Started working in glass in 1998 at Public Glass in San Francisco.
www.mitchlaplante.com

I have been creating large scale natural fruit and vegetable forms in glass for more than a decade. I choose to make naturally inspired forms that I think are visually interesting and that I enjoy making in the glass studio. My works include Rainier and Bing cherries; chile, jalapeño and bell peppers; pear and round tomatoes; Gravenstein, Gala, and Delicious apples; pluots and plums; Forelle and Bosc pears; and Black Mission figs. Cherries—the Rainier Cherry and Bing Cherry pieces—have been my most popular works. Most of my objects involve stems and bodies. My process involves making blown stems separately that are joined hot to a bubble after it is inflated. I sometimes employ several steps of color application to achieve more painterly effects, such as the D’Anjou Pear. I have also made some larger installations, the largest of which is the Harvest Grape Cluster at Copia in Napa—a hanging cluster of more than 300 blown grapes measuring about 6 feet tall and almost equally wide. In an ongoing collaboration with Ed Kirshner, we have made illuminated pieces using electrified gas plasma, including, thus far, the Plasma Cherry and the Fiery Jalapeño Pepper.

“Red D’Anjou Pear”
Mitch LaPlante
2008
Hand blown glass with hot assemblage
16 x 16 x 28″