Ralph Mossman

Artists' Bio

    Ralph Mossman was fascinated with glass blowing from the moment he watched unruly molten glass being shaped into a work of art. Mossman was a chemical engineering student from 1974-77 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts when glass changed his path. He researched how to get involved with the medium and in 1978 enrolled in a glassblowing course taught by Fritz Dreisbach and Dale Chihuly at the Haystack Craft School in Deer Isle, Maine. In 1980 he studied glass at Penland Craft School in North Carolina. He received a B.A. in glassblowing from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1981. After studying with numerous well-known and lesser-known glass artists, Mossman settled out west in the beautiful and isolated mountain town of Driggs, Idaho where he and his wife, glass artist Mary Mullaney, built their own studio in order to pursue their artistic visions.
    His work is featured in numerous collections and galleries across the country, and has been featured twice in the "New Glass Review."

Artist's Statement

The digital vase series is inspired by my interest in digital imaging as well as a fascination with all the little dots in newspaper photos. I am also challenged by the abstract expressionist quest to create the illusion of depth in a two-dimensional surface, coupled with the reality of the thickness in the wall of a vessel. The analytical aspects of producing these pieces are an interesting counterpoint to the more intuitive process of glass blowing.