January 2002: With gray reef shark. Depth 90 feet. Near Namena Island, Fiji, South Pacific

Follow the links for the full text (essays only)

Since World War II, artists have been exploring glass as a sculptural medium.

Start here for a full chronology and bibliography.

Microsoft has an extensive art collection and conducts an annual conference for art collectors. This essay was written for the 2003 event and was published in the accompanying catalog.

 

Lino Tagliapietra

The Italian maestro Lino Tagliapietra is one of the key figures in studio glass. Among the world's finest glassblowers, as a teacher he has had a profound influence on a whole generation of American glassmakers. This essay was for a special exhibition of masterworks Tagliapietra created for Steuben, including the detail above.

Dale Chihuly

Chihuly is perhaps the best known artist working in glass. I've written several essays and filed a variety of internet dispatches about him. 

Chihuly in Jerusalem describes the monumental projects he installed in the fortress in the old city in 1999. This is the original live internet coverage of the events.

Chihuly Wall of Ice is about the wall of ice Chihuly built in Jerusalem in 1999. It melted in three days; this is the essay from Artfocus magazine.

Libensky and Brychtova

Jaroslava Brychtova and Stanislav Libensky are very prominent artists working in the Czech Republic. Their monumental abstract or semi-realist sculptures are highly sought after by collectors and museums. This essay was originally delivered as the first Rakow Award lecture at The Corning Museum of Glass.

Frantisek Vizner    

I just wrote a book about Vizner, whose austere and yet extraordinarily handsome vessels define the classic style in glass. This is an earlier essay about the artist. The image above is a detail of  "Bowl with Point" in the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Glick collection donation).

Dan Dailey

I am writing a book about Dailey (shown above drawing in his studio), and these web pages form a photo essay as research for the book.

Many of the books I've written are available through www.amazon.com or, if out of print, at www.whitehouse-books.com . Books currently in progress include Dan Dailey (Schiffer) and The Coral Reefs of Oceania.

More essays: follow link for full text 

Artists

James Carpenter

Harvey Littleton      

Steuben

Hank Murta Adams

Steve Tobin 

Fred Tschida    

Mandy Wojick

The Ocean Realm

The Ocean Seminars

Blaschka Marine Glass Invertebrate Models

Catherine Rahn: Underwater Projects

Essays about the history of modern glass

The End of Studio Glass?

The Chronology of Studio Glass

The Venetians: Modern Glass

Venetian Cool Fire

At Mass MoCA July 2000

It is not glass. It makes loud noises.