I began working with hot glass in 1983, taking a class with Dave Drewek at Prairie School. I have had a life long fascination with blown glass and jumped at the chance to learn the process. I wound up working at the school on my days off and evenings, helping teach the students and adults in the evening classes. By working in the studio for 12 years I learned how to build and maintain the complicated equipment and hone my glassblowing skills. Many well known glass artists came to Prairie under the visiting artists program and each one of them left a mark on my style of work. After leaving Prairie I continued working with hot glass at various locations while finishing my career as a police detective. I am a partner in Hot Shop
Glass LLC which we opened in 2005 in Racine, Wisconsin. While we are mainly a teaching studio we do have a large glass gallery to showcase our work and the work of other emerging glass artists.
My style leans toward traditional or classical design with clean jewel tone colors. Each piece I create is unique and capable of standing on it’s own as a work of art. Some pieces are art for arts sake alone but I do believe that functionality and form are important as well.
Although I have done very few shows as a matter of choice, my work has found homes in many corporate and private collections across the country as well as in Japan, England, France, Germany and Denmark. One of my pieces was selected as a gift from the City of Racine to their Sister city in Denmark in 2007. I have created blown and solid glass awards for many clients including the Downtown Racine Corporation, Hispanic Business Alliance, Wisconsin Micro Cars, Wisconsin Sci-Fi Film Festival, Aurora Fossil Museum and others.
My connection to North Carolina started over a decade ago after following my passion for fossils to Aurora and it’s fossil rich area. Since then my wife and I have stayed in the area three times a year and plan to make the area our second home. The glass we use in the studio is from Spruce Pines!