Artist Bio Template
William Morris
1957-
Hand-blown Glass Vase, 1985
Image: Portland Art Museum
William Morris was born in Carmel, California in 1957. He is best known as an American glass artist. Morris was educated at California State University in Chico, California as well as Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. In 1978, Morris arrived at the Pilchuck Glass School. Later, he worked with Dale Chihuly and eventually became Chihuly's chief gaffer in the 1980s.
Morris remained with Chihuly for about 10 years before deciding to form his own studio and develop his own artistic style of glass blowing. For more than twenty-five years, Morris has created objects that appear to be ancient stone or wood carvings, although they are actually modern glass sculptures. His work plays with subjects of human origins, myth, ancestry, and ancient civilizations. Morris gathers much of his inspiration from ancient cultures.
Morris retired in 2007. He spent over 25 years pushing the medium of glass. Morris’ work can be found in numerous public collections including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY; American Glass Museum, Millville, NJ; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido, Japan; Musee Des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France; Victoria and Albert Museum
Significant Works