For two decades, David Patchen’s creative energies primarily found an outlet in music, but a blowpipe and furnace have since replaced his guitar and amp. A former corporate marketing professional, a glassblowing class in 2001 ignited such a passion that he transitioned his career from the software world to full-time glass artist.
David studied at the prestigious Pilchuck Glass School, founded by Dale Chihuly and John and Anne Hauberg in Stanwood, Washington, and has been a guest artist at the Corning Museum of Glass. In 2010, he was invited to Seto City, Japan, as Artist in Residence, spending a month lecturing, demonstrating, and creating work through an award from the Seto City Art and Cultural Foundation. Primarily self-taught, he developed his skills through experimentation, observation of talented local artists, and visits with Afro Celotto, maestro and former assistant to Lino Tagliapietra of Murano, Italy. David has received awards for his work, including an artistic merit scholarship for studies at Pilchuck. His book David Patchen: Glass is in the permanent collections of the Rakow Library at the Corning Museum of Glass and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Centro Studi del Vetro (Glass Study Center Library) in Venice, Italy.
David’s work, known for its intense colors, intricate detail, and meticulous craftsmanship, is represented in numerous private collections, museums, and galleries internationally. He is actively involved in the glass arts community as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors at Public Glass (San Francisco’s center for glass art), a member of the Pilchuck Leadership Council, and a former board member of the Glass Alliance of Northern California. He maintains a private studio within Public Glass, where he creates his work and occasionally instructs.
Born and raised in New York, David Patchen now resides in San Francisco. He finds inspiration in international travel, the marine environment, science, nature, architecture, SCUBA diving, and photography.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I find glass as seductive as it is challenging. As a particularly unforgiving medium, it offers an artist endless creative opportunities to design for its unique properties—the only limitations are imagination and skill in working with the material. I’ve always been captivated by how one can use this enigmatic material to achieve virtually any form, hold elements in suspension, and create both great detail and soft abstraction. Its flexibility as a medium is matched by the difficulty it presents in executing precise work.
My current work is an intensive exploration of patterns, colors, and transparency created through multi-layered cane and murrine (colored rods and patterned cross-sections of glass). While varied in composition and design, I most often create work within a series of graceful forms that I consider three-dimensional canvases. The diversity in my compositions reflects my desire to constantly experiment and explore a variety of ideas simultaneously. Some recurring themes include windows into or through a piece, things hidden and revealed, and extreme detail. Colors in contrasting and/or complementary tertiary tones woven into complex patterns challenge expectations of the amount of detail glass can carry and its place in the art world. My influences include textiles, ethnically distinct colors and shapes, as well as the marine environment.
Creating my work begins with meticulous planning and designing of colors and patterns. After I pull the cane and murrine, I carefully compose these elements to design the final work—all days prior to blowing the glass. I enjoy this process of thoughtful creativity alongside the contrasting intensity of working in the hotshop, where the limited window to shape molten glass requires both precision and urgency. The dual challenge of designing and executing complex work satisfies both the artist and the craftsman in me, and I continually find it exciting to watch a piece I’ve poured days into come to life in the fire.
Biography
For two decades, David Patchen’s creative energies primarily found an outlet in music, but a blowpipe and furnace have since replaced his guitar and amp. A former corporate marketing professional, a glassblowing class in 2001 ignited such a passion that he transitioned his career from the software world to full-time glass artist.
David studied at the prestigious Pilchuck Glass School, founded by Dale Chihuly and John and Anne Hauberg in Stanwood, Washington, and has been a guest artist at the Corning Museum of Glass. In 2010, he was invited to Seto City, Japan, as Artist in Residence, spending a month lecturing, demonstrating, and creating work through an award from the Seto City Art and Cultural Foundation. Primarily self-taught, he developed his skills through experimentation, observation of talented local artists, and visits with Afro Celotto, maestro and former assistant to Lino Tagliapietra of Murano, Italy. David has received awards for his work, including an artistic merit scholarship for studies at Pilchuck. His book David Patchen: Glass is in the permanent collections of the Rakow Library at the Corning Museum of Glass and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Centro Studi del Vetro (Glass Study Center Library) in Venice, Italy.
David’s work, known for its intense colors, intricate detail, and meticulous craftsmanship, is represented in numerous private collections, museums, and galleries internationally. He is actively involved in the glass arts community as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors at Public Glass (San Francisco’s center for glass art), a member of the Pilchuck Leadership Council, and a former board member of the Glass Alliance of Northern California. He maintains a private studio within Public Glass, where he creates his work and occasionally instructs.
Born and raised in New York, David Patchen now resides in San Francisco. He finds inspiration in international travel, the marine environment, science, nature, architecture, SCUBA diving, and photography.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I find glass as seductive as it is challenging. As a particularly unforgiving medium, it offers an artist endless creative opportunities to design for its unique properties—the only limitations are imagination and skill in working with the material. I’ve always been captivated by how one can use this enigmatic material to achieve virtually any form, hold elements in suspension, and create both great detail and soft abstraction. Its flexibility as a medium is matched by the difficulty it presents in executing precise work.
My current work is an intensive exploration of patterns, colors, and transparency created through multi-layered cane and murrine (colored rods and patterned cross-sections of glass). While varied in composition and design, I most often create work within a series of graceful forms that I consider three-dimensional canvases. The diversity in my compositions reflects my desire to constantly experiment and explore a variety of ideas simultaneously. Some recurring themes include windows into or through a piece, things hidden and revealed, and extreme detail. Colors in contrasting and/or complementary tertiary tones woven into complex patterns challenge expectations of the amount of detail glass can carry and its place in the art world. My influences include textiles, ethnically distinct colors and shapes, as well as the marine environment.
Creating my work begins with meticulous planning and designing of colors and patterns. After I pull the cane and murrine, I carefully compose these elements to design the final work—all days prior to blowing the glass. I enjoy this process of thoughtful creativity alongside the contrasting intensity of working in the hotshop, where the limited window to shape molten glass requires both precision and urgency. The dual challenge of designing and executing complex work satisfies both the artist and the craftsman in me, and I continually find it exciting to watch a piece I’ve poured days into come to life in the fire.
For two decades, David Patchen’s creative energies primarily found an outlet in music, but a blowpipe and furnace have since replaced his guitar and amp. A former corporate marketing professional, a glassblowing class in 2001 ignited such a passion that he transitioned his career from the software world to full-time glass artist.
David studied at the prestigious Pilchuck Glass School, founded by Dale Chihuly and John and Anne Hauberg in Stanwood, Washington, and has been a guest artist at the Corning Museum of Glass. In 2010, he was invited to Seto City, Japan, as Artist in Residence, spending a month lecturing, demonstrating, and creating work through an award from the Seto City Art and Cultural Foundation. Primarily self-taught, he developed his skills through experimentation, observation of talented local artists, and visits with Afro Celotto, maestro and former assistant to Lino Tagliapietra of Murano, Italy. David has received awards for his work, including an artistic merit scholarship for studies at Pilchuck. His book David Patchen: Glass is in the permanent collections of the Rakow Library at the Corning Museum of Glass and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Centro Studi del Vetro (Glass Study Center Library) in Venice, Italy.
David’s work, known for its intense colors, intricate detail, and meticulous craftsmanship, is represented in numerous private collections, museums, and galleries internationally. He is actively involved in the glass arts community as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors at Public Glass (San Francisco’s center for glass art), a member of the Pilchuck Leadership Council, and a former board member of the Glass Alliance of Northern California. He maintains a private studio within Public Glass, where he creates his work and occasionally instructs.
Born and raised in New York, David Patchen now resides in San Francisco. He finds inspiration in international travel, the marine environment, science, nature, architecture, SCUBA diving, and photography.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I find glass as seductive as it is challenging. As a particularly unforgiving medium, it offers an artist endless creative opportunities to design for its unique properties—the only limitations are imagination and skill in working with the material. I’ve always been captivated by how one can use this enigmatic material to achieve virtually any form, hold elements in suspension, and create both great detail and soft abstraction. Its flexibility as a medium is matched by the difficulty it presents in executing precise work.
My current work is an intensive exploration of patterns, colors, and transparency created through multi-layered cane and murrine (colored rods and patterned cross-sections of glass). While varied in composition and design, I most often create work within a series of graceful forms that I consider three-dimensional canvases. The diversity in my compositions reflects my desire to constantly experiment and explore a variety of ideas simultaneously. Some recurring themes include windows into or through a piece, things hidden and revealed, and extreme detail. Colors in contrasting and/or complementary tertiary tones woven into complex patterns challenge expectations of the amount of detail glass can carry and its place in the art world. My influences include textiles, ethnically distinct colors and shapes, as well as the marine environment.
Creating my work begins with meticulous planning and designing of colors and patterns. After I pull the cane and murrine, I carefully compose these elements to design the final work—all days prior to blowing the glass. I enjoy this process of thoughtful creativity alongside the contrasting intensity of working in the hotshop, where the limited window to shape molten glass requires both precision and urgency. The dual challenge of designing and executing complex work satisfies both the artist and the craftsman in me, and I continually find it exciting to watch a piece I’ve poured days into come to life in the fire.
