Eight Revolutionary Glass Artists Alive Today

The versatile world of art utilizing glass as a medium wouldn’t be where it is today without the following eight glass artists:

1. Dale Chihuly. Dale Chihuly is arguably the most well-known glass artist alive today. The remarkable masterpieces created by Dale Chihuly have crossed the art of glassblowing into the world of large-scale sculpture. After several unfortunate accidents that took functionality from his right shoulder and left eye, Chihuly stepped away from the production of glass art and became “more choreographer than dancer, more supervisor than participant, more director than actor” to his artwork.
2. Gil Heitor Cortesão. Gil Heitor Cortesão has amassed a huge collection of glass paintings that mostly represent images from 1960s and 70s design magazines. Cortesão’s glass paintings are created by layering paint on glass or larger-scale Plexiglas so that the image is seen on the reverse side. Many of his glass paintings are displayed internationally in contemporary art galleries such as Pedro Cera and Carbon 12.
3. Howard Ben Tre. Howard Ben Tre invented the method of pouring hot glass into sand molds to make glass fixtures. A single piece of art involves months of cooling, sand blasting, grinding, cutting, and polishing to complete.
4. Karen Lamonte. Karen Lamonte’s artwork often uses life-size glass sculptures of clothing to represent the “identity and exploring the human in absentia.” Her most iconic piece, “Vestige,” is a life-size glass sculpture of a dress and took over a year to create and involved bringing brand new glass techniques to the studio she worked at in Eastern Bohemia.
5. Lino Tagliapietra. Lino Tagliapietra was destined to become a great glass artist, hailing from the Italian island of Murano, which has been a world-class source for fine glass blown art since 1291, and marrying into a Venetian family that has specialized in glass art for centuries. Almost all modern glassblowing techniques that glass artists use today have been developed or influenced by Lino Tagliapietra.
6. Martin Blank. A protege of the great Dale Chihuly, Martin Blank describes his own glass artwork as a “complementary relationship of natural and figurative objects in space.” His most famous piece, “Fluent Steps,” utilizes 754 hand-sculpted glass pieces to represent the various incarnations of water.
7. Rashad Alakbarov. Rashad Alakbarov works with numerous art mediums, but his “light paintings” are what give him prominence in the world of glass art. Alakbarov hangs precisely cut pieces of colorful glass from the ceiling in specific positions and then when a light is cast on the glass, a beautiful image is reflected onto a blank wall. Some of the images Alakbarov has created with glass reflections include mesmerizing landscapes, human figures, and phrases. The mission of his artwork is to illuminate social crisis across the globe.
8. William Morris. The development of William Morris into a world-famous glass artist is fascinating. Morris was introduced into glass art when he worked as a truck driver for Pilchuck Glass School. Amazingly, Morris managed to work his way up from truck driver to glass instructor within a few short year. The most unique aspect of his artwork is his ability to manipulate glass to resemble materials such as wood, bone and sinew, and natural fibers. The mission of William Morris’ art is to bring ancient history to life through glass sculpture.