Biography

         I am consistently drawn to themes concerning our connection to the environment. I interpret and promote these relationships through my artwork. My first significant art experience transpired while I attended Sewickley Academy near Pittsburgh, PA. While there, I painted and embraced art and was taught by a great teacher who encouraged my passion. For my high school senior project, I designed and taught a fun class titled “Free Environmental Art and Sculpture” where my classmates and I collected found objects and collaborated on temporary art installations in public parks and along hiking trails. This instilled a level of confidence that demonstrated that I may be a good leader. At Hartwick College, I experimented with all of the visual arts, specializing in glass and bronze. “Hands in the Environment”, my final collage exhibit included a piece of glass, a piece of bronze and at least one sculpted hand set in different environments. I completed my glass apprenticeship in Tucson, AZ. where the desert influenced my aesthetic. I learned my craft and began making glass sculpture imbued with patterns and colors found in the desert stones and canyons.

         In 1994, I married Sonya, the love of my life. She is a brilliant teacher of French linguistics and enjoys sharing with me her voice and love for modern dance. We are dedicated to creating a life-long adventure together. Sonya and I went to the Costa Rican jungle on our honeymoon. Primitive and teaming with life, the tropical rainforest showed me the structures and colors that permeated my artwork for the next few years. We have traveled to Kauai, where the jungle and the ocean pulse with life that infuses me with a deep empathy for our globe. The dwindling old growth forests and the loss of genetic diversity move me, as have the disappearance of the world’s rainforests. I create art to share this empathy and the insights that emerge from it.

         My career went through a professional shift during the time I worked with Dale Chihuly in Seattle. I experienced working with an amazing artist and witnessed valuable lessons on the business aspect of making art. I learned that success is built on a shared vision, strong collaborations and a relentless dedication to quality. I have incorporated this framework into my own practice. The team of people I engaged with at Chihuly, Inc. helped me start creating my own designs in the form of glass-sculpted fountains. The water features were a response to the marvelous ecosystems found in adjacent flowing water. I enjoyed the challenge of integrating the glass, water, light, metal into the environment.

         In 1997, I opened Morrison Glass Art Studio in Bellingham, WA. Designing a hot glass studio was challenging and greatly rewarding. It is a work of art within itself. I created the space to explore my relationship with art and stewardship of our planet. During the first years of my business, Sonya and I purchased a home and gave birth to two sons. Soccer has been a favorite sport in my life and I continue to participate by coaching my sons’ teams for the past ten years. I find similarities between the communication I use with my glassblowing team and teaching a team approach in soccer. My family engages our environment with an active life filled with continuous learning, travel and laughter, which feeds the artists’ soul.

         My aesthetic grew by working with several talented artists and exploring the intricacies of fine art. That was a significant benefit during the early years of Morrison Glass Art. Drawing from my exposure to beautiful ecosystems, I interpreted nature’s patterns and created a production line of quality vessels and decorative sculptures for fine art galleries and the gift gallery market. I participated in the two most prominent trade exhibitions, the Rosen Buyers’ Market in Philadelphia and the American Craft Show in Baltimore. At one point, I worked with forty-five galleries and had eight full and part time employees. In 2005, due to the recession, I stopped production and focused on creating one of kind hand blown glass art sculptures. My intention was to design and install public art installations. It was during this time that I rekindled my passion for the environment by honoring the tropical flower, Heliconia.

         I received the Mayor's Art Award in 2006 from Bellingham’s Mayor, Mark Asmundson, for the installation “Heliconia Growing.” This was the culmination of artwork inspired by the Costa Rican rainforest. This chandelier is a luscious 24-foot long sculpture hanging in the atrium of a local bookstore.

         In order to survive as an artist, I have learned to recognize the changing business environment. I’ve had to adapt and explore options. Beginning with a time when Polaroid images were used to submit work to galleries and then on to slides and in today’s world, converting to all-digital images and creating an internet presence. I have designed marketing materials and proposed my art to Galleries, Architects, Interior Designers, Art Consultants, Art in Embassies and UNESCO. I have solicited advice and encouragement from artist representatives, artist consultants and fellow artists. Earlier this year I made my first professional video using a high resolution movie camera. There is a link to the video on my website. I am applying for grants and commissions and I remain steadfast in my commitment to creating art.

         In 2010 I moved my studio to a larger space in order to achieve new goals. This allowed me to accommodate an educational glass program and continue to focus on fine art sculpture with ample room for mocking up large-scale installations. I developed and implemented a credited glass program with Western Washington University where for the past four years students come to my studio to learn the history of glass making and the skill to create objects using molten glass. I currently teach two Introduction to Glassblowing courses and one Advanced Glassblowing course each semester. I take great satisfaction when these young people get jazzed about art and glass.

         I believe in building community through art, this is represented by my participation on the Whatcom Museum Board of Directors assisting with fundraising for a new building. I was vice-chair of the Bellingham Arts Commission, where I pioneered a grant program providing seed money to art-based organizations. I continue to serve on the Western Washington University Foundation Board for the College of Fine and Performing Arts as a community liaison. We are starting a mentorship program for students. Community forms relationships that mimic the creative spirit. My glass sculpture references these relationships and our shared energies, which hold the universe together. Sculpted glass is an apt medium for depicting themes such as sacred land, scientific inquiry, and inspired research.

         For the past two years, I have worked on a series titled “Quilts” with the aim to bring meaningful content into my glass sculpture. Influenced by Joseph Campbell and The Hero’s Journey, these twelve sculptures depict the Artist’s Journey. They include all the pivotal moments that an artist faces when creating art. The series grew from a vision that the universe is like a woven fabric where our energies are interconnected and that as an artist, I can manipulate the fabric of the universe. In 2014, I earned the Puffin West Grant Award for my work on promoting, connecting and issuing a call to action through art with the Quilt Series. In an attempt to connect stewardship motivated organizations I am including their QR scan codes on the exhibition labels and program. I am building a database of organizations that are participating in stewardship efforts. I see this as a beginning of a movement to save the planet. The entire Quilt Series will be shown at the International Arts and Leadership Summit in July 2015.

         Currently, I am designing the gateway centerpiece for the International Arts and Leadership Summit, a collaborative venture between Western Washington University College of Fine and Performing Arts and the Flow Project Organization, where participants will apply the principles and practices of art in resolving social and cultural challenges. This monumental sculpture will promote networking toward stewardship of the planet. I am setting up a web site specifically for this project with a database to connect organizations and volunteers that will advocate for best practice concerning the health of our shared planet. My art will play a role in creating critical mass to influence the global value concerning carbon. I will share what I have learned about the creative process and show how it can be utilized in leadership rolls, as an inclusive journey, which differs from a top down hierarchy. Great concepts are needed now and my art can bring community together for our planet.