JON KUHN

Born: USA, 1949

Resides: North Carolina

Jon Kuhn is regarded as one of the leading glass artists in the world. With works featured in over 30 international museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Carnegie Museum, White House Permanent Collection, National Museum of American Art and hundreds of private residences and public spaces, millions have enjoyed his transcendent works.

Being trained in ceramics, Mr. Kuhn first worked in clay and experimented with various silicate compounds. Eventually, he began working with cold glass in geometric shapes with the cube becoming the core component.

Today, the medium in which Mr. Kuhn works is unlike that used by most glass artists. Where the majority work with molten or blown glass, Mr. Kuhn works in cold glass that is cut, polished, and fused into a myriad of shapes from the inside out. The result is a sculpture that takes in surrounding light, then reflects and refracts it back into space much like a fine diamond.

The detail and breadth of labor involved in creating one of these masterpieces is unlike any other glasswork in the world. No two are alike and once created, they are timeless as they appear to change color and radiance when viewed from different angles and lighting.

Having started working by himself in a vacant auto shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he now enlists the aid of 27 artisans producing these unique pieces. To come from a local, one-man studio, to having an international reputation is one of the great success stories in the world of fine art. His desire is to continue creating beautiful works, every one unique, bringing light and joy to those who experience them.

EDUCATION

1974 Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC , Advanced Studies
1974 BFA, George Peabody College, Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN
1970 - 1973 Tusculum College, Greenville, TN, Undergraduate

SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

2004 Janice Charach Epstein Museum, West Bloomfield, Michigan
2003 Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina
2000 Janice Charach Epstein Museum, West Bloomfield, Michigan
1998 Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka Kansas
1998 Museo Del Vidrio, Monterrey, Mexico
1996 Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, North Carolina
1993 Denoss Museum, Traverse City, Michigan

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, North Carolina
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia
Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia
Corning Museum of Glass, New York, New York
Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio
de Young Museum, San Francisco, California
Denoss Museum, Traverse City, Michigan
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Ebeltoft International Glasmuseum, Ebeltoft, Denmark
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Hsinchu Museum of Cultural Arts, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Huntington Museum, Huntington, West Virginia
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka, Kansas
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland
Museo del Vidrio, Monterrey, Mexico
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
Museum of American Glass, Millville, New Jersey
Naples Museum of Art, Naples, Florida
National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
Owensboro Museum of Art, Owensboro, Kentucky
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida
Wheaton American Glass Museum, Millville, New Jersey
White House Permanent Collection, Washington, DC
Vero Beach Center f or the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida

AWARDS

2007 Governor's Award in the Arts, Distinguished Artist Award
1999 University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, Artist in Residence
1998 Israeli Cultural Artist Exchange, Israel, Artist in Residence
1988 Tennessee Individual Artist Grant
1986 Galeria Angela Hollings, Hameln, Germany, Artist in Residence