Christopher Ries

American, born 1952

BiographyChristopher Ries was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1952. He studied with Harvey Littleton in the 1970s at the University of Wisconsin, where he received his MFA in glass. After a few years of experimentation with glassblowing, he discovered his true direction in working with clear, optical glass.

Unlike most glass artists, Ries neither blows nor laminates glass. Rather, he works in the traditional reductive sculptural mode, starting with a block of solid optical glass and reducing it to his desired form. His luminous works are characterized by their technical perfection and the seemingly magical, everchanging optical patterns within them. His sculptures range from a few inches high to life-size.

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