attended Michigan State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising. She built a strong career in television, and won three Emmy Awards for her work as a producer and production manager for a Chicago television station. Although her career was rewarding, she needed another means of expressing her life-long passion for the arts.
She took a beginner’s lampworking class in 1999. Working with glass became so fulfilling that after twenty years, she left the corporate world. By 2000, she devoted herself to the art of glass beadmaking and jewelry design full-time. Nature has always informed and inspired Kim’s creativity, and it is the primary influence for her beads. Among Kim’s achievements are the 2005 Glasscraft Emerging Artist Award from the Flow Magazine, 2008 Commemorative Bead Artist at the Bead & Button Show, the 2009 Hans Gobo Frabel Novice Award, and the International Society of Glass Beadmakers ‘Presidents Award’. She has taught and demonstrated at many locations throughout the U.S., Japan and Europe.
John Kiley
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
A native of Seattle Washington, John Kiley began blowing glass professionally in 1992, at the age of nineteen. He studied glassblowing at The Pilchuck Glass School, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and Penland School of Crafts. A principal member of Lino Tagliapietra’s glassblowing team for over sixteen years, John has taught glassblowing at The National College of Art and Design in Ireland, The Bezalel Academy of Arts in Israel, and Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. John is the Glass Director at The Schack Art center in Everett, WA.
Sabrina Knowles
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Sabrina Knowles and Jenny Pohlman have been collaborating for nearly 20 years. Their work is in prestigious private collections nationwide. They have been featured in exhibitions at Museum of Northwest Art, Edmunds Museum and Larsen Museum in the Pacific Northwest. Their work has been included in group exhibitions at the Bellevue Arts Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art, Racine Art Museum and Tacoma Art Museum and is among the permanent collections of the Museum of American Glass, the Museum of Glass, Racine Art Museum and the Mobile Museum of Art. Their work has been published in Metalsmith, American Style, New Glass Review and Seattle Times as well as several books on glass art. Knowles and Pohlman are trustees of Bellevue Arts Museum and have been affiliated with Pilchuck Glass School and Pratt Fine Arts Center, where they studied and taught, throughout their careers. They sponsor the Pohlman Knowles High School scholarship annually which they founded at Pratt Fine Arts Center in 2000. This year they were awarded Pratt Fine Arts Center's prestigious "Service in the Arts" award.
John Kobuki
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
John Kobuki is currently living in Seattle where he was born and raised. He graduated High School 1982 and College in 1986 with a couple of business degrees.
He worked at a bank for 7 years until he couldn't take it anymore. In the summer of 1995 he was first introduced to borosilicate glass. He had a limited skill set that was learned by watching those in the alternative glass world and he produced items that he sold to local retailers. In 1999 he began concentrating his effort on pendants and marbles and in a short time he stumbled onto something that he would dedicate all his attention to. He was making a pendant that wasn’t going well but he decided to finish it anyway and while doing so he saw the glass move in way that he hadn’t seen before. After putting it in the kiln and calling it a day he started to think of what he could do with his newfound discovery. The next day he experimented around and made his first rose in a marble. It was the 83rd marble he made. At the time he didn’t believe in scratching a signature on marbles so I documented them by numbering, photographing, measuring, and weighing them. In 2003 he acquired a titanium pen that doesn’t scratch the glass and began to sign his family name in kanji (Japanese) on all his marbles. In May of 2009 he made his 3,000th marble.
After making that first rose he couldn’t stop thinking of patterns that would turn out like flowers. He gave up on all surface work and focused strictly on this new technique. There was no name for it and after a demonstration he did in Eugene, Bob Snodgrass called it a “compression” and that is what he calls it and what he concentrates all his skill on perfecting. Besides the florals he has come up with other designs like spiders and other insects, jellyfish and other ocean themes. He has a strong interest in Japanese history and mythology that inspired such creations as the Heike crab, dragonheads, the Karasu Tengu and most recently the Samurai. He is not trying to be a realist and he considers all his designs as interpretations. He enjoys the challenge of coming up with something new with a finite shape and infinite design possibilities.
Manny Krakowski
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Growing up near a large city (Los Angeles) and experiencing such phenomenon as traffic, industry, consumerism, and advertisement, incited Manny Krakowski to question peoples interactions with inanimate objects. How much time do we spend interacting with objects and do we rely on them for survival? Krakowski holds a B.F.A. Degree from California State University Fullerton. He is passionate about teaching and has demonstrated glassmaking techniques at educational institutions nationally and internationally. For the past three years he has been a member on the team of glass artists Ross Richmond and Randy Walker. Technique and crafts person-ship are important in Krakowski's work, which he is able to achieve through practice, repetition and experimentation. Krakowski currently spends his time making sculptural objects and installations out of glass and mixed media, as well as designing and making functional objects. His work has been exhibited nationally.
Sara Sally LaGrand
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Sara Sally LaGrand has had the great fortune to study with many gifted teachers both in Italy and the US. She has been melting glass since 1996. In that time she has won numerous awards and has the great privilege to teach workshops all over the US and Europe. She earned a BA in Glass Formation at Park University of Missouri with the collaboration of the award winning public glass artist, Dierk Van Keppel. She continues to study and grow, pushing the limits of the glass and combining it with unconventional materials for an eclectic look at nature, life and pop culture.
RETURN TO TOP
Robert Mickelsen
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Born in 1951 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Robert's formal education ended after one year of college. He apprenticed with a professional lampworker for two years in the mid-seventies and then sold his own designs at outdoor craft fairs for ten years. In 1987 he took a class from Paul Stankard that opened his eyes to the possibilities of his medium. In 1989, he stopped doing craft shows and began marketing his work exclusively through galleries. Since then, his career has taken off. He shows his work in some of the finest galleries in the country and participates in prominent exhibitions each year. His work is exhibited in many prominent collections including the Renwick Gallery of American Crafts at the Smithsonian Institution, the Corning Museum of Glass, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Museum of Arts and Design, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and The Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village. Robert has taught extensively at the major glass schools including the Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Crafts, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, and The Eugene Glass School. He has filmed and produced two videos on his flameworking process, and he has designed and maintains an elaborate web page dedicated to his own work and the galleries that represent him. He has published numerous technical and historical articles on flameworked glass. He served for six years on the board of directors of the Glass Art Society and was their treasurer and vice-president.
John Moran
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Known in several different countries for his astounding artwork, biting wit and charming personality, John Moran splits his time between the town of Normal, Illinois and the city of Ghent, Belgium. After receiving his degree from Tyler School of Art, he spent several years working in the Philadelphia area. Since then, he has traversed the globe in search of knowledge, and employment. Having spent more than a year teaching in China and several years working in different studios throughout the United States, he has for a short time settled down in the Midwest to create his work. In 2009, John was awarded a Creative Glass Center of America Fellowship at Wheaton Arts. In early 2010, he was invited to IKA Mechelen, Belgium as an artist in residence and guest instructor. Upon his return he moved a car full of his worldly possessions west, as an MFA candidate at Illinois State University. His work reflects his interests in politics, philosophy, religion and human social behavior meshed with his sense of humor and a touch of altruism. He has exhibited at SOFA Chicago, Thomas R. Riley Gallery, Traver Gallery, Flame Run, and several other galleries within the continental United States. His work will soon be exhibited at the Museum of Glass in Lommel, Belgium and two solo exhibitions, at the Pittsburgh Glass Center and at the Geuzenhuis in Ghent, Belgium; respectively.
Nick Mount
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Nick Mount, whose career spans four decades, is one of Australia's pre-eminent glass artists. Known for his exhibitions, teaching and commissions, his work is represented in many major public and private collections. "He employs a diverse technical repertoire using a full paint box of colors to create glass works infused with an exuberant joie-de-vivre and underlying technical finesse" - Margot Osborne, 2011. A South Australian glass artist, Sydney’s Object has chosen Nick Mount: Australian Centre for Craft and Design as its Living Treasure for 2012. The Living Treasure: Masters of Australian Craft series celebrates the achievements of Australia's iconic and influential craft practitioners and promotes the work of Australian artists whose exemplary craft skills have been recognized by their peers. The Living Treasure exhibition, which tours extensively around the country, attracts audiences from regional areas as well as capital and metropolitan centers and exposes the public to the talent of Australia's craft practitioners.
View his web siteAndrew Najarian
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Andrew Najarian grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University where he studied with Jiyong Lee. While in school he had the unique opportunity to study at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. Andrew just finished a residency at the Appalachian Craft Center in Smithville Tennessee. He is currently working towards a Masters at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
Martie Negri
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
“Flowers accompany our rites of passage and carry deep symbolic meaning; they are collections of individual gestures, an expression multiplied a gathering for remembrance.” - Martie Negri. She was a painter and fiber artist before transitioning to glass in 2000. She has developed a contemporary Millefiori technique that allows for beautiful and distinctive patterns. Her work was included in Emerge 2006, Bullseye Gallery’s biennial exhibit of new work. Corning New Glass Review 30 and 32, She exhibits at SOFA New York and Chicago from 2008-2010. Recently Negri was recognized as one of ten artists as Best in Show in 2009 BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass, a project of Ohio State University, OSU Urban Arts Space, OH; and the Hawk Gallery, OH. Negri’s unique Millefiori technique was demonstrated at the 2010 Glass Art Society Conference in Louisville, KY and will be one of the artists included in Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Studio Glass 2012 at The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. Work is currently on display at Mostly Glass, NJ and Pismo Contemporary Glass in Denver.
Jenny Pohlman
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Sabrina Knowles and Jenny Pohlman have been collaborating for nearly 20 years. Their work is in prestigious private collections nationwide. They have been featured in exhibitions at Museum of Northwest Art, Edmunds Museum and Larsen Museum in the Pacific Northwest. Their work has been included in group exhibitions at the Bellevue Arts Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art, Racine Art Museum and Tacoma Art Museum and is among the permanent collections of the Museum of American Glass, the Museum of Glass, Racine Art Museum and the Mobile Museum of Art. Their work has been published in Metalsmith, American Style, New Glass Review and Seattle Times as well as several books on glass art. Knowles and Pohlman are trustees of Bellevue Arts Museum and have been affiliated with Pilchuck Glass School and Pratt Fine Arts Center, where they studied and taught, throughout their careers. They sponsor the Pohlman Knowles High School scholarship annually which they founded at Pratt Fine Arts Center in 2000. This year they were awarded Pratt Fine Arts Center's prestigious "Service in the Arts" award.
Lynn Read
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Lynn has a BFA in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. During college Lynn started a glassblowing apprentice ship with Anthony Corradetti in 1993. He then trained at Penland School of Crafts with Robert Gardner, Demitri Michaelides and Pratt Fine Art Center with Preston Singletary, Boyd Sugiki, and Nancy Callan. Along the way he received a few awards including the Mary Shirley scholarship at Pratt Fine Art Center and the Niche award for his goblet work in 2003. He has made the Mecca to Murano to visit factories and the famous glass showrooms. He has studied with Elio Quarisa, and his work has been published in many interior design magazines.
In 2001 Lynn founded Vitreluxe Glass Works. A glass blowing studio offering custom-made glass for architects, designers as well a production line signed Vitreluxe. Lynn’s signature work is mainly Murrini vessels. These detail-oriented works are shown in Vessel Gallery (London) Vetri International (Seattle), Pismo (Denver), OK Store (Hollywood) and Museum of Contemporary crafts (Portland)
His commission works can bee scene at Mohegan Sun Casinos, the New York Aquariums, and Emeril’s Auberge restaurants. His production work has been featured in publications such as Luxe Magazine, Elle Decor Magazine (December 2006), Chicago Magazine (April 2004), Fortune Small Business (April 2005).
He has been a guest instructor at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Appellation Center for Crafts and the Eugene Glass School. He has been a valued teaching assistant at Pilchuck glass school under Benjamin Moore and Boyd Sugiki. He has been a TA at Corning for Giles Bettison, as well as Penland School of crafts under Robert Gardner. Lynn has be a Gaffer at the Pilchuck Glass School.
Laurie Salopek
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Laurie Salopek initially studied drawing, with a focus on the human figure, at Carnegie Mellon University prior to completing a BA in Art at Penn State. She has since followed her glass and figure passion with several sojourns to Murano, Italy to study with Lucio Bubacco. Her People Beads have been included in several International Society of Glass Beadmakers shows and local shows at the Sweetwater Center for the Arts in Sewickley and the Heinz History Center. Her work is also featured in the publications: GlassLine Magazine (v25 n1), 'Art Bead Jewelry: Seasons in Glass' and 'Creating Glass Beads'. She is represented by the Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery in Pittsburgh.
RETURN TO TOP
Emilio Santini
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Emilio has been working at the torch for many decades since the tender age of 11. He first had a short encounter with furnace glass blowing for six summers. His mastery of glass, from the hollow to the solid, from insects to the monumental sculptures, is in a league of its own. He is represented by galleries worldwide and in the collections of some of the world's leading museums.
Judith Schaechter
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Judith Schaechter has lived and worked in Philadelphia since graduating in 1983 with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design Glass Program. She has exhibited widely, including in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. She is the recipient of many grants, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Crafts, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, The Joan Mitchell Award, two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts awards, The Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Leeway Foundation grant. Her work is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Corning Museum of Glass, The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution and numerous other collections. Judith has taught at The Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, The Penland School of Crafts, Toyama Institute of Glass (Toyama, Japan), Rhode Island School of Design, The Pennsylvania Academy, and the New York Academy of Art and at The University of the Arts. Judith's work was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial and she is a 2008 USA Artists Rockefeller Fellow.
Tony Serviente
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
I was born in 1956 in the Wonder Bread Suburbs of New Jersey. Growing up within sight of the broken-comb skyline of New York City I could almost hear the be-bop blowing across the Hudson. Surrounded by shopping malls, power lines, and exhaust fumes, I survived by escaping into electronics, science fiction, unicycling and jazz. After high school, I joined the U.S. Coast Guard to pursue my electronic muse. Four years later, I left the service with a feeling of oneness with electronic devices and a job in electronics field engineering. After a freak electrical storm, I took a Stained Glass class that opened my eyes to a new muse. I attended the Pilchuck glass school in Washington State, which opened my eyes even wider. Afterwards, I manically went to work on kiln forming techniques and -21 years later - I haven’t slowed down. What I love about my work is that it lets me combine playfulness with scientific process. I approach glass the way I do music and cooking. I start with a base of technique, knowledge and raw material and then I improvise, combining all three. My inspiration is derived from the trivial and the grandiose. A windblown leaf may be as interesting as the concept of creation. I now divide my time between developing new kiln-formed work (lamps, sculpture, vessels, and tableware), working on stained glass commissions, and teaching. When I am not working in the studio, I am enjoying my family and the fulsome beauty of the Finger Lakes region where I live and work. My work is currently sold in stores, boutiques, and galleries throughout the United States. I am the recipient of the Niche Award for Lighting for 2004 and I have been featured on Home and Garden Television. My glass is on every continent (including McMurdo station on Antarctica). I am an instructor at the Corning Museum of Glass and I maintain an active teaching and apprenticeship program. I am never bored.
Helen Stokes
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Helen loves three-dimensional sculptures of frogs, rocks and shells and with her creative interpretation they become uniquely different. Rock sculptures take on wave forms, derived from natural rocks and through a process of rubber molds and the lost wax casting process they are cast in glass in colors that depict the land, sea and sky where the rocks are found. Helen Stokes lives in Melbourne, Australia and has worked with glass since 1978 beginning with Tiffany-style lampshades and three-dimensional panels using the copper foil technique. In 1995 Helen graduated from Monash University (Melbourne) with a Post Graduate Diploma of Ceramic Design majoring in Glass. Casting glass became her passion; she developed the honeycomb mold that she has taught to students in Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Denmark and The Czech Republic.
Boyd Sugiki
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
Boyd Sugiki and Lisa Zerkowitz met at Rhode Island School of Design, where Sugiki earned his M.F.A. degree and Zerkowitz earned her M.A. degree. Sugiki creates sculptural work inspired by cityscapes as well as finely crafted functional pieces. Zerkowitz’s blown- and kiln-cast glass objects evoke memory and landscape and are strongly influenced by the stark contrast between her native Los Angeles and her current home in the Pacific Northwest. Together, Sugiki and Zerkowitz produce a line of studio glass under the name Two Tone Studios in Seattle.
Delores Taylor
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
I am an artist working predominantly in glass. My pâte de verre sculpture is a mixture of the five ways of mold making in this process. I entered the art world full time after working in the transportation industry and a move to the Pacific Northwest. I have a BS in Business. I have been working in glass since 1980 and have studied with Dan Fenton and Stan Klopfenstein in traditional glass painting. Mold making from Susan Balshor and Mary Van Klein through Pratt Fine Arts, fusing and kilncasting with Bock Craig, Avery Anderson, Kathleen Sheard, Leslie and Melanie Rowe. I learned the sintered method of pâte de verre from Mary Fox then studied the ceramic fiber method of pâte de verre with Etsuko Nishi at Pilchuck Glass School, kiln casting classes at Bullseye Glass Teacher Invitational studying under Ted Sawyer. I learned the high temperature method of pâte de verre at The Studio in Corning, NY. , studying under Shin-ichi and Kimiake Higuchi. I have been a TA to Etsuko Nishi at Pilchuck Glass School. I have been lecturing and teaching glass since 2000 in the United States, China and Great Britain. My artwork can be seen domestically as well as internationally. After winning best of show at the Bellevue Art Museum Auction in 2001 I have had my work shown at West Valley Art Museum, The Bata Shoe Museum, Kentucky Museum of Art and Design and the Museum & Art Center in Sequim, WA. My work can be found in the permanent collection of Microsoft, Aylett Survey and Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute.
Susan Taylor Glasgow
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Born in Superior, Wisconsin in 1958, Susan Taylor Glasgow grew up just across the tip of Lake Superior, in Duluth, Minnesota. She migrated south one fall with the geese to the University of Iowa, where she graduated with a BFA in Design in 1983. After working in graphic design for a short period, Susan turned to the sewing skills passed on to her by her mother and opened a dressmaking shop. She owned and operated “On Pins & Needles” from 1984 to1997 in Iowa City, Iowa and Columbia, Missouri. In 1997 Susan sold her dressmaking shop to pursue her original interest in art, first working in mixed media, ultimately focusing on glass. Utilizing her skills as a seamstress, Susan developed a unique approach to glass, stitching glass components together to create complex forms and imagery that borrows from the 1950’s. She now lives and works in Columbia, Missouri. Susan Taylor Glasgow is in the permanent collections of several national and international museums, and is represented by Heller Gallery, NYC and Habatat Galleries in Royal Oak, MI.
Visit Susan's Web SiteCorina Tettinger
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Corina Tettinger has been making beads for 10 years, she is best known and loved as author of "Passing The Flame", an instructional book often referred to as "The Beadmaking Bible." Corina's relaxed and enthusiastic teaching style has made her a popular instructor on only throughout the United States, but also in Australia, Japan and many European countries. Particularly known for excellent stringer control and cheerful use of color Corina's goal in teaching is to enable her students to master many beadmaking techniques to be able to develop their own style - and to remember foremost that beadmaking is about having fun.
RETURN TO TOP
Claudia Trimbur
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
After studying at a Fine Arts College in Germany, Claudia Trimbur worked for 10 years as a graphic designer in the Paris region. Now working in the northern France, she discovered glass beads by accident 6 years ago and started as a self-taught practitioner. Subsequently, she took several classes in Germany with Gunnar Haag, Sarah Hornik and Akihiro Okhama. She has been teaching for 3 years in different studios in France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, UK and the United States.
Visit her web siteJennifer Umphress
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Jennifer Umphress was born and raised in California. In 1991 after visiting Hawaii and falling in love with its beauty it became her home. She began her career in glass in 2000 working and apprenticing in a small studio retail shop in the islands. Continuing to grow as an artist she expanded her knowledge by immersing herself in a month long apprenticeship in Murano, Italy with Cesare Toffolo. Since then she has had the opportunity to take workshops from Robert Mickelsen and Janis Miltenberger. In the summer of 2010 she had the chance to be a studio assistant at Penland assisting Janis Miltenberger and also partake in the PAIR (Professional Artist In Residency) at Pilchuck. She was also fortunate to have been awarded Glasscraft emerging artist award in 2010 and the Rosen Groups NICHE Award in the category of "Glass-Lampworked" in 2009. She now resides in Kingston Washington and hopes the Northwest will provide as much influence for her as Hawaii did. Her work is constantly changing and evolving, but she still draws her biggest influence from the Islands and Ocean that surrounded her for so long.
Randy Walker
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about his 2012 class at PGC
A 1981 graduate of Oklahoma State University, Randy Walker now lives in Bellingham, Washington. He has worked for Pilchuck Glass School as staff, faculty member or craftsman since 1990. From 1990 to 2007 he was a principal member of the William Morris blowing team. His work is exhibited internationally, including a recent solo exhibition at the Museum of Northwest Art. Randy was awarded the Saxe Fellowship from the Bay Area Glass Institute in 2007 and was a featured demonstrator at the 2006 Glass Art Society conference in St. Louis. Randy has taught workshops in Japan, Canada, New Zealand and across the United States. Studying and interacting with nature has always been a fundamental part of this artist’s life. Randy’s blown and sculpted forms are inspired by the colors, textures and patterns found in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Randy strives to create from an instinctual understanding of both nature and glass to illuminate the essence of each.
Lisa Zerkowitz
Summer 2012 Instructor
Learn about her 2012 class at PGC
Boyd Sugiki and Lisa Zerkowitz met at Rhode Island School of Design, where Sugiki earned his M.F.A. degree and Zerkowitz earned her M.A. degree. Sugiki creates sculptural work inspired by cityscapes as well as finely crafted functional pieces. Zerkowitz’s blown- and kiln-cast glass objects evoke memory and landscape and are strongly influenced by the stark contrast between her native Los Angeles and her current home in the Pacific Northwest. Together, Sugiki and Zerkowitz produce a line of studio glass under the name Two Tone Studios in Seattle.
Visit her web site
Rent the Studio
Call 412-365-2145 ext. 204 for more information or to schedule time.
Watch LIVE!
See hot glass demonstrations live.
Weekly Hot Shop Happenings » Weekly Flame Shop Happenings » First Friday Hot Jams »Blow By Blow
Commentary & news from Pittsburgh Glass Center
Read Our Blog »
