Artist Profile: Chris Sherwin

I work in the medium of glass and specialize in torchwork design and application. Using hand-pulled canes of glass made specifically for each design, and a hand-held oxy-propane torch, I melt and shape the tips of the glass canes and apply them to the glass form being created, to achieve the desired design. It is best described as ‘Painting with Glass.’ After the decoration is complete, all of my work is hand shaped with wet newspaper. I like to get as close to the glass as possible and using newspaper allows me to feel how the glass is moving with my hand. Some of the pieces are formed into paperweights, others blown into various vessels. Design ideas come from the beauty I find in Nature, as well as from family, friends, and studio visitors. When designing a piece, I try to allow the decoration or floral pattern dictate the form of the piece so as to provide harmony between the two. The torchwork process is intensive; all of my work is done ‘on the pipe’ and once started, a piece demands concentration and attention to detail and form through to the end. Almost all of my work incorporates some aspect of the torchwork process. The pieces vary in length of time to create, from ten minutes to almost three hours.

After spending almost twelve years at two renowned glass studios, with unique, but very different styles of glassblowing, I returned home to New England and started Sherwin Art Glass to allow my own style and creativity to flourish. Having a wonderful, supportive and loving network of family and friends in my life allows me to focus on this exciting stage in my career. My goal is to bring the creative and technical aspects of torchwork design and application together with the freedom and elegance of hand-shaped forms to create harmonious, high quality, collectible pieces of glass art.