Glass bead making is an age-old yet timeless craft, dating back at least to the ancient Egyptians,but it has only recently been elevated to the level of art. The forty master artists featured in this collection challenge and expand the traditional boundaries of the medium. Stunning color photographs showcase the finest examples of their work, artist commentaries offer insights into the creative process, and concise introduetions describe techniques and inspirations.

Glass bead making is an age-old yet timeless craft, dating back at least to the ancient Egyptians,but it has only recently been elevated to the level of art. The forty master artists featured in this collection challenge and expand the traditional boundaries of the medium. Stunning color photographs showcase the finest examples of their work, artist commentaries offer insights into the creative process, and concise introduetions describe techniques and inspirations.

A consummate technician, Norikazu Kogure is one of the biggest names in bead making the world over. His subtle, fluid designs, while uniquely his own, are clearly grounded in the Japanese tradition. "There is a Japanese word, ten-shoku,"Kogure reflects, "whieh can be translated as 'God-given job.' Being a glass artist is the tenshoku for me."

The artists approach their work from individual perspectives. Tom Boylan likens the process of glass blowing to "dancing with a fire-breathing dragon," and his lampworked beauties do seem to glow with an inner flame. Kristina Logan brings her background as a sculptor to her work. Some of her pieces look like Venetian tiles, others recall fragments of decorative molding. "My patterns,color development, and precision are the results of experimentation," she explains. "Architectural details, Renaissance and pre-Renaissance mosaics, and religious reliquaries from the 1300s and 1500s influence my work."

Many turn to nature for their inspiration. Like fossils in glass, Bruce St. John Maher captures redwood forests and delicate cherry branches--even faux life forms in crystalline amber. Andrea Guarino-Slemmons adds silver and gold fuming to create swirling sea forms and intergalactic designs. And Kate Fowle Meleney makes forms inspired by the flora and fauna of our world and encases them in an electroformed skin.

This remarkable collection reflects the amazing diversity of style and technique--and the unbridled creativity--that marks the glass world today.

Introduction

THE MASTERS

Michael Barley

Diana East

Tom Boylan

Toshiki Uchida

Pam Dugger

Leah Fairbanks

Andrea Guarino-Slemmons

Kristina Logan

Lark Dalton and Corrie Haight

Bruce St. John Maher

Akihiro Ohkama

Tom Holland

Karen Ovington

Sharon Peters

Yoshiko Shiiba

Jim Smircich

Kate Fowle Meleney

Norikazu Kogure

Gail Crosman Moore

Mary Mullaney and Ralph Mossman

Kristen Frantzen Orr

Toshimasa Masui

Donna Milliron

Harold Williams Cooney

Terri Caspary Schmidt

Pati Walton

Rene Roberts

Hiroko Hayashi-Kogure

Loren Stump

James Allen Jones

Sage Holland

Pat Frantz

Emiko Sawamoto

Nicole Zumkeller and Eric Seydoux

Dan Adams

Davide Penso

Doni Hatz

Shigemichi Yagi

Bronwen Heilman

Dustin Tabor

About the Curator

Acknowledgments

Artists' Biographies

Artist Index