ABOUT

Bob’s interest in art glass began in 1971 as he began working with stained glass while enlisted in the Navy. Later, while doing independent study in an undergraduate ceramics program, he convinced the instructor to allow him to explore glassblowing in 1975. Earning his BFA in Ceramics in 1976.

“I taught myself the fundamentals of hot glass with a furnace I constructed out of an old fifty-five gallon steel drum. My fascination with this unique and diverse medium grew and led to my graduate work under the instruction of Kent Ipsen.”

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Earning his MFA in Glass, Bob opened his first glass studio in 1979 and is now operating his studio in Asheville, North Carolina. To this day he finds it is an exciting challenge to combine the varying factors of hot glass, light, color, form, and transparency into each finished piece.

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His work is directed toward using internal designs of air inclusions and laminations of unique optical coatings.

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“It’s my desire to involve the viewer in exploring the interior/exterior design. I see the chromatics and configurations as a reflection of a redeemed creation with its order and vibrant energy, from God who thought it good to give beauty to humanity.”

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His pursuits have led to the design of the first blown art glass kaleidoscopes. In design collaboration with his wife Margaret, Bob has adapted the process of applying his own uniquely patterned high-tech optical filter coatings, ‘DICHROICS’ onto the surfaces and interiors of three dimensional blown, carved and laminated glass sculptures. The high-tech optical coatings used produce dramatic kinetic color shifts which actively involve the viewer with the work.