CHRISTOPHER SMITH
Born October 1953 in San Francisco, California, moved to British Columbia in 1970. Chris began working in stained glass in 1975 employed as an apprentice to a stained glass studio in Nelson B.C. This studio was primarily concerned with religious and residential architectural stained glass restoration, design and fabrication. That same year, he took a semester blowing glass at the Alberta College of Art.
Moving to Nanaimo in 1976, he studied art history at Malaspina College, opening the original Glaskrafter Art Glass studio in Nanaimo in 1977. The Studio relocated to Lantzville in 1986 and finally in 1991 moved to its present location behind his home on the edge of Nanoose Bay.
Having exhibited sandblasted, stained glass and kiln formed sculptural objects in the '80's, Chris spent the 90's and early 2000's designing and fabricating site specific architectural Stained Glass. In 2008 he decided to refocus on Glass as Art. So following decades of creating, custom stained glass and sand carved work in architectural and residential settings Chris began a serious exploration into the artistic potential of kiln cast glass. To that end he spent time working in Brock Craig's fusing glass studio in 2009 and studied kiln casting at Bullseye Glass in Portland, Oregon. Chris’s recent work is an exploration into the luminous and transcendent aspects of cast glass sculptures; life size kiln cast Salmon and Steelhead trout swimming through undulating steel river grass; ravens and salmon, some copper, some gold leaf, some painted, circling without and within woven glass baskets, or suspended in solid glass eggs. Everything Chris creates is an invitation to share his unique perspective of life within nature and its transcendent value, “Glass becoming Fish”. As a life-long lover of the natural world, Chris expresses this passion through his art, connecting the viewer with the magic and miracle of nature. He is also on the board of the stewardship group Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society.
He is represented by Reflecting Spirit Gallery, Ucluelet, The Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, Coastal Carving, Combs, The Salish Sea Market, Bowser, Audain Art Museum Gift Store, Whistler, Weiwaikum House of Treasures, Campbell River, Side Street Studio, Oak Bay, The Gallery at Mattick's Farm , Cordova Bay and Studio 106, James Bay, Victoria, Chris also shows his new work at his studio gallery.
Studio Name: Phoenix Gallery
Studio address: 8226 Sabre Rd. Lantzville
Email: glaskrafter@shaw.ca
Mobile Phone: (250) 240-1096
Phone: (250) 390-2023
Website: glaskrafter.com
Facebook: @glaskrafter
