Autumn Art Auction 2013

Page 49

Lot #52

Jon Offutt Fargo, North Dakota Winter Reeds, 2012 Blown glass 15.75 x 5 x 5 inches Range: $300 – 400

Jon Offutt plays with fire. At his glassblowing studio in Fargo—named after the Roman god of fire Mulciber—he uses roaring, 2,000 degree heat as a tool to transform molten glass into beautiful, award-winning glass vessels and sculptures. Offutt earned an MFA in glass from Southern Illinois university at Carbondale, and he passes along his knowledge to new students of glass. He also demonstrates his craft for the public and to a new generation as he travels throughout the region with his Mobile Glassblowing Studio.

The vessel titled Winter Reeds is an example of my newest work.

Jon’s new series of work is a response to his travels around the

I continue to simplify my ‘mark making’ as I depict our prairie

region.

surroundings.

The bold horizon line of the prairie provides many nuances of

Offutt is the executive director of the Fargo Moorhead Visual

light and perspective, he says, and the vastness of the sky

Artists (FMVA) Studio Crawl, an event where Fargo/Moorhead

demands a sensitive depiction of atmosphere. My “Dakota

artists open their studios to the public, showing recent works,

Horizons” work celebrates the topography of our surroundings—

providing demonstrations and answering questions. In addition

the evolving seasons, the subtle movement of sweeping

to organizing the event, Offutt often participates in the Studio

grasslands, the shifting character of our sky.

Crawl by opening his own studio to the public.

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