BIGG Artist: Ben Johnson
Artist Statement
My work is inspired by happenings in everyday life combined with my interest in texture and color theory, I use both of these factors to create patterns in my decorative glass that not only reveal layers within the glass, but create a surface texture that is unique to my work. To achieve these results I first create different colored cups and stuff them inside one another, once I have finished the color process I create the form, then it is cooled in a kiln. After the piece has cooled I cover the surface with a sand blast resist material and create my designs. Once I have finished the designs I take it to a sandblasting booth where I blast away material to reveal the layers of color and create a texture on the piece. Once the blasting is finished I place the piece in an acid bath to bring back the translucency of the glass. I also make one of a kind sculpture in glass, which comes from my own fascinations with natural occurrences that control our environment and the way living organisms affect one another in our environment. As artists we have the ability to change the way that people perceive things in our environment, to make the invisible visible, and to visualize the unknown into reality. I use glass to communicate the interconnections that we cannot always see. The material speaks as a metaphor for natural occurrences all of its contradiction and layers of fragility, sharpness, transparency, translucency, opacity and an interior visual surface. It is process-based abstraction. Glass flows and moves when it is hot but once it is cooled it is frozen in time. This allows me to use natural forces such as gravity to influence my work. Everything is affected by something else, often leaving the unfortunate images the most visible. These images tell the stories of the natural processes of our environment. These unique works have been shown in a number of juried exhibitions at such places as the Cleveland Museum of Art and The Society for Contemporary Craft.
Biography
Ben Johnson studied glass at Kent State University and continued his education at the Corning Museum, Pilchuck, and the Scuola del Vetro Abate Zanetti in Italy. He has taught glass blowing at the Indianapolis Art Center and Diablo Glass in Boston. He has additional teaching experience at Penland, Haystack Mountain, and Ox-Bow School of Crafts. His work has been exhibited in several museums. In 2006 he received a Windgate Fellowship Grant Award. In 2007 he was a finalist for the Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize. This year he is a finalist for a Niche Award, LEAP Award, and WNC’s On The Verge competition. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the EnergyXChange in Burnsville, NC.
Resume
Education
2005 B.F.A. Crafts (Glass), Cum Laude, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2001-02 Foundation Program, Herron School of Art, Indianapolis, IN
2001 Business Management, Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
Work and Teaching Experience
2007 Glass Instructor, Beginning and Intermediate Glassblowing, Diablo Glass and Metal, Boston, MA
2006-07 Studio Assistant, José Chardiet, José Chardiet Studios, Pawtucket, RI
2006 Teachers Assistant, Glassblowing, with Ed Schmid, OX-BOW School of Crafts, Saugatuck, MI
2005 Glass Instructor, Youth and Teen Glassblowing Classes, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
Teachers Assistant, Glassblowing and a Bit ‘Extra’, with Jin Hongo, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
Teachers Assistant, Glassblowing, with Ed Schmid, OX-BOW School of Crafts, Saugatuck, MI
Teachers Assistant, Introduction to Casting and Mold-Blowing, with Henry Halem, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC
Teachers Assistant, Introduction to Form, with Brent Craig, Steinert Glass School, Kent, OH
2002-03 Glass Instructor, Youth and Teen Glassblowing Classes, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
Workshops
2008 Gestation To Gesture, with Katherine Gray, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
2007 Lost Wax Bronze Casting, with Chris Kane, The Steel Yard, Providence, RI
2004 Venetian Glass History and Practice, Robin Cass and Kait Rhoads, Scuola del Vetro Abate Zanetti Murano, Italy
Material Intelligence: sculptural hot glass techniques, with Visiting Artist Jack Wax and Resident Artist Sean Mercer, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2003 Introduction to Pate de Verre, with Visiting Artists Keith and Deanna Clayton, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2002 Venetian Glassblowing Techniques, with Eric Meek, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Glassblowing In Molds: a sculptural approach, with Visiting Artist Michael Scheiner and Resident Artist Sean Mercer, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2001-02 Intermediate and Advanced Glassblowing, with Ed Francis, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
2000 Beginning Glassblowing, with Lisa Pelo-McNiece, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
Invitational Exhibitions
2009 Art of Glass: Generations, Visual Arts Center, Portsmouth, VA
RE/ACTION(S), Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Metal and Glass, Long Beach Island Foundation, Loveladies, NJ
Juried Exhibitions
2009 On the Verge, Asheville Area Arts Council, Asheville, NC
LEAP Award Exhibition, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburg, PA
2008 Craft USA 2008, Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
New Work, Crabtree Creek Gallery, Burnsville, NC
20”x20”x20”, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
2007 Craft Forms 2007, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
Transformation 6, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
2005 BFA Exhibition, Sculpture Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
Small Works Show, Downtown Gallery, Kent, OH
The NEO Show, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Annual Faculty Exhibition, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
Art For Sale 2005, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
Student Annual Exhibition, School of Art Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2004 Small Works Show, Gallery 138, Kent, OH
Student Annual Exhibition, School of Art Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2003 Small Works Show, Gallery 138, Kent, OH
Student Annual Exhibition, School of Art Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2002 Annual Student Exhibition, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
Group Exhibitions
2005 3rd Annual Kent State University Art Conference, School of Art Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
Faculty and Teachers Assistant Exhibition, Gateway Gallery, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
2004 Elements, Reinberger Galleries, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
2002 The Glass Skin, Eels Gallery, Blossom Music Center, Akron, OH
Awards
2009 Bob Rubinstein New and Emerging Artist Award, Coconut Groove Art Festival, Coconut Groove, FL
On the Verge Competition, Western North Carolina Magazine, Asheville, NC
LEAP Award Finalist, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
Niche Award Finalist, Niche Magazine
2008 Merit Award, 46th Annual Art in the Park, Blowing Rock, NC
Emerging Artist, The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, The Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Merit Award, The Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft, The Rosen Group, Baltimore, MD
Scholarship, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
Emerging Artist Nomination, Glass Art Society, Seattle, WA
2007 Resident Artist, EnergyXchange, Burnsville, NC
2006 Windgate Fellowship Award, The Center For Craft, Creativity & Design, University of North Carolina, NC
2005 Best In Show, Small Works Show, Downtown Gallery, Kent, OH
2004 Honorable mention, Student Annual Exhibition, School of Art Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
2003 Honorable mention, Student Annual Exhibition, School of Art Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
