Nancy Callan b. 1964
Seattle-based glass artist Nancy Callan earned her BFA at the Massachusetts College of Art and was a key member of maestro Lino Tagliapietra’s glassblowing team for nineteen years. Drawing on her early experiences as a graphic designer and the techniques she mastered as a part of Tagliapietra’s team, Callan creates cane-glass patterns that are entirely her own. The wide variety of shapes she creates are united by their palette of bold colors, dramatic designs, and exuberance. Callan is energized by the unending possibilities of her craft and explains that the “quest for the perfect form matched with the ideal surface, color, or pattern is an ongoing challenge,” one she approaches with immense skill and creativity.
Callan has received numerous awards including the Creative Glass Center of America Fellowship and residencies at the Museum of Glass, Tacoma, The Toledo Museum of Art, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk. She has been exhibiting her work since 2001 and is also passionate about teaching the art of glass to others, offering advanced glassblowing workshops at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA, The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Haystack Mountain School in Deer Isle, ME and Penland School of Crafts in Asheville, NC. Her work can be found in numerous private and public collections such as the Shanghai Museum of Art, China, The Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA, and the Museum of Glass, Corning, NY.
