Murrine bowl. Kenny Pieper, artist
By Gina Malone
Sometimes it’s just as they say about being in the right place at the right time. Glass artist Kenny Pieper grew up in Spruce Pine, as he puts it “just a mountain and a half away from Penland School of Craft.” Familiar with the studios since childhood, he was invited by then director Bill Brown to take some classes while in high school. “At the age of 15, I was riding my dirt bike up the mountain to Penland taking classes with masters in their fields,” Pieper says. “Some of these were: Warren MacKenzie, Cynthia Bringle and Norm Schulman in ceramics, and in fine metals, Mary Ann Scherr. It was during this time, being around so many people passionate about working in a studio with their hands, I realized that I wanted to be a maker.”
Blue Satin Goblet Study. Kenny Pieper, artist
When he was 17, the school built a new glassblowing studio. In 1977, Richard Ritter, resident artist at the time, was teaching an 8-week class. Pieper asked if he could sit in on the class, was welcomed and became hooked. “I had always been fascinated with fire,” he says, “and loved tools and physical activity. Blowing glass was a wonderful mix of all of these things. I also love the immediacy of the material. In most cases, when I make something it comes out of the oven the next day.”
After high school, he moved to Detroit under a scholarship at the Center for Creative Studies, then received his BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts. He worked as a glassblower for 16 years in the San Francisco East Bay area. When he left CA, it was to return to NC, and in full-circle fashion, to work for a time at Penland managing the glassblowing and lampworking studios.
Chaotic Cane Platter. Kenny Pieper, artist
His work is inspired by early Italian glass. “I enjoy being part of that tradition, but try to make work that is more contemporary and, hopefully, work that has my own voice,” he says. An unusual element of his process is the fact that he makes his own glass color, creating a unique palette and giving him more control over his material.
“Kenny adds detail and dimension to his glasswork that elevate it from an already exquisitely crafted functional work to a high level of sculptural elegance,” says Miryam Rojas, owner of Mars Landing Galleries.
Pieper often works in series, many of them drawn from nature and the outdoors. An example is his Primavera series. “It was inspired by fall time here in the mountains of NC,” he says. “I have a series called Ripple Vases that is inspired by water and waves, and then there is the Ocean Diva series inspired by ocean reefs. My murine bowls are also inspired by life in the ocean.”
Teal Splash. Kenny Pieper, artist
Of the process for creating glass art, Pieper finds delight in nearly every aspect: “the way it moves around on the pipe when it’s hot, wagging around back and forth; the way I have to figure out how to work with it and not against it; the way I can’t touch it directly but have to use tools as extensions of my body. The way I get to draw on years of experience and muscle memory to make the object to the best of my ability is just a wonderful experience.”
Learn more at PieperGlass.com, and follow on Facebook (Kenny Pieper). Find Kenny Pieper’s work at Mars Landing Galleries, in Mars Hill, and at Blue Spiral 1, in Asheville, where an exhibition Lainard Bush and Kenny Pieper will be held through Wednesday, August 27. Beginning Tuesday, August 12, and running through December 5, his work will be part of the exhibition North Carolina Glass 2025, at the WCU Fine Art Museum, in Cullowhee.
