This workshop is about pushing glass from experiment to object, from small-scale pieces to larger architectural and sculptural possibilities. Drawing on nearly 30 years of working in glass, I want to guide students through a hands-on, practice-based investigation of how ideas become finished pieces that can live in the real world. We’ll explore kiln-forming, boiling glass, high-temperature experimentation, color, opacity, transparency, light, material behavior, presentation, collaboration and how glass can move from tabletop objects and products to lighting, sculpture, architectural details and installations.

This workshop is designed to develop technical proficiency, material fluency and creative expression in sculpting with borosilicate glass. Participants will explore three-dimensional forms and dynamic sculptural action, expanding the visual vocabulary of their work by building on flameworking fundamentals to create complex forms. Alongside technical refinement and advancement, the workshop will integrate experimentation and storytelling, guiding students to develop a personal sculptural language and to articulate narratives through form, structure and detail. Explorations in color rod and frit applications will add dimension and excitement to the creative process. Balancing innovation, intuition and technical skill with unconventionality, the workshop invites students to reimagine the potential of glass sculpture. Instruction includes group and individual demonstrations, emphasizing process, craftsmanship and progressive creative growth.

This workshop focuses on hand-building intricate organic forms in beeswax and translating them into Gaffer glass castings through the lost-wax kiln-casting technique. We will cover every step of the process, including model making, sprue placement, pouring refractory molds, wax steam-out, casting and annealing schedules, de-molding and finishing techniques. Students can expect to learn how to create hollow-core objects, explore color placement through the use of pre-cast elements and firing a piece multiple times, discovering how cold-worked surfaces can significantly transform the appearance of your work. Emphasis will be placed on experimentation, problem-solving and learning to work creatively with imperfections thoughout the making process.

This immersive workshop, taught by William Morris’s original crew, will offer a deep understanding of what it takes to work as a team, what it means to innovate on the fly, and how to work to everyone’s individual strengths. The William Morris Crew is comprised of many talented artists who continue to push the limits of glass making in their own work and who are excited to share their collective history and knowledge as artists. There is no better setting than Pilchuck Glass School for this one-of-a-kind experience.  

Billy Morris’s work speaks for itself, but how that work was created is the reason it stands alone. Through trial and error, creativity and collaboration, a new level of detail and realism emerged. Billy understood that the best way to utilize his team’s strengths was to lean into their individual talents, a trait that he learned from working for Dale Chihuly that carried through to his own artistic practice.

The arrival of master artists such as Lino Tagliapietra and Pino Signoretto (among many others) to the United States in the '80s and '90s is credited with the explosion of technical understanding and the teamwork-oriented approach that is so ubiquitous today it is often taken for granted. What has American Studio glass done to move the needle since gifted this knowledge? While this art form is ancient, and we use many of the same tools and equipment as our forbearers, the American approach began totally unhindered by tradition. This opened floodgates to innovation and experimentation; there was no need to fit into a mold. From a sculptural standpoint, no team exemplifies this ethos more than William Morris and his Crew.