William Morris Glass Shard Vessel Handblown Contemporary Art

Artist: William A. Morris
Title: Glass Shard Vessel
Medium: Hand Blown Glass
Size: 9 5/16" high
Signed: Signed and dated
Year: 1980
Provenance: Gallery Certificate
Condition: Very good condition overall, request full condition report for details

This complex and interesting William Morris Glass Shard Vessel speaks volumes about  the dramatic evolution of fine glass art over the past 50 years. The unusual, organic shape of the vessel and the glass shards were vastly ahead of their time for 1980, foreshadowing the techniques and aesthetic we'd later come to see in the glass art of Dale Chihuly and Richard Marquis. Glass shards are a major component in much of Morris' work, and they are particularly prominent in this piece thanks to their large size and the use a white background. Although Morris' work is quite modern in style, he draws inspiration from nature which help lend a timeless quality to his art.

William Morris' Glass Shard Vessel is signed and dated by the artist and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Modern Artifact.

William Morris was born in Carmel, California in 1957. He is an American glass artist who has been able to change the history of art within his lifetime. Morris was educated at California State University in Chico, California as well as Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. In 1978, Morris arrived at the Pilchuck Glass School and found work initially as a driver. Later, he worked with Dale Chihuly, the founder of the school, and eventually became his chief gaffer in the 1980s. Morris remained with Chihuly for about 10 years before deciding to form his own studio and develop his own artistic style of glass blowing.

For more than twenty-five years, William Morris has captivated and intrigued the art community with hauntingly evocative and beautiful glass sculptures. He has captured the imagination time and again by creating objects that appear to be ancient stone or woodcarvings, not the modern glass sculptures they actually are. His art speaks of human origins, myth, ancestry, and ancient civilizations. It symbolizes a harmony between humanity and nature and provides a ghost-like bond to the world around us – a world that is often forgotten, ignored, and abused.

Morris gathers much of his inspiration from ancient cultures from around the world – Egyptian, Asian, Native American – all peoples who respected and admired the land they inhabited. Because of this, Morris’s artwork has become something all its own: culturally distinct and yet familiar to all cultures. His pieces embody a spiritual quality that sharply contrasts old beliefs with those of the modern world. These objects speak to our senses and continuously beg us to explore them further.

Morris achieved much success during his career and retired in 2007. He spent over twenty-five years honing his skills and pushing the medium of glass further than anyone, including himself, could ever have imagined.