"Fall Tree"

Bandhu Scott Dunham

"Glass embodies the colorful sensuality that makes life so interesting! I work with glass to explore the intersection of my own personality and the natural world around me. I try to be true to the glass, and more importantly, true to myself. I have studied a number of techniques for creating glass art. Lampworking (shaping the glass in a torch flame) remains my favorite because of its immediacy. "

Bandhu Dunham draws his inspiration from nature--the invisible as well as what can be seen with the naked eye. His design sense resonates with the infinite variety of natural forms which he interprets using the remarkable properties of glass. A uniquely witty yet balanced approach is the hallmark of his work.

The artistic process begins with glass rods and tubes which arrive from the factory in four-foot lengths. Using traditional techniques and a variety of simple tools like tweezers and scissors, the glass is shaped and blown in the heat of a gas-oxygen flame. Bandhu is also known for developing some unusual techniques that are unique to his work, stretching the envelope of what is possible in glass.

Bandhu began to teach himself lampwork technique while still in high school, in 1975. After receiving informal training from the University glassblower while an undergraduate at Princeton, he took classes with a number of American and European masters in the 1980s. He is now a teacher in his own right, and Contemporary Lampworking books are the standard teaching texts.