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Seekers Glass
Gallery presents the work of Brian Brenno, a nationally recognized artist who
creates handblown glass sculptures in the form of hats, mounted on stands,
sometimes singly and sometimes in clusters.
Brian was first introduced to glassblowing at the world
renowned Pilchuck Glass School shortly after it had opened in 1981 and he has
been involved with the medium since then.
After doing a series of bowls shapes in college that resembled
hats, Brian was inspired by the power that the hat shape had to evoke strong
associations, memories and feeling that nearly everyone can understand.
“I began working with handblown glass hats in college as
almost a mistake,” Brian explains. “I quickly realized the power the hat
shape hade to evoke strong associations, memories and feelings that everyone can
relate to their own experience.
“My series of glass hats evolved from an interest in human
interaction with familiar objects. Hats offer me an opportunity to explore the
challenges of glassblowing and our relationship with everyday objects, such as
hats, seen in a new light.”
After his introduction to glassblowing at Pilchuck, Brian
earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1985 from Oakland’s California
College of Arts and Crafts, at that time considered one of the finest glass
schools in the world. He subsequently studied with some of the world’s leading
glass artists. In 1990 he took a summer glassblowing workshop with world
renowned glass artist Richard Marquis at Haystack Craft School in Maine.
During the next 10 years he worked on the legendary Dale
Chihuly’s glassblowing team, during which time he worked with many of the
leading names in the contemporary glass world, including two of the top Italian
glass maestros Lino Tagliapietra and Pino
Signoretto. (Chihuly is the founder of Pilchuck and considered my many to be the
most famous and highly paid glass artist in the world.) In 1992 he received the
Wyman Trust Scholarship for work at the Pilchuck Glass School.
In 1997 Brian built his own glassblowing studio in his
grandfather’s old auto repair shop on one of the islands in Puget Sound off
the coast of Seattle.
His work is shown in numerous fine galleries, museums, juried
exhibitions and other notable venues throughout the United States, including:
the Seattle Art Museum; the Ohio Craft Museum; Creativity and Collaboration: Pilchuck Glass School’s 30 Years;
Lima Arts Center, OH; Seatac Airport Annual Glass Show, Seattle; Northwest Glass
Show, St. Louis, MO; Southwest Indiana University Art Museum; Reston Arts
Center, VA; Tacoma Art Museum; the Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle; and the
Academy of the Arts, Baltimore, MD.
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