Glass Masters: Bearclaw

The first Bearclaw piece I saw was “The Weary Traveler”, one of many glass pipes in a February 2006 Seattle show and competition (“Glass Master-pieces” CC #61). Bearclaw started working with glass in late 1998 and is based out of Chicago. He had no formal instruction but he was very pas-sionate, so he learned the hard way – through trial and error. “I feel joy watching the barriers of this medium fall before me. Each day is a lesson. I’m always a student, always learning.”

Bearclaw gains inspiration from many places and people. He greatly respects those who push artistic limits and strive for originality. Due to his restless nature and tendency to be easily bored, his work moves in and out of various styles of traditional pipes, glass sculpture, conceptual art pieces and mixed media. As such, it is hard to define one technique or look as Bearclaw’s “style”, but you can see his wide range of amazing work online at www.thataintart.com and www.glasspipes.org/bearclaw78.