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Seekers Glass Gallery presents the work of
Josh Simpson, an internationally known artist who uses ancient techniques to
create contemporary visions in glass.
An exceptionally versatile artist and
designer, Simpson creates a stunning variety of original works.
Among the best known are his Inhabited
Planets, orbs of clear glass ranging from a few inches to more than a foot
in diameter, which have interiors filled with colorful, separate elements that
resemble mountains, glaciers, and the sea.
His famed New Mexico series presents
Simpson’s impression of a midnight sky in the high desert. Intricate
constellations and swirling, galactic patterns adorn a gleaming sky of rich
blues highlighted with black and gold.
The artist has always been "utterly
fascinated with space exploration. I grew up with the seven original astronauts
and I followed their progress avidly," he recalls. No surprise then, that
Simpson is married to an astronaut; Lieutenant Colonel, USAF Catherine
"Cady" Coleman, Ph.D. Coleman took one of her husband’s Planets on
a Space Shuttle Columbia Mission in 1995!
After earning a Bachelor’s degree in
psychology from New York’s Hamilton College, Simpson opted for a career as a
glass artist, establishing his own studio in rural New England in1972. Simpson’s
teaching experience includes stints at Wanganui Polytechnic University, Wanganui,
New Zealand; the Corning Museum, Corning, NY; the Tokyo Glass Art Institute,
Tokyo, Japan; the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME; and the
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC.
Selected awards include: Lifetime Membership
Award, Glass Art Society; People’s Choice Award, Crafts at the Castle; and
Juror’s Award: "Artists Look at Earth," National Air & Space
Museum. The artist has been President and Treasurer of the Glass Art Society,
and a member since 1972.
Simpson’s work has been published in the Corning Museum’s
prestigious New Glass Review 5 and 8 and has been featured in LIFE, The
Smithsonian Magazine, and The New York Times. In March 1990, his work
was the subject of a feature article in OMNI Magazine.
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