#39 SS Bottle

$425.00

Blown Glass

Category:

Description

In 2000, at the age of fifteen, David Royce began glassblowing as an apprentice for Tom Rine and Thomas Maras at Island Glass Studios in Minneapolis. During his last two years of high school he continued to work at Island Glass and also attended Anoka Ramsey Community College in Minneapolis, where he studied studio glass blowing for three semesters.

Royce continued his studies at the University of River Falls in Wisconsin in 2002, with the intention of earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in glass. However, his direction changed during his sophomore year while on a glassmaking study abroad program in Taiwan. This experience broadened his horizons and when he returned to Minneapolis he decided to take time off from glassblowing and began studies at the University of Minnesota. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in child psychology, with a minor in Chinese language and literature in 2006.
In 2005, he re-discovered his passion for glass-making and joined Foci: Minnesota Center for Glass Arts, where he began working as studio manager and instructor. Foci is a facility in Minneapolis providing studio space for artists, as well as educational experiences and classes for the public. Since graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2006, Royce has been a full-time independent glass artist.

In his current series “Bottles” and “Stones” Royce features simple forms that set the stage for a combination of contrasting glassblowing techniques. The vessels have a sandblasted surface with a luminous semi-transparency, contrasted by sections of opaque colored glass in organic, asymmetrical patterns. The opaque areas are accented with carving. Royce has a unique approach to cold- work. Often, cold-work stresses a precision that adds a quality of mechanical perfection to avessel. However, Royce uses cold-work cuts in a lively way, expressing movement in an improvisational way that adds to the over-all organic feel of each piece.

In my work I use traditional glass blowing techniques to achieve a variety of both sculptural and functional forms. My approach to glass relies heavily on layering of colors and extensive cold working and carving to reveal those colors.