Talking Out Your Glass podcast

• Zachary Layhew and Hoseok Youn: Rise of the Tradition

  At the Glass Art Society’s (GAS) 2025 conference, Trailblazing New Traditions, held in May in Arlington and Fort Worth, Texas, Zachary Layhew and Hoseok Youn presented a unique collaborative glassblowing demonstration where Youn’s Venetian fantasy vessels intersected with the baroque, cubist influences of Layhew’s practice. The artists shared their unique approaches to traditional techniques and designs, both makers transforming the context of tradition through the lens of their original personalities. The result was a figurative sculpture constructed from historical goblets and decorative stemware, combined with the line patterns of cane. Goblets and cane are common and popular in the glass tradition, but this demonstration showed the community a creative and innovative way to elevate those methods to new frontiers while paying respect to their origins. Layhew started his glass career at the age of 14 by taking an introductory intensive at the Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC) called Teen Bootcamp. He quickly fell in love with the material and the community surrounding it. Through the years, the artist has focused on his technical skills in glass and developing his personal voice through sculpture. His work revolves around a combination of glassblowing, cold working, and then further reheating, manipulating, and assembling the pieces.  Working as an artist and instructor at PGC, Layhew assists other Pittsburgh artists in his spare time. He will teach Lines, Rings, and Patterned Things at Foci, the Minnesota Center for Glass Arts, from November 12 through 16. In December, the artist has a residency at Keystone College, Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and through the rest of 2025 and 2026, he will teach eight-week classes at PGC. Additionally, Layhew creates production work that is sold online and in person.  A South Korean glass artist specializing in glassblowing, Youn holds a BFA degree in glass and ceramics from Namseoul University, Cheon Ahn, Korea, and earned an MFA in glass from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois. He has taught at Bowling Green State University as an adjunct professor, was a studio artist at Toledo Museum of Art and a studio lead at Belger Arts in Kansas City, Missouri.  Youn’s artistic practice focuses on Venetian traditional glass, figurative sculptures, and photography. He is inspired by heroes and villains based on pop culture and toys. His work reflects the image of his ideal successful self, combining crystal clear glass, elaborate vessel forms, intricate stemware, and abundant details. In 2026, he will teach a workshop at Pilchuck Glass School, session 7. Click this link for details https://www.pilchuck.org/programs/sessions/lost-and-found Enjoy this conversation with Layhew and Youn about their individual work in glass as well as their groundbreaking collaborative demo at the 2025 GAS conference.  

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• Richard Prigg: Celebrating the Textures, Colors, Voices of his Materials

  Author and architectural glass artist Robert Sowers wrote that lead should be considered a design element and not just a matrix to hold stained glass. That idea spoke to Richard Prigg, who has developed a body of work that celebrates lead and solder as much as it does breathtakingly beautiful glass. Though historically stained glass windows conveyed the teachings of the church, Prigg’s work intentionally tells no stories, but rather impacts the viewer by combining more expressive lead work with various light-modulating elements of and beyond the window itself. States Prigg: “I have an aversion to storytelling. I feel that it can often move the viewer away from the work so that instead of observing and considering what is in front of them, they fly off to the never-never land where the story takes them. Of course, I recognize that storytelling is an integral part of being human. We tell stories to one another to help define our identities. The stories in our culture give us a we that can guide our ways of living. But there is a dark side of storytelling, and it is intrinsic to the spoken word. It is our human tendency to use story to deceive. So, I am distrustful of art with a story, because a story can be a lie. I am distrustful of religion with a story, too. Religion and art – they are such good friends.” A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Prigg started his career at Beyer Stained Glass, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later joined Willet Hauser Architectural Glass, the largest stained glass studio in the US, where he served as General Manager from 1999 to 2011. There, he oversaw challenging projects such as restoration of the Alcuin and Charlemagne and The Death of Sir Philip Sidney windows, which included re-creating missing plates for areas of the windows where the glass had chemically decomposed. He also oversaw the creation of $3.5 million of gothic stained glass fabricated by Willet Hauser for St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. It was huge job that took 2.5 years to finish. Says Prigg: “I worked closely with Crosby Willet, who was incredibly generous to me and taught me a lot about stained glass. He introduced me to everyone in the business more or less. That included Charlie Lawrence who became a mentor and friend as well.” In December of 1999, Prigg left Willet Hauser and opened Sycamore Studios with his wife Ellen Lustgarten, where in addition to repair, restoration and new work, he developed a unique body of personal work featuring mouthblown antique sheet glass in conjunction with calligraphic lead lines built up with lead came. These works include Spin for a Western Light and Two Circles and a Dot. Later, he began to explore concrete as a matrix, resulting in works such as Blue Moon, Tossed and his recent Tower series. Prigg also uses his Lansdowne studio to showcase the work of young artists who often can’t get into galleries.  Prigg is a member of the Stained Glass Association of America and has served on the board of directors of the American Glass Guild (AGG). He is the recipient of two AGG AGNX Awards for Excellence in the Art of Stained Glass. In 2025, he presented From Artist To Artisan To Artist: How I Painted Myself Into a Corner and Escaped through a Stained Glass Window at the AGG conference. Recent exhibitions of his work include: 2025 at the AGG AGNX Show, Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, Mesa, Arizona; 2025, Juried Show: Vibrance at the Aston Mills Art Center, Aston PA; and the 2023 Juried Show: 100 Skulls, Aston Mills Arts Center. His work can be found in private collections in Philadelphia as well as at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists. Says Prigg, about goals for his personal work: “When I began working with glass, I was so in love with these materials – lead and glass – that I just wanted to find ways to show people what delighted me. I wanted people to be presented with these materials in a way so that they would be engaged in the textures, the colors, the voices of the materials.”  

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• Jason Christian: Modern Simplicity Meets Classical Venetian

  Jason Christian’s work pushes the boundaries of his craft, combining the delicate complexity of reticello with intricate detailing inspired by Fabergé eggs. Through series such as his Bumbershoots and Yo-Yos that reflect classic Venetian technique to more sculptural works including Dragons and Volpe, Christian’s art is deeply influenced by his family, personal experiences, and the nostalgia of growing up in the Pacific Northwest. A renowned glass artist based in the Seattle area, Christian was born in 1976 on Whidbey Island, Washington, to a metal fabricator and a cardiac nurse. His artistic journey began at the age of 21 when he was introduced to glassblowing as a factory charger, where he gradually developed his skills and knowledge through hands-on experience. His formal education in glassblowing includes workshops and classes with notable artists such as Pino Signoretto, Jeff Mack, Janusz Pozniak and Preston Singletary. Throughout his career, Christian has worked with numerous well-known artists in the Seattle glass community, including Martin Blank, Preston Singletary, James Mongrain and Nancy Callan. Since 2008, Christian has been an integral member of Dale Chihuly’s Boathouse team, working with international artists like Pino Signoretto. He has also served as a glassblowing assistant to Lino Tagliapietra since 2014 and worked as a fabricator for Lindsey Adelman from 2014 to 2016. Says Christian: “I still don’t know if I chose glassblowing or if it chose me. I just knew that the moment I walked into that studio and saw what was being created I had to be a part of it. Finding glassblowing felt magical, like I was made for it. It provided something I lacked in my younger years – the urge to create, grow, and express myself through my work. To witness a person handle molten glass, manipulate it, and form it as if it were water was amazing to me. I knew that I had to be a part of it.” Christian has participated in numerous artist residencies, including: FOCI, Minneapolis, MI (2019); Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY (2019); Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA (multiple years); Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA (2016 and 2008); University of Texas at Arlington (2015); and the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point (2015). He was Auction Centerpiece Designer at Schack Art Center, Everett, WA, in 2016 and 2010. His work is featured in several notable collections including the Hauberg collection, the Elton John collection, the Ben Bridge collection and many more private collections in the United States and Canada. With a desire to share his expertise through teaching and demonstrations, Christian has conducted workshops at various institutions including Penland School of Craft (2019); Pittsburgh Glass Center (2019); Pratt Fine Arts Center (2018); Pilchuck Glass School (2017); Urban Glass (2016); and Seattle Glassblowing Studio (2010-2013); He has also been a demonstrating artist in Turkey (2015) and Finland (2009). Christian states: “Beyond my relationship with glass, the camaraderie within the industry enticed me to grow beyond myself, always looking for what was within and turning that into something I could only see in my mind. It created an environment of growth and exploration, pushing me to be a better artist.” Upcoming Christian workshops include Penland School of Craft, August 10 – 15; Hilltop @ Pilchuck, September 28; and Neusole Glassworks, Forest Park, Ohio, November 17.  

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• Beth Lipman: Tracking Deep Time and the Anthropocene through Still Life Assemblage

  Beth Lipman is an American artist whose sculptural practice generates from the Still Life genre, symbolically representing the splendor and excess of the Anthropocene and the stratigraphic layer humanity will leave on earth. Assemblages of inanimate objects and domestic interiors, inspired by private spaces and public collections, propose portraits of individuals, institutions, and societies.  Through works in glass, wood, metal, photography, and video, Lipman presents a meditation on our relationship to Deep Time, a monumental time scale based on geologic events that minimizes human lives. Each installation is a reimagining of history, created by placing cycles often separated by millenia in proximity, from the ancient botanical to the cultural. The incorporation of prehistoric flora alludes to the impermanence of the present and the persistence of life. The ephemera of the Anthropocene becomes a symbol of fragility as the human species is placed on a continuum where time eradicates hierarchy. Lipman has exhibited her work internationally at such institutions as the Ringling Museum of Art (FL), ICA/MECA (ME), RISD Museum (RI), Milwaukee Art Museum (WI), Gustavsbergs Konsthall(Sweden) and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC). Her work has been acquired by numerous museums including the North Carolina Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art (NY), Kemper Museum for Contemporary Art (MO), Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC), Jewish Museum (NY), Norton Museum of Art, (FL), and the Corning Museum of Glass (NY).  Lipman has received numerous awards including a USA Berman Bloch Fellowship, Pollock Krasner Grant, Virginia Groot Foundation Grant, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant. She has been an Artist in Residence at the Alturas Foundation, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s Arts/Industry Program, and the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Recent works include Living History, a large-scale site-specific commission for the Wichita Art Museum (KS) that investigates the nature of time and place and Belonging(s), a sculptural response to the life of Abigail Levy Franks for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (AR). Lipman’s work is on view now in three independent installations including: Hive Mind at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa; ReGift at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA), Toledo, Ohio; and the permanent installation One’s-Self I Sing at theMuskegon Museum of Art (MMA), Muskegon, Michigan. To celebrate the official unveiling of One’s-Self I Sing, the MMA is hosting an Artist Talk and Unveiling Reception this Thursday, July 17 at 7 p.m. The event is open to the public and free to attend. Find out more at www.muskegonartmuseum.org Suspended in the museum’s central atrium, the sculpture explores the interconnectedness of time, culture, and nature through materials such as glass, wood, metal and gypsum. Measuring approximately 240 x 120 x 60 inches, One’s-Self I Sing functions as an “exploded” still life – an expansive, suspended constellation of objects that invites viewers to reflect on humanity’s place within Deep Time and the Anthropocene. Says Lipman: “The marriage of transparent and opaque forms alludes to what is seen and known juxtaposed with what is concealed and lost over time.” The sculpture spans both floors of the museum, encouraging viewers to encounter it from multiple vantage points. Braided suspension cables carry the piece vertically through space, suggesting both ascent and descent, growth and entropy. Lipman incorporates subtle visual references to the Muskegon Museum of Art’s permanent collection, binding the sculpture to the museum’s history while extending its meaning outward across time. “One’s Self I Sing is a showstopping first impression when visitors walk into the museum,” says Kirk Hallman, Executive Director of the Muskegon Museum of Art. “It’s a powerful and visually stunning complement to the museum’s new Bennett Schmidt Pavilion and a bold reflection of the MMA’s ongoing commitment to celebrating women artists.” Enjoy this conversation with Lipman about current installations, artistic motivations and the behind the scenes challenges of creating site-specific work that communicates to viewers.    

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• Mathieu Grodet: Expressing Complex Modern Themes via Multi-Disciplinary Glass Works

  Using over 17,500 letters of handmade murrine tiles, Mathieu Grodet composed La Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, which translated means the Declaration of Human Rights, which was written in 1789. Recreated in mosaic style, dark red was used to represent blood, with the ivory-colored background symbolizing the ivory tower that freedom must be taken from. Intense attention to detail combined with a contemporary message defines Grodet’s multi-disciplinary works in glass.  A French-born artist living and working in Canada, Grodet also creates thin and elegant glass objects in classic Venetian style, engraved using a Dremel tool with imagery that addresses modern-day ideas and issues. Says Grodet, “Several themes are recurrent: the memory, the inventories, but also the lie (propaganda) or the secret.” His work reflects a deep interrogation of the world and its violence.  Later, Grodet learned to paint on various glass shapes using enamel, and through these techniques was able to make his illustrations more fanciful and full of color. Though it provided an alternative way to express on glass, the enameling process can be time-consuming and technically difficult. Firing can be stressful, and mistakes are unfixable. In one instance, Grodet invested three months of work on one piece, which he had to abandon after issues with the firing. He hasn’t worked with enamel since, but toys with the idea of revisiting these processes that afford so much artistic space.  In parallel with glassblowing, Grodet learned flameworking and quickly discovered it was far easier to put together a small flameworking studio than a hot shop. At a Loren Stump workshop presented at the Corning Museum of Glass, Grodet learned the ancient technique of murrine. When the pandemic hit, he finally had some time off from teaching to focus on flameworked murrine and now spends most of his studio time on the techniques. Says Grodet: “Glassblowing will always have a special place in my heart. Your entire body is needed to work the hot shop, and I love the physicality of engaging with fire and water – it is playing with terrestrial forces – something bigger than us. However, now I am enjoying the art of murrine and its technical and strategic aspects. It is like building a house; you need to carefully plan every step over weeks. It also involves other diverse techniques, such as cold working, marquetry and mosaic. I am in uncharted territory on the murrine planet.”  Grodet was born in Orleans, France, where he first studied art and drawing at the Visual Art Institute of Orleans. In 1999, he discovered the medium of glass and began his career in this ancient art by training at several studios across France and Europe. He began learning flameworking at CERFAV (the European Centre for Research and Training in Glass Art). After many travels, he dropped his suitcases in Canada, where he now applies the various different techniques acquired over the years to his artistic practice. With all his work, Grodet explores themes of contradiction, power, duality and the absurdity of life.  Represented by Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, and Galerie Elena Lee in Montreal, Quebec, Grodet’s art has been shown at SOFA Chicago, Galerie Espace Verre, and is held in several museum collections, including The Corning Museum of Glass and the Art Institute of Chicago. He has taught and demonstrated around the world. From September 25 to November 9, 2025, Grodet’s work will be on view at Musée du Verre, site du Bois du Cazier, Charleroi, Belgium. The artist recently taught a murrine class at Salem Community College, June 16 through 20 followed by a medieval glassblowing class at the Coring Museum of Glass, June 23 through July 4. He will teach at the Glass Furnace in Istanbul, August 4 through 14, and his final teaching gig of 2025, a murrine class, takes place in Kansas City from November 8 through 12 at the studio of Sara Sally LaGrand.     

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