Artist Statement
I've spent my life learning, expanding, and perfecting my craft in the hope that I will find a means to convey that which resides within me.
In the 1970s, my investigations in glass led me to recognize its unique properties. No other material presents a more apt metaphor for the transitory nature of existence. Glass can be shaped, transformed, shattered, crumbled into a thousand pieces. Its capacity for constant movement captures the ephemeral nature of everything that is born, evolves, and dies.
The alchemy of glasswork has taught me to combine contrasting principles of control/accident and restriction/freedom. A sensibility of fusing opposites enables me to explore an awareness of things unseen in all of my artistic practice. Incorporating materials such as metal, wood, and paint has steadily opened me to a fuller expression of simple ideas. Conceptually, my work is also shaped by influences in music, dance, painting, poetry, and film. In particular, jazz has taught me to celebrate risk and the thrill of the unexpected, and to embrace my own restless creative spirit.
In 2008 I began painting on canvas, diving into the medium with near-childlike energy. Each canvas represented a new level of freedom that led to the next inspiration. Unlike glass and metal, there were no mistakes, only opportunities. The process was a mutation of sorts, an inquietante familiarite—a strange familiarity, or perhaps a familiar strangeness. Artmaking often exerts this quality of transmuting the known into the unknown, rendering the familiar unfamiliar.
My studio process is an upward spiral, rather than a closed circle. In one sense it's all about repetition, yet it's never the same. The discipline and spontaneity required to work like this make it real for me. It's as if I am seeing things for the first time in the elusive pursuit of a moment, while excavating infinite possibilities within the moment itself. It's a pivotal point when many things have come together, an outcome of listening to silence before a sound is made. The silence is present before every action I initiate in life. And in the silence, for a fleeting moment I feel alive and content, until the next piece begins.
I've spent my life learning, expanding, and perfecting my craft in the hope that I will find a means to convey that which resides within me.
In the 1970s, my investigations in glass led me to recognize its unique properties. No other material presents a more apt metaphor for the transitory nature of existence. Glass can be shaped, transformed, shattered, crumbled into a thousand pieces. Its capacity for constant movement captures the ephemeral nature of everything that is born, evolves, and dies.
The alchemy of glasswork has taught me to combine contrasting principles of control/accident and restriction/freedom. A sensibility of fusing opposites enables me to explore an awareness of things unseen in all of my artistic practice. Incorporating materials such as metal, wood, and paint has steadily opened me to a fuller expression of simple ideas. Conceptually, my work is also shaped by influences in music, dance, painting, poetry, and film. In particular, jazz has taught me to celebrate risk and the thrill of the unexpected, and to embrace my own restless creative spirit.
In 2008 I began painting on canvas, diving into the medium with near-childlike energy. Each canvas represented a new level of freedom that led to the next inspiration. Unlike glass and metal, there were no mistakes, only opportunities. The process was a mutation of sorts, an inquietante familiarite—a strange familiarity, or perhaps a familiar strangeness. Artmaking often exerts this quality of transmuting the known into the unknown, rendering the familiar unfamiliar.
My studio process is an upward spiral, rather than a closed circle. In one sense it's all about repetition, yet it's never the same. The discipline and spontaneity required to work like this make it real for me. It's as if I am seeing things for the first time in the elusive pursuit of a moment, while excavating infinite possibilities within the moment itself. It's a pivotal point when many things have come together, an outcome of listening to silence before a sound is made. The silence is present before every action I initiate in life. And in the silence, for a fleeting moment I feel alive and content, until the next piece begins.
BRUCE PIZZICHILLO
2680 Union Street Oakland California 94607
Birthdate: January 26, 1954 Red Bank, New Jersey
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1999 – 2006 President of Jazz in Flight, Oakland, CA non-profit organization for music production.
1984 – Present: Established and continues to operate Pizzichillo-Gordon Glass Studio — Oakland, California.
1991 Worked on installation of Christo's Umbrella Project,California.
EDUCATION
1977 - 1980 California College of Arts & Crafts — Oakland,California Studied Glass with Marvin Lipofsky. Bachelor of Fine Arts.
1974 - 1976 Maude Kern Art Center - Eugene, Oregon - Drawing, Jewelry.
1972 - 1973 University of New Mexico - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Humanities.
AWARDS
2015 Best of Show in Glass, La Quinta Art Festival, La Quinta CA
2008 - 2009 Haven Foundation Artists Grant
2009 Gottlieb Foundation Artists Grant
Recipient of 1988 Fellowship, Creative Glass Center of America — Millville, New Jersey
SELECTED WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES PRESENTED
March 2014 Glass Alliance of New Mexico: Maestro Series Lecture and Slideshow
November 2012 The Crucible Oakland CA “Hot Shops Then and Now” Presenter and Glassblowing Demonstration
February 2008 Studio Workshop/Demo for Glass Alliance of Northern California
January 1991 Bakersfield College Art Department — Bakersfield,California Glassblowing Workshop and Slide Lecture.
1989 - 1993 Pizzichillo-Gordon Studio — Oakland, California Slumped Glass Workshops sponsored by California Arts Council,
project for AIDS patients, presented once each year.
December 1987 Santa Monica College — Santa Monica, California Slide Lecture.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2018 American Artwork, Alcove Books
2018 Glass3: The James Della Collection
2017 American Art Collector Volume 1 Book 1, Alcove Books
2016 American Art Collector, Alcove Books
2012 Glass: The James Della Collection
2006 500 Glass Objects. Lark Books.
2003 Craft of Northern California. Alcove Books.
2001 Contemporary Glass. Leier Peters Wallace Books.
2001 Object Lessons. Guild Publishing.
October 2001 Ritz Carlton Magazine. "What Makes It One of a Kind".
October 2000 Departures. "The California We Love".
December 1994 American Craft Magazine/Portfolio
Fall 1988 New Work Glass Magazine.
1987 Crafts: Contemporary Design and Technique. Alice Sprintzen, Davis Publications
1979 Corning Glass '79 Review I, Microfiche.
1978 Corning Glass '78, National Slide Survey.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
March 2020 Unbroken Legacies :Northern California Art Glass, MONCA, Chico, CA.
September 2019 SiO2 a Fused Glass Showcase, Manna Gallery, Oakland, CA.
February 2019 "ACGA Glass Show" Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, Lafayette, CA.
July 2018 "Cutting Edge Nontraditional Glass" Arts Benica, CA.
April 2017 "Inaugural Glass Show" Jay Musler Gallery, SF. CA.
February 2016 "Fragments of Abstraction", Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland,CA.
June 2015 Expression: Creative Glass Center Invitational, Gallery of Fine Craft, Millville, NJ
June 2015 California Now Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
May 2015 " Sparks" Carmen Castellano Fine Arts Gallery, SanJose CA
January 2015 3rd Clay and Glass Biennial Exhibition, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA
April 2014 Smithsonian Museum Craft Show, Washington DC
March 2014 Solo Sculpture Show, Marji Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
July 2013 "Three Views" 3 Person Show, Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA
June 2013 "Flying Home" Healdsburg Art Center, Healdsburg, CA
June 2013 Creative Glass Center of America Biennial, Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
November 2012 50 Years of Studio Glass, The Crucible, Oakland, CA
November 2012 CCA Glass Alumni Juried Exhibition, Oliver Art Center,Oakland CA
October 2012 Live Performance and Art Installation with Roscoe Mitchell Trio, Yoshi’s Jazz Club, Oakland CA
September 2012 Taos Glass Art Invitational, David Anthony Fine Art Gallery,Taos, NM
May/June 2012 Clay and Glass, Healdsburg Art Center, Healdsburg, CA
February 2012 The Love Show, Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland CA
July – August 2010 Featured Artist, Community Art Gallery, Alta Bates Hospital, Berkeley CA
July 2009 Impact: Creative Glass Center Alumni Biennial, Wheaton Arts, Wheaton NJ
July 2007 CGCA Fellowship Alumni, Wheaton Arts, Wheaton NJ
Jan –April 2007 “CCA; A Legacy in Studio Glass” San Francisco Museum of Craft & Design
June-Sept 2006 “Made in California: Glass from the Golden State”
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland California
Oct. 2005 "Revelations" two-person show, Vespermann Gallery,Atlanta, Georgia.
Dec 2001,2002 2003 Craft Showcase 2, 3, & 4, Museum of Craft & Folk Art,San Francisco, California.
June 2003 "20/20 Vision" Museum of American Glass, Wheaton Village, New Jersey.
Nov. 1999 "A Toast to the New Century", Collectors Gallery, Oakland Museum, Oakland, California.
June 1999 Two-person show, Concepts Gallery, Carmel, California.
Sept. 97 - Jan. 98 Transformation: Contemporary Glass, The Elizabeth Raphael Founders Prize Exhibition,
Society for Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
February 1997 Clay and Glass 50th Anniversary Exhibition,Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California.
Spring 1995 Glass Now ‘95; Traveling Exhibition, Japan Selected Artist Annually Since 1981
February 1994 "Glass Beyond Function", Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, California.
May 1993 "Viewpoints", two-person show, Oakland Museum Collectors Gallery, Oakland, California.
April 1992 20th Annual International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
June 1991 Glass Lovers' Weekend, Creative Glass Center of America, represented by Stein Glass Gallery.
May/June 1991 Celebrate Sculpture, Edith Lambert Gallery, Santa Fe,New Mexico.
January 1991 One-man show, Bakersfield College Art Gallery,Bakersfield, California.
August 1990 New Sculpture in Glass, two-person show, Gallery Rochelle Monique. San Diego, California.
July 1988 One-man show, Stein Glass Gallery, Portland, Maine.
December 1987 "One Entrance, Many Exits", one-man show, American Art Glass, Santa Monica, California.
November 1987 Toys and Furniture for Children by Artists, Limn, San Francisco, California.
October 1987 Bay Area Craft Forms, San Francisco Airport, California.
November 1986 Small Works, Susan Cummins Gallery, Mill Valley,California.
September 1986 Salon des Ateliers d'Art — Ob'Art, Paris, France.
December 1985 Chain Reaction, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, California.
November 1984 Convergence Gallery, New York, New York.
July 1984 Clay & Glass, California Crafts Museum, San Francisco, California.
March 1983 California Crafts XIII, Crocker Art Museum —Sacramento, California.
MUSEUM & CORPORATE COMMISSIONS & COLLECTIONS
SAS Institute World Headquarters — Cary, North Carolina.
Museum of American Glass Wheaton Village, New Jersey
Bellevue Art Museum Bellevue, Washington
U.S.Embassy, Ottawa, Canada
Pew Charitable Trust, Philadelphia — Pennsylvania.
Sandwich Glass Museum Sandwich, Massachusetts
Proctor & Gamble — Connecticut.
Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. — Collegeville, Pennsylvania.
Kitamura Company — Osaka, Japan
Alexis Herman, US Secretary of Labor, Washington DC.
Don Putnam — San Francisco, California
Susan Lindenauer — New York, New York.
Lee & Lou Weinstein — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Don Thomas and Jorge Cao — New York, New York.
Paul V. Gardner, Curator, Glass & Ceramics, Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC.
Takako Sano, Curator, Glass Now Yamaha— Japan.
Sergey Brin, Google, Palo Alto CA
Angela Bassett, Los Angeles, CA
Sammy Hagar, Novato, CA
GALLERY AFFILIATIONS
Globe Fine Art - Santa Fe, NM
Jay Musler Gallery - San Francisco, CA
Museum of Arts & Design — New York, New York
Cincinnati Art Museum — Cincinnati, Ohio
Mingei Museum — San Diego, California
Seattle Art Museum - Seattle Washington
Phoenix Gallery — Park City, Utah
Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA
