Started working in glass in 1975 at California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) in Oakland, CA.
www.quepasaglass.com

Bruce Pizzichillo began his glasswork in 1975 at CCAC and finished in 1980 with a BFA in glass.  In 1984 he established Pizzichillo-Gordon Glass Studio with his wife and partner Dari Gordon in Oakland CA, making it the oldest running glassblowing studio in Oakland.

In 1988 he was the recipient of a fellowship to Creative Glass center of America, Wheaton Village, NJ.  Bruce served as President of the non-profit Jazz in Flight, an organization for jazz music production and free children’s music classes from 1999-2005.  His work has been featured in numerous publications and books such as Lark Books’ 500 Glass Objects, as well as being in several private, corporate and museum collections such as Pew Charitable Trust, Philadelphia PA; U.S. Embassy, Ottawa, Canada; Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ; Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA.  Bruce was featured annually for 17 years in Glass Now, a traveling exhibit of American glass art sponsored by the Yamaha Corporation throughout Japan.

“Fishnet Group”
Bruce Pizzichillo

“Mosaic Incalmo Bowl” 24″
Bruce Pizzichillo

Started working in glass in 1977 at John Kebrle Studio in Dallas, TX and has worked in California for 23 years.
www.petermangan.com

For the last twenty-five years I have made my living as an artist.  My artwork has been shown and collected in the U.S.A., Europe, and Japan.  When I look back on pivotal experiences, certain events come to mind such as:  my apprenticeship at Bullseye Glass Company in Portland, OR, 1983; being a Visiting Artist at the New York Experimental Glass Center, 1988; and traveling around the world in 1996 (NYC, Italy, Egypt, India, Thailand, Bali, Hawaii).  Since 1998, I have had two studios, one in San Francisco, CA and the other in Blanco, TX in the heart of the Hill Country. Living and working in these diverse environments allows me to take on additional challenges and bring my artwork to a wider audience.

“Eternal Couple”
Peter Mangan
2004
glass, copper, steel, brass
38″ x 21″ x 112″

“Rattle Tail”
Peter Mangan
2005
steel and glass
44″ x 44″ x 120″

Started working in glass in 1978 at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, CA.
www.markabildgaard.com

Mark Abilgaard received a B.A. degree in Art from San Francisco State University in 1979 and a M.F.A. degree in Art from the University of Hawaii in 1984.  Since 1986 he has worked in his Northern California studio creating kiln cast sculptures.

“Figure and Me”
Mark Abilgaard

“Ancestor Boat”
Mark Abilgaard
2001
kiln-cast glass
40″ x 34″ x 9″

Started working in glass in 2003 at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) in Oakland, CA.
www.jonahward.com

Artist Jonah Ward (b. August 31, 1984) creates artwork that, in its most literal form, are compellingly aesthetic; in its most metaphorical, are a testament to our always relevant interaction with the natural world. His original and most prevalent series of work is composed of panels of wood stamped with what could be tar-like paint and printed with abstract designs and meanderings. Upon closer inspection, the different woods are scarred with burns: what is left over when Jonah drips, ladles, presses, cools, and peels molten glass from them. The final image essentially becomes a drawing formed with glass.

Jonah’s works are as much a product of his education as his background— born on Foster Mountain in Willits, California, raised on a historic homestead at the end of red dirt roads, and educated in a one-room schoolhouse. This intrinsic point of view has influenced his way of thinking as he continues to cultivate a dialog with nature. While requiring sustained physical interaction with natural materials, Jonah’s works are also paradoxically devoid of his literal touch or imprint. He acts more as a facilitator—harnessing natural processes and phenomenon, while still according them their proper respect for their capacity for both incommensurable beauty and destruction.

The idea of making a painting or drawing using processes and/or materials that normally wouldn’t fall into that category is very important to him. The final work represents an organization of seemingly chaotic content and situations, yet bound by a sense of structure, a common thread that has become prevalent in all of his work.

“Burnt Panel Triptych No. 11”
Jonah Ward
2011
Glass Burned Red Tennessee Cedar Wood
29” ¾” x 7”” each

“Burnt Panel Multiple No. 3”
Jonah Ward
2011
Glass Burned Poplar Wood
12” x ¾” x 72” each

Keynote Speaker
Started working in glass in 1962 in Madison, WI and has worked in California for 48 years.
www.marvinlipofsky.com

As a member of Harvey Littleton’s initial glass program, Marvin Lipofsky earned an MS and MFA in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  He went on to found and head glass departments at the University of California, Berkeley (1964-1972) and the California College of Arts and Crafts (1967-1987).  He was a founding member of the Glass Art Society; has been a board member of NCECA and the American Craft Council.  Awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, he was also named a Living Treasure of California, and elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows.  In his travels, he collaborates with glassmasters from around the world.  His unique sculptures are included in numerous private collections and more than 90 museums and corporate collections throughout the world.

“IGS II 1985 #2”
Marvin Lipofsky
1985
mold blown, cut, sandblasted and acid etched
15 1/2” x 20” x 15”

Marvin Lipofsky working with Stefan Stefko and team at the International Glass Symposium (IGS) II, 1985. Crystalex Glass Factory, Novy Bor, Czechoslovakia.
1985

Started working in glass in 1971.

What my glass tries to say cannot be separated from the forces that are used to create it. Glass becomes what it is made or born to be. I try not to get in the way. To flow with it while I dance along is enough for me.

Micheal Nourot, founding partner of Nourot Glass Studio has been making glass for over 40 years.  He was born January 1949 in Riverside, California. Micheal was one of the first 16 students at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington.  He attended the first  “Session” fall/winter of 1971–72. Working with founder’s Dale Chihuly and Jamie Carpenter, Mr. Nourot designed and helped build the first hot shop at Pilchuck.

Following the Pilchuck experience, Micheal left for Venice, Italy.  There he apprenticed to glass master Checo Ongaro at Venini.  Just a handful of Americans were allowed into the famed Italian glass houses in the 1970’s: Dale Chihuly, Richard Marquis, and Benjamin Moore, included. Formulas for the Nourot glass have their origins from this time.

Micheal’s Light Opera, founded in April 1973,  in Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, was his first studio.  Soon afterward, Micheal Nourot formed a partnership with Ann Corcoran, also a CCAC alumni (whom he married in November ’74).  On August 1, 1974 the Nourot Studio moved to Benicia, California where it is located today. The Nourots have three children, Lois, 31, Nick, 28 and Gabriel, 15.

“Rufled Bowl”
Michael Nourot

“Scarlet Nova Olana Platter”
Michael Nourot

Started working in glass in 1989 at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) in Oakland, CA.
www.elinchristopherson.com

Elin Christopherson earned her BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts in 1989, and her MFA Degree at Alfred University in 2001. Her artwork reveals intersections and overlays of both natural and human-made forms. Elin currently teaches Glass and Sculpture at California College of the Arts in Oakland, California.

“Laurel Cluster #2”
Elin Christopherson
2011
Plate Glass and Enamel

“Laurel Column”
Elin Christopherson
2011
Plate Glass, Enamel and Steel
92″ x 20″ x 20″

Started working in glass in 1968 at UC Berkeley.
www.cohnstone.com 

Michael set up his first studio in 1973 in Berkeley, California, and has been operating glassblowing studios continuously since that time.  He is currently co-owner of Cohn-Stone Studios in Richmond, Ca.   Started working in glass in the 1970’s.

For as long as I can recall, I have made things with my hands. It is what I do. It is one of my primary forms of expression. I am also completely fascinated by fire — by its incredible power to destroy as well as to create.  It is appropriate then, that I have devoted the greater part of my life to the creation of objects of glass (or primarily glass).

The act of glass making is elemental — it involves earth, air, fire and water. It is a series of choreographed steps — a fiery fluid dance frozen in motion. Even after working so closely with this material for so many years, I am still amazed that a pile of what appears to be basically sand can be shoveled into the furnace and the next day can be transformed into essentially anything ones imagination, skill and strength will allow. Physics, alchemy and magic each play a part in the process.

I am inspired by the purity of the classical forms and the beauty and diversity of the natural world, as well as by the ingenuity and functionality of machinery. I derive equal satisfaction in the creation of high quality decorative and/or sculptural glasswork as well as in the design and construction of the furnaces, ovens and other equipment which make the work possible.

Selected Collections

• Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
• Oakland Museum, CA
• Corning Museum of Glass, NY
• Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany
• Huntington Museum, WVA
• National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
• Toledo Museum of Art, OH
• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
• High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
• Kestner Museum, Hanover, Germany
• Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
• Musee de Design et d’Arts Appliques/Contemporains, Lausanne, Switzerland
• San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, CA
• J P Lannan Foundation, Palm Beach, FA

“Space Cup”
Michael Cohn

“Roll over Mondrian and tell Brancusi the news_ #49”
Michael Cohn