Inspirational pattern design in art, interior-decoration and architecture

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Stephen Powell, born in 1951 US has been blowing glass since the early 80s. He exhibits his work internationally and is currently Professor of Art Glass at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky.

A short biography of Stephen Powell
Stephen Powell’s glass works

I’ve selected the images above from a single family of blown forms although there are three families in total represented on Stephen’s site. For me, these ‘kiwi-esk’ forms are the most intriguing, beguiling and truly original specimens in his output, although I should stress that the craftsmanship and artistry of every piece of Stephen’s work appears to be of the highest quality.

For me these works have enormous artistic integrity. The patterns and colors, the three-dimensional form, the medium and process of creation all work together as a single entity. I love the way all these things are born out off the same processes. It doesn’t appear to be just an interesting shape that is then given surface decoration. The pattern and textures describe and accentuate the form and are in turn stretched and distorted through the same processes that shape the form. I know very little about how glass blowing works but I would bet that the creation of one of these works is the product of a very integrated method, unlike say a painted piece of ceramics where the application of the surface decoration is an entirely separate process to the turning, forming and firing. This is an inspiring example of form growing sympathetically from a medium and process. There is no hint that the medium has been forced to be something that it is not and there is all the evidence of the melting, blowing, stretching, twisting, snipping and the inherent properties of glass, in the work’s final destination as an art object.

Click on a tile above to download!

Here are a couple of big tiles that are too complex to add to my editable collection in the PatternCooler library. I wouldn’t recommend looking at them for too long as they may induce a fit:)

You can find more of Stephen Crowhurst’s work at www.HelloHello.name. We know little about the designer from what’s given away on his site, but we assume he says all he wishes to about himself with his art.

We liked the effortless efficiency of this body of work. It looks like it was a joy for him to create, as it is indeed a joy for us to to scroll through.

We send our best wishes to Stephen and hope his creativity continues to flourish.