Author Archives: dale_beevers

John Forbes Artist Bio

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Started working in glass in 1968.
www.bdartglass.com

John started working with stained glass in 1968 in Bonnie Doon, CA. As a 1960s musician /artist “flower child”, he had visions of stained glass windows and focused on learning to make windows. He taught himself the craft by picking up windows from abandoned buildings and repairing them himself. Forbes traveled east to seek out Tiffany windows and to Europe, searching for Art Nouveau windows. He also “got into the Car thing”. He was inspired by Dan Fenton (they “really clicked”), David Ruth and Jim Lundberg. John’s path has been to do commissions, “to make pieces for people”. He has made many large commissions, including McFly bars and restaurants.

Kelp Window
John Forbes

Glass Car
John Forbes

JC Herrell Artist Bio

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Started working in glass in Wisconsin in 2001.  She has been working in glass in California for 1.5 years.
www.jcherrell.com

While working as a corporate trainer, JC began to teach herself lampworking in 2000. In January 2005, addicted to melting glass and having established the roots of her current business, she began making beads full time. The decision to dedicate her total energy to learning the craft and business of beadmaking allowed for a self-education revolution for JC who soon found additional energy from the advise and inspiration of her peers. After exploring and learning to work enamels on lampwork beads, JC began teaching enamel workshops and classes in 2007. Her fondness for enamel was quickly surpassed by a desire to control stringer and create designs with fine, straight lines inspired by a long history of architectural interest. JC currently works from a home studio on the Mendocino coast in northern California.

“Prairie”
JC Herrell
2011
Lampwork, soft glass, enamel, stringerwork
Average focal bead 25mm

“Playhouse Beads”
JC Herrell
2012
Lampwork, soft glass, stringerwork
Average bead size 30-4-mm

Brian Coleman Artist Bio

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Started working in glass in the 1970’s.

Brian Coleman has been working in glass since the early 70’s and he has established himself as one of the most well-known and respected California neon artists you will find. His exhibitions span over 30 years from galleries in New York and the Corning Museum of Glass, to Paris, France, and in California at the California Crafts Museum, the Museum of Neon Art, and the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Mari Chovan-Upton Artist Bio

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Started working in glass in 1980 at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA).

Hungarian-born artist Mari Chovan-Upton creates figurative and abstract sculptures in ceramic, stone, bronze and glass. She studied drawing and sculpture in Budapest, Hungary. painting in Florence, Italy and stone carving with Italian masters in Pietrasanta. She studied glass under Marvin Lipofsky at CCAC.

She was an artist in residence in kiln-cast glass at San Jose State University and taught kiln-cast glass at the Crucible for several years. Her work has been exhibited in the United States, Hungary and Italy.

In her glass works, whether figurative or abstract, she loves working with both natural and artificial light. In the inner life of a glass sculpture the reflected or captured light is constantly changing. She entices the viewers’ eyes to move beyond the surface, to enter the form, and discover the captured light inside. These unpredictable plays of inner light and shadow make the works seem naturally alive.

In her quest for this aliveness, her sculpture with artificial light (whether lit from below, or as plasma light inside) plays with how the light changes depending on both ambient lighting and viewer interaction.

Having intimately experienced the beauty of opaque colors in antique vases of Pate de Verre (“paste of glass”) back in Hungary, she has been using Pate de Verre for her figurative sculpture. This allows her to work in an opaque medium that brings in yet another element of light — translucent color.

Bending Light #2
Mari Chovan Upton
2012
Kiln-Cast Glass
8” x 6 1/2 x 5 1/4

Directions
2005
Mari Chovan Upton
Pate de Verre
9” x 2 1/2” x 7 1/2”