Clifford Rainey

Born 1950, Whitehead, County Antrium, Northern Ireland
Currently resides in Napa, CA.

Rainey began his career as a linen damask designer and worked in William Ewarts linen manufacturers from 1965 to 1968. He later studied at Hornsey College of Art, the North East London Polytechnic School of Sculpture, where he specialized in glass sculpture, and the Royal College of Art from where he received an MA. Between 1973 and 1975 he ran his own glass studio in London. In 1975 he won a commission for a small sculpture to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II and in 1976 was commissioned by Sun Life Assurance to make a large glass sculpture in Bristol. He was a lecturer at the Royal College of Art from 1977 until 1984. Rainey is the Chair of the Glass Program at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, California, where he has taught since 1991. He has realized a number of large-scale public art commissions, including at Liverpool Lime Street railway station, England, The Jeddah Monument, Saudi Arabia, and The 911 Communication Center, San Francisco. Rainey is a recipient of the 2000 Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award, and the 2009 Urban Glass Outstanding Achievement Award, New York.

Education & Professional Experience

2007 Taught Masterclass, North Lands Creative Glass, Quatre Bras, Lybster, Caithness, Scotland
1996 Appointed tenured Professor, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
1993 Instructor at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington
1991 – 1996 Appointed Visiting Professor of Fine Art, Chair of the Glass Program at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
1991 Instructor at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington
1991 Closes Worship Street Studio, London
1988 - 1989 Instructor at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington
1987 – 1991 External Examiner, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
1985 Set up studio and glass casting facility, Worship Street, London
1984 Instructor at the Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington
1980 – 1983 External Examiner, Stourbridge College of Art
1980 Appointed member of the UK Council for National Academic Awards
1978 Appointed Senior Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London
1978 Living in Mustique, West Indies
1977 – 1984 Appointed visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London
1975 Traveled through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Rhodesia, Botswana and South Africa. Executed series of drawings for Piccadilly Exhibition, London 1976
Appointed as lecturer at the Middlesex Polytechnic in the Foundation Department
1974 – 1975 Appointed as lecturer at the Hornsey College of Art in drawing
1974 Set up studio, Phipp Street London
1973 –1974 Living in Greek Islands and Turkey
1972 Awarded traveling scholarship to the Littala Glassworks, Finland
1971 – 1973 Registered for and awarded Master of Fine Arts Degree from Royal College of Art, London
1971 Worked for Kastrup and Holmegaards Glassworks, Nestved, Denmark
1970 Season touring Norway with Circus Berny
1969 – 1971 Registered for and award Diploma in Art and Design from the School of Sculpture, Waltham Forest School of Art, London
1969 Four month student exchange to the United States of America
1968 – 1969 Registered for and awarded the Foundation Certificate in Art and Design from the Hornsey College of Art, London
1968 Four months crewing with trawler, Vestmannjar, Iceland
1965 – 1968 Registered for and awarded, 1st City and Guilds Certificate, Woven Textile Technology, Belfast College of Technology
1965 – 1968 Apprenticed Linen Damask Designer, William Ewart and Son Ltd., Belfast
1965 – 1968 Registered for drawing classes, Belfast College of Art

Selected Exhibitions

2010 “REAL: Realism in Diverse Media,” Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
Mendel Collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada
2008 “Icon Fendue”, Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
“6 Dimensions”, Napa Valley Museum, Yountville, CA
1998 The Olive Grove Sculpture Garden at Auberge du Soleil, Napa
Calido, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, Washington
The Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
Glass UK Exhibition, National Glass Center, Sunderland, UK
Edinburgh City Art Gallery, Scotland
1997 Calido – Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona
“Shoebox, Small Works,” University of Hawaii Art Museum, Hawaii
1996 Menorah Exhibition, Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California
1994 Hunter Museum of Art, Tennessee
“Large Scale Sculpture,” Oakland Museum Court at City Center, Oakland, California
Brunnier Gallery, Iowa State University, Iowa
Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan
“Breaking Traditions, Contemporary Artists Who Use Glass,” University College Berkeley Museum, California
Newport Beach Museum, California
“World Glass Now,” Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
“Form, Matter and Content,” University of Art Gallery, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
1993 Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas
Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Arizona
“Saxe Collection,” Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Oklahoma
“Contemporary Glass from South Florida Collections,” Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona
Palm Springs Desert Museum, California
“Hybridization: Contemporary Northern California Craft 1975 – Present,” Oliver Art Center, Oakland, California
1992 “Clearly Art,” Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Washington
Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, California
Cristalomancia, Art Contemporaneo en Vidro,” Museo Ruffino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Museo de Arts Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico
“Glass: From Ancient Craft to Contemporary Art,” The Morris Museum, New Jersey
Fine Art Museum of the South, Mobile, Alabama
Sixteen Contemporary Sculptor / Printmakers, Oliver Art Center, Oakland, California
1991 “Exposition Art Contemporain du Verre,” Espace Duchamp – Villon, Normancy, France
“Selections from the David Jacob Chodorkoff Collection,” Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan
1990 “New Glass in Europe,” Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, Germany
1989 “Expressions en Verre 2,” Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland
1988 “European Glass,” Kent State University Art Gallery, Ohio
1987 “Solsin Collection,” University of Michigan, Dearborn, Michigan
1986 “Beelden in Glas,” Fort Asperen, Asperen, Holland
“Cast Glass Sculpture,” California State University, Fullerton, California
“Light Values,” Modern Architectural Glass, Crafts Council Touring Exhibition, London, England
“Contemporary Glass,” Louisville Art Gallery, Kentucky
“British Exhibition,” Vienna, Austria
1985 “Pilchuck: Creative Fire,” Washington State Capital Museum, Washington, D.C.
1983 “Contemporary Drawings,” Arts Council Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
1982 The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
1981 “New Glass, A World Survey,” Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
1980 Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
1979 Musée Chateau D‘Annecy, France
1977 Coburger Glaspreis, Kunstsammlungen Der Veste, Coburg, Germany
“Silver Jubilee Exhibition,” Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
1976 “Irish Exhibition of Living Art,” National Gallery of Ireland
1973 Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Seiby, Tokyo, Japan

Selected Public Collections

Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Municipal Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Museum of Art and Design, New York
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland
An Chomhairle, Arts Council, Dublin, Ireland
Lannan Foundation, West Palm Beach, FL
Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Museé des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Oklahoma
Istitute du Verre, Hate – Normandie, France
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
The Corning Museum, New York
Tutsek-Stiftung, Munchen, Germany
Museum of Fine Art, Boston
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada

Selected Public Commissions

1984 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, “Jeddah Monument,” granite, steel, glass, landscaping
1984 Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, “Around This Date I Have Drawn a Circle,” granite, cast iron
1984 Lime Street Station, Liverpool, England, forty meter etched glass wall
1984 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, “Sierra Centre Ruin,” granite, water, landscaping
1987 Technician Instrument Corporation, Dublin, Ireland, “Name Stone,” wood, glass, oil paint
1988 Rex House, St. James, London, England, etched glass facade
1989 Trade Indemnity House, London, England, five etched windows, 5 meters x 2 meters
1998 “Water Table,” 911 Communications Center, San Francisco, California

Bibliography

1974 Vogue, 3 / 74 illustration
1976 Arts Review, P. Tubbs, 10 / 76 pp. 508
1977 Art in Ulster, M. Catto, pp. 48, 50 U., 114 F, illustration
1981 CNGR, Nr. 2, pp. abb. 73
1981 House and Garden, August, Illustration
1982 Contemporary Irish Art, R. Knowles, New York, pp. 162, F.U. 182
1982 Interiors, M. Tresidder, 1/ 82, F 129, U 131, pp. 122, 126
1983 Crafts, “Belfast 1981”, Nr. 61:37, Nr / Ap, illustration
1984 The History of Glass, Dan Klein – Ward Llyod, pp. 270 illustration
1986 Studio International, “Integrating Glass and the Environment,” F. Carr, V. 199, NR. 1014, September, pp. 26 – 31, illustration – Jeddah Monument
1986 Beelden in Glas, Fort Asperen, Holland, pp. 88, 117. illustration 38
1986 Neues Glas, “Again – Glass and the Fine Arts,” Dr. Helmut Ricke, April, pp. 271, illustration 268
1986 Art News, “Cuculainn Series 1986, “V. 85:48, D ’86 illustration
1986 Die Schaulade, Stolzle – Oberglass, Osterreichische Glaskunst,” Clifford Rainey’s large cast sculpture for British Exhibition, Vienna,” V. 61 Nr. 7, July pp. 1328 – 1329
1986 Ceramics, “A Bigger Splash: British Studio Glass Today,” Dan Klein, Nr. May / June pp. 45 – 46, illustration pp. 33
1987 Art News, “Spring After the Fire,” 86 V. 86:129, N87, illustration
1987 Glass Arts Society Journal, L. Kelly pp. 58 – 60
1987 Glass in the Environment, M. Wiggington
1987 GNGR, Nr.8, pp. 141, abb 76
1988 Arts Review, M.R. Beaumont, BD 40, Nr. 25, 12/88, pp. 895, illustration
1988 American Craft, “CuCulainn series: Deirg 2 1987”, v. 48 – 5, f/m/’88 illustration
1988 Zeitung fur Essen, “Skulpturen mit sprodem Kern”, N. 03/06 illustration
1988 Waz Samstag, “Kuhne Skulpturen von Clifford Rainey ind Bert Van Loo” Manfred Krause, Nr. 95 April illustration
1988 European Glass, Kent State University Art Gallery, pp. 8, illustration 3
1989 Glass: A Contemporary Art, Dan Klein, Frontispiece pp. 2, 156, illustration 157, 173
1989 Glass, State of the Art 2, F. Hampson, pp. 82, illustration 136
1989 Country Life, At the Cutting Edge, John Russel Taylor, BD. 183 Nr. 45, 11/89, pp. 80-81, illustration
1989 British Artists in the Glass Journal, Clifford Rainey: the Savage Approach, Nr. 1 p. 89, 24 – 28 illustration
1990 Alte Vitrie, “Clifford Rainey and Bretislav Novak, Lausanne Museum,” V. 3, Nr. 1 July ’90, pp. 31
1990 Neue Glass, “The White Bison Nr. 1,” Nr. 4:301, 1990 illustration
1990 Designer’s Journal, Nr. 59, July pp. 1
1991 New Glass in Europe, “Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf,” pp. 90 – 91 illustration 305
1991 American Craft, “Bright Red Stick, 1990” V. 51:3, Feb / Mar ’91 illustration
1991 Artists Newsletter, “Working with Architects, Andrew Bradford, Jan pp. 23
1991 La Revue de la Céramique et du Verre, Clifford Rainey – Toots Zynsky Nr. 56 Jan / Feb ’91 pp. 55 illustration
1991 Glass Gazette Toronto, “In Review” Recent Sculpture by Clifford Rainey and Yan Zoritchak”, L. Glatt, Fall ’91 pp. 11
1991 Glass (New York Experimental Workshop), Richard Kollath, Nr. 44, Summer ’91 pp. 3 13 illustrations
1992 Detroit Art Quarterly, “Clifford Rainey: Art Documentation and Aesthetic Fundamentalism,” J. Gilbert, Vol. 10, Nr. 2 – 3. sum. ’92, pp. 3 – 13, illustration
1994 Sculpture, Maria Porges, V. 13 nr. 2, Mar / Apr ’94
1998 Glass Magazine, Clifford Rainey – Homer Faber illustration Dorothy Weiss