CHRISTOPHER RIES

Born: USA 1952

Resides: Pennsylvannia

Christopher Ries, artist and glass sculptor, grew up on a farm in central Ohio. He earned his Bachelors Degree in Fine Art at the Ohio State University in 1975. He received his Masters of Fine Art from The University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1978. During his time in Madison, Ries was research assistant to the Founder of the American Studio Glass Movement, Harvey K. Littleton.

Ries founded the glass department at The Ohio State University and was its first instructor as an undergraduate student. He also ran a glass blowing studio for two summers at Mineral Point, Wisconsin while in graduate school. Mr. Ries opened a studio at 70 N. Monroe Avenue in Columbus, Ohio after graduate school and developed his cold working skills and understanding of optics.

It was in 1979 that Ries made an effort to find the ultimate glass sculpting material. His search led him to Schott Optical in Duryea, Pennsylvania. Ries experimented with many glass types produced at Schott over the next few years in his Columbus, Ohio studio. In 1986, Ries had earned the respect of Schott's President, Dr. Franz Herkt, and was offered studio space at the Pennsylvania factory. Mr. Ries has been a non paid, independent contractor there ever since, with the title “Artist-in-Residence.”

Christopher Ries creates highly evocative, contemplative works of art, in glass, through classical reductive sculpture technique. Unlike the traditional hot glass techniques of blowing or casting molten glass, Mr. Ries sculpts mammoth blocks of the world's finest crystal, blocks whose starting weight is often more than three thousand pounds.

He carves these massive pieces into elegant enigmatic forms whose internal reflection offer the viewer a journey into another world. In addition to height, width, depth, Christopher Ries' work lures the viewer into a stunning fourth dimension created by reflection, refraction, and optical illusion. You'll see things that aren't there ...or are they? The fine art which he creates must truly be seen to be believed.

Christopher Ries has produced the largest whole, unassembled pieces of crystal sculpture known. The work is in many museums and fine art collections around the world.

EDUCATION

  • 1978 Master of Fine Arts in glass, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • 1975 Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics and glass, Ohio State University

PUBLIC SERVICE

  • 1996 - 2006 Board of Trustees, Everhart Museum, Scranton, Pennsylvania

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

  • American Ceramic Society, Ohio
  • Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
  • Columbus Airport, Ohio
  • Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
  • Contemporary Arts and Crafts Museum and Gallery, Palm Beach, FL
  • Corning Museum of Glass
  • Goodyear Collection
  • Governor's Residence, Harrisburg, PA
  • Indianapolis Art Museum, Indianapolis, IN
  • Muncie Public Library, Muncie, IN
  • Museum of American Glass, Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ
  • The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
  • National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA
  • New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
  • Otto Schott Centrum, Mainz, Germany
  • The Patrick Lannon Foundation, FL
  • Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • The University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
  • Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
  • Vernal House Collection of Mark C. Bloome, Los Angeles, CA

SELECTED CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

  • Battelle, Columbus, OH
  • Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY
  • Galileo Electro-Optics, Sturbridge, MA
  • Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, Scranton, PA
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA
  • Metaval Corporation, Holtsville, NY
  • Optical Research Associates, Pasadena, CA
  • Penn Security Bank, Scranton, PA
  • Plummer Precision Optics, Pennsburg, PA
  • Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, NJ
  • Schott Fiber Optics, Inc., Southbridge, MA
  • SCHOTT AG, Mainz, Germany
  • SCHOTT Nippon, Tokyo, Japan
  • United Lens Company, Southbridge, MA
  • Zygo Corporation, Middletown, CT

AWARDS AND HONORS

  • 2010 Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, Misericordia University, Dallas, PA
  • 2005 Artist as Hero, National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • 2005 Distinguished Artist Award, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • 1990 Ohioana Citation for Distinguished Service to Ohio in the Field of Art.
  • 1978-79 Aid to Individual Artists Fellowship, Ohio Arts Council
  • 1974-75 Leo Yassenoff Scholarship