Past to Future: History in the Making
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.
Initially brought together by glass artist William Morris as members of his original Crew, the following artists have gone on to have successful individual careers in addition to pursuing further collaboration, as inspired by their time working together with Billy.
Rik Allen is a sculptor who works with mixed materials, with a long history of using glass as a primary component. His sculptures bridge outer and inner space, blending invention, exploration, and while often reflecting nature, implicitly or directly. Working from his studio in Washington’s Skagit Valley, he has produced works for numerous solo exhibitions throughout the country, and his works reside in numerous permanent collections.
Shelley Muzylowski Allen, a Canadian-born artist, has dedicated over 35 years working with glass. Using her background in painting, her time spent outdoors and her understanding of natural anatomy, Shelley creates contemplative vignettes with hot glass. She and her husband, Rik Allen, established a glass and sculpture studio in Skagit County, Washington, where they currently live and work. Shelley has taught and exhibited nationally and internationally.
With interests in oceanography, astronomy and math, Kelly O’Dell chose glass as her primary focus at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1999. Later, she joined William Morris’s Crew at Pilchuck Glass School. Influenced by her creative teachers and by her island upbringing, Kelly’s work mainly examines species extinction and conservation and human impact on the natural world. She has taught glass workshops nationally and internationally and is currently based on Lopez Island, Washington, with her husband, glass artist Raven Skyriver, and their son, Wren.
Niko Dimitrijevic is currently a gaffer and team member of the hot glass show at the Corning Museum of Glass. His personal work will often incorporate or solely rely on found/reclaimed materials as the basis for both his installation and glass practices. Niko has demonstrated, lectured and worked internationally. He earned his MFA in Visual Arts from The Ohio State University in 2018.
Martin Janecký began working with glass at the age of 13 at his father's factory in the Czech Republic. After graduating from the Glass School in Nový Bor he gained experiences in South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, and chiefly in the US, where he studied at the Pilchuck Glass School under Richard Royal and William Morris. In 2019, he set up Janecký Studio in Prague. Martin Janecky is considered to be one of the best glass sculptors working today. He has exhibited his artwork in galleries and museums worldwide and has taught workshops all over the world.
Jasen Johnsen is an artist and master craftsman who works in hot-sculpted glass and metal. Jasen has a successful business, Jasen Johnsen Glass Tools, making tools for glass-working that are enjoyed by hundreds of glass artists worldwide. Jasen's creative collaboration with his wife and muse, glass artist Karen Willenbrink, began at Pilchuck and continues to thrive at their home and studio in rural Bow, Washington. Jasen and Karen travel nationally and internationally as demonstrating artists.
After earning a BFA in Sculpture from Ohio University and subsequently moving to Washington in 1987, Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen began working as an assistant to William Morris. Her work is the result of countless hours of observation and dedication to the studio glass movement. Throughout her career, she has helped pave the way for young women in the hot shop and has a long history of teaching with her husband and collaborator, Jasen Johnsen. Karen is constantly inspired, revitalized and awed by the power of nature and captures this spirit in her own work.
Ross Richmond has been working with glass since 1991 and earned a BFA in Glass from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1994. He has worked with and for many esteemed artists, including William Morris for ten years. Ross is considered one of the top hot glass sculptors in the field today.
Born in 1982, Raven Skyriver (Tlingit) was raised in the San Juan Islands. When he was 16, Raven was introduced to glass by his family friend and mentor, Lark Dalton. Exploring every opportunity to work in glass led to Raven being invited to work with Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen for the William Morris team in 2003. This was his introduction to sculptural glass and where building a vocabulary for narrative in his work began. In 2018, Raven returned to the island where he was born, and he and his wife, Kelly O'Dell, constructed a home studio where they create their art.
Principle member of the Crew for over 25 years, hot glass sculptor Randy Walker has spent most of the past 30 years at Pilchuck learning his trade. His works, which focus on large plant forms as the canvas for an exploration of color, are exhibited nationally, and he has a long career in teaching workshops nationally and internationally.
