Artist Bio
For two decades David's creative energies primarily found an outlet in music, but a blowpipe and furnace have firmly replaced his guitar and amp. A former corporate marketing professional, a glassblowing class in 2001 ignited such a passion that he transitioned his professional career from the software world to full-time glass artist.
David has been guest artist at the Corning Museum of Glass and studied at Pilchuck Glass School, founded by Dale Chihuly and John & Anne Hauberg in Stanwood, Washington. In 2010, David was selected as Artist in Residence in Seto City, Japan, spending a month lecturing, demonstrating his work through an award from the Seto City Art and Cultural Foundation. Primarily self-taught, David grew his skills through experimentation informed by observing talented local artists and a few visits with Afro Celotto, maestro and former assistant to Lino Tagliapietra from Murano, Italy. David has received awards for his work including an artistic merit scholarship for a class at Pilchuck. His book David Patchen, Glass is in the permanent collection of the Rakow Library at the Corning Museum of Glass and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Centro Studi del Vetro (Glass Study Center Library) in Venice, Italy.
David is actively involved in the glass arts community as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors at Public Glass (San Francisco's center for glass art), member of the Pilchuck Leadership Council and former member of the Board of Directors, Glass Alliance of Northern California. David maintains a private studio within Public Glass where he creates his work. He enjoys and finds inspiration in international travel, the marine environment, science, nature and architecture.
David's work is known for its intense colors, intricate detail and meticulous craftsmanship, is in numerous private collections, museums and is exhibited internationally. Born and raised in New York, David Patchen now resides in San Francisco Artist Statement
I find glass as seductive as it is challenging. As a particularly unforgiving medium, an artist has endless creative opportunities to design for its unique properties--the only limitations are their imagination and skill in working with the material. I've always been captivated by how one can use this enigmatic material to achieve virtually any form, hold elements in suspension, and achieve great detail or soft abstraction. Its flexibility as a medium is matched by the difficulty it presents in using it to execute precise work.
My current work is an intensive exploration of patterns, colors and transparency created through multi-layered cane and murrine (colored rods and patterned cross-sections of glass). While varied in composition and design, I most often create work within a series of graceful forms that I consider three dimensional canvases. The diversity in my compositions reflects my desire to constantly experiment and explore a variety of ideas simultaneously. Some themes in my work include windows into or through a piece, things hidden & revealed and extreme detail. Colors in contrasting and/or complimentary tertiary tones woven into complex patterns challenge expectations of the amount of detail glass can carry and its place in the art world. My influences include textiles, ethnically distinct colors and shapes as well as the marine environment.
Creating my work begins with meticulous planning and designing of colors and patterns. After I pull the cane and murrine, I carefully compose these elements to design the final work, all days prior to blowing it. I enjoy this process of thoughtful creativity and the contrasting intensity of executing work in the hotshop, where the limited window to shape molten glass requires precision and urgency. The dual challenge of designing and executing complex work satisfies both the artist and the craftsman in me and I continually find it exciting to create a piece I've poured days over, watching it come to life in the fire. Exhibitions, Shows Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI - "International Glass Award Exhibition", May 2019
Montague Gallery, San Francisco, CA - "Survey Bay Area" group show, Mar. 2019
Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art, Charlotte, NC - "Transparency" group show and demo, Jan. 2019
Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art, Charlotte, NC - "Come Curious" group show, Oct. 2017
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY - Guest Artist demonstrations, May 2017
Glass Wheel Studio, Norfolk, VA - Layered Up Invitational, Mar. 2017
Aerena Galleries, Napa, CA - "Unbreakable" Feb. 2017
Duncan McClellan Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL - "Patchen's Patterns" demo, museum lecture and new work, Nov. 2016
Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, "Bound by Glass", June - Sept 2016
Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, "Raising Cane" Apr. 2016
Gallery 212/Fresco Art, 'Lost in Abstraction', Miami, Feb. 2016
Michelangelo Fine Art, Calgary "Modernity", Jan. 2016
Art Palm Beach, K. Allen Gallery, Jan. 2016
SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art) Chicago, Nov. 2015
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities; "Fired" (Sept. 17 - Dec. 20, 2015)
555 California Concourse Gallery, “David Patchen, Vitreous Tapestry” Jul. – Oct 2015
Gump's, San Francisco, CA, "Masters of Glass" Jul. 2015
Art Palm Beach, K. Allen Gallery, Jan. 2015
Chihuly Collection, St. Petersburg, FL, "Italian Traditions" Jan. 2015
SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art) Chicago, Nov. 2014
Taos Art Glass Invitational, Oct. 2014
Hsinchu Glass Art Festival, Taiwan, July 2014
Chihuly Collection, St. Petersburg, FL, "Glasscentric" Apr. 2014
Stewart Fine Art, Boca Raton, FL, "David Patchen: “The Color and Pattern”, Jan 2014
Art Palm Beach, Tansey Contemporary, Jan. 2014
SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art) Chicago, Nov. 2013
Featured Artist: Kuivato Gallery, Oct, 2013
Union University, Jackson, TN; solo show David Patchen: Details
Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL; 'Polk County Collects', Jul. 2013
Art Shanghai, International New Glass Art Exhibition, Feb. 2013
Duncan McClellan Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL - "Distant Visions II" Jan. 2013
International Contemporary Glass Exhibition - Shanghai, China, Feb. 2013
Pilchuck Glass School, Annual Auction (juried) - Seattle, WA, Oct. 2012
Museum of Glass Red Hot; juried into live auction - Tacoma, WA, Sept. 2012
Duncan McClellan Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL - "Focus: David Patchen" Aug. 2012
Stewart Fine Art, Boca Raton, FL - "Bloom" Apr. 2012
Marshall-LeKae Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ - Glass Invitational, Mar. 2012
Duncan McClellan Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL - "Distant Visions" Jan. 2012
JRB Art At the Elms, Oklahoma City - 'Cutting Edge Glass,' Aug. 2011
Museum of Glass, Tacoma - 'Red Hot,' Jul. 2011
Kunstmesse Dusseldorf - Dusseldorf, Germany, Feb. 2011
Vienna International Art Show - Vienna, Austria, Nov. 2010
Temple Arts Festival, Nashville, TN - invited artist, Apr. 2010
Seto City Museum, Seto City Japan; Artist in Residence Exhibition, Mar. 2010
Stewart Fine Art, Boca Raton, FL - "Simple Addition and Subtraction," Dec. 2009
Vienna International Art Show - Vienna, Austria, Nov. 2009
ArtSpan - San Francisco Private Preview Gala (Juror's Choice Award), Oct. 2009
Sausalito Art Festival - invited artist, Sept. 2009
Pismo Fine Art Glass, Aspen, CO - New work by David Patchen, Stig Persson, July 2009
The Bender Gallery, Asheville, NC - New work by David Patchen, June 2009
Art Forte, Seattle - Into Nature, June 2009
Art Forte, Seattle - Zen Organic, May 2009
Gump's, San Francisco - Pearl; Inspiring Design and Desire, Apr. 2009
Glass Alliance of Northern California - Lecture & Demo, Mar. 2009
SOFA (Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art) Chicago, Nov. 2008
Pilchuck, Seattle - Annual Auction (juried), Oct. 2008
Judy Youens Gallery, Santa Fe, NM - Opening Show, Jul. 2008
JRB Art At the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK - Glass Invitational, June 2008
Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, CA - New work by David Patchen, David Ruth, Julie Lazarus, Nov. 2007
Pismo Fine Art Glass, Denver - Murrine Mystique (group all-murrine show), Oct. 2007
National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA - Glass Now Auction, Oct. 2006
Gump's, San Francisco, CA - California Creations Group Show, Jul. 2006
Glass Art Society - Annual Conference, live auction (juried), Jun. 2006
Santa Barbara Museum of Art - Annual Auction, May 2006
ArtsFest, San Francisco - Spectra Ball (juried), Apr. 2006
Santa Barbara Ballet - Arts Fundraiser, Apr. 2006
New York Artexpo; Javits Center New York, NY, Mar. 2006
Public Glass, San Francisco, CA - Not So Clear Group Show (juried), Oct. 2005
Gump's, San Francisco - Lead artist in California Transformation Group Show, Jul. 2005
Public Glass, San Francisco - Keep Us Hot live auction (juried), Apr. 2005 - 2007
ArtSpan - Open Studios exhibitor, demonstrator, Oct. 2003 . 2008
Bay Area Glass Institute - Annual Live Auction (juried), Jan. 2004 . 2009