Richard Parrish

"My glasswork explores texture and pattern, transparency and opacity, and visual depth. My training and experience as an architect strongly influence my glass designs."

As an artist and an architect, Richard Parrish finds inspiration in both the natural and the human-made environments. Some of his work investigates the intersections and collisions between the natural landscape and the human impositions on that landscape. Other pieces explore notions of insight and reflecting. Purity of form is an essential element in many of his functional pieces. The bowl forms are intended to evoke a sense of holding and balance.

Fused glass, sometimes called warm glasswork, is made in a kiln much like a ceramics kiln. Sheet glass is cut and fit together, then fused at 1500 degrees. Crushed and powdered glass, copper, glass threads, and other materials are sometimes introduced. Shaped pieces such as light fixtures are slumped over porcelain molds after fusing flat.

Richard Parrish is the owner of Fusio Studio, a studio that produces kiln-formed glass in Bozeman, Montana. He holds a master of architecture degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Idaho. His fifteen-plus years as a professional artist have given him the opportunity to develop his artistic and technical skills to become an internationally recognized artist and teacher.