STATEMENT

Love, admiration and respect for the visual arts have formed my life as long as I can remember. They motivated me to devote my life to art, its limitless challenges, variety of expressions, its magical qualities and its ability to elicit deep emotional and intellectual responses.

I have been influenced by the Abstract Expressionists rather than by the representational art. In my work I combine the physicality of a material, glass, with the emotional capacity of color. The way in which my work is accomplished, first the communal group effort to blow and form my large fluid glass sculptures with a talented and experienced team, and subsequently alone and solitary in my studio, can be taken as a metaphor for my relationship with people, nature and contemporary life and the world.

I think of myself, first and foremost, as a painter on glass, the colors express love, sex, pain and joy. Different emotions are expressed in the combinations of colors. Their relative weight and importance respond to emotions of that time and place.
By assembling the pieces, after the sculptures were broken in shards, reassembled and painted, they suddenly become light sculptures, capturing, reflecting and refracting sun light. Changing character from morning to evening sun they develop an inner life almost independent of its maker, playing with and sometimes questioning my intentions.

Born 1955 Frankfurt, Germany (American)

Education

2013 American University, MFA in studio art candidate, Washington, DC
2010 Furman University, BA in Art, cum laude, Greenville, SC
2008 University of Georgia Cortona Studies Abroad Program, Fall Semester, Cortona, Italy

Scholarships/Awards

2012 Stanley G. Wolpoff Purhcase Award, Katzen Museum, American University Washington DC
2011-2013 Helen M. Herzbrun Scholarship American University, Washington, DC
2010 The Glen E. Howerton Award, Furman University, Greenville, SC
2008-10 Charles E. Blackwood Award Furman University, Greenville, SC
Glen Boyles Art Scholarship Furman University, Greenville, SC

Residency Programs

2011 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT May/June
The Hambidge Center, Rabun Gap, GA February/March
2010 Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY June, July, August

Teaching Positions & Education

2001 Instructor, Pilchuck Glass School
2000 Artist Assistant to Jim Dine, Pilchuck Glass School
1987 Artist in Residence, Pilchuck Glass School
1986 Teaching Assistant to Paul Marioni, Pilchuck Glass School
1985 Student of Lino Tagliapietra, Pilchuck Glass School
1984 Teaching Assistant to Dan Dailey, Pilchuck Glass School
1982 – 1983 John Lewis Glass, production of glass vessels and sculptures
1981 –1982 Urrere / Perkins Studio, glass productions
1979 Henry Suma, studied under his direction in hot glass
1976 –1979 Craft Farm, teaching assistant in hot glass workshop, stained glass production

Selected Exhibitions

2013 “Crossing the Bifrost: MFA Thesis Show”, Katzen Museum, American Univ, Washington DC
2012 “Unearthed: Dan Perkins and Ryan Carr Johnson”, Rotunda Gallery – American Univ, Washington DC
“Any Thoughts, Anyone?: 1st year MFA exhibition”, Katzen Museum, American University, Washington DC
2010 Cycle: Bicycle as Metaphor, Greer City Hall, Greer, SC
Patchwork: Furman Senior Thesis Show, Thomson Gallery, Furman University, Greenville, SC
2009 Juried Exhibition, Thomson Gallery, Furman University, Greenville, SC
Large commission in ID and CA
2008 Mostra, Cortona, Italy
Fortaleza, Cortona, Italy
2007 STUDIO, Palm Desert CA
2005 Imago Galleries, CA
1997 Art Fair Vancouver, Vancouver BC
1996 Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
1994 Beauty of Painted Glass, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
1992 Clearly Art: Pilchuck’s Glass Legacy Exhibition, organized by the Whatcomb Museum, traveling from 1992 – 1995 to various cities in the US
Glass ’92, Imago Galleries, Palm Springs, CA
1991 Frozen Moments, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
1987 Saxe Collection, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
1985 Kulturheset, Stockholm, Sweden
1984 San Francisco Airport, United Terminal

Selected Collections

Art Bank, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanitites, Washington D.C.
Katzen Museum, American University, Washington, DC
Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, OR
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, PA
National Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, D.C.
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
McAllen International Museum, McAllen, TX
MCI, Washington, D.C.
Hyatt Regency Hotel, New York, NY
Microsoft Corporation, Seattle, WA
Taco Bell Corporation, Irvine, CA
Elton John, Atlanta, GA
Jack Benaroya, Seattle, WA
George Saxe, Palo Alto, CA
Anne Gould – Hauberg, Seattle, WA
Judy Cornfield, Hollywood, FL
Price Waterhouse, Phoenix, AZ
Jerry Rose, Atherton, CA
Victoria and Albert Museum, London England
Wells Fargo Headquarters, Denver CO

Publications

2005 Glass Magazine, Spring
2004 The Artisan Northwest, Debra Jensen
Contemporary International Glass, Jennifer Hawkins Opie
2003 The Columbus Dispatch, Jacqueline Hill
1996 American Craft, “Danny Perkins,” Matthew Kangas, February / March
1992 Out of the Fire, Bonnie Miller
1990 New York Times, review, December 30
1989 Contemporary Glass, Susanne K. Franze
1986 50’s Style Now and Then, Richard Horn
1984 New Glass Review, Corning Museum of Glass

Bibliography

2010 Link Magazine, “Helping new artists, collectors, discover each other”, Matt Wake, pp. 18, November, Greenville, SC
2010 G Magazine, “Break the Cycle”, Blair Knobel, pp. 112, September/October, Greenville, SC
2009 Echo, Literary Arts Publication, pp. 68-69, Spring 2009, Furman University, Greenville, SC