Christopher Smith | Glaskrafter Art Glass

Fused, kiln cast, sand carved and custom stained glass. Commissions welcomed. Individual and group classes offered.

Born October 1953 in San Francisco, California, moved to British Columbia in 1970. I began working in stained glass in 1975 employed as an apprentice to a stained glass studio in Nelson B.C. This studio was primarily concerned with religious and residential architectural stained glass restoration, design and fabrication. That same year, I was also able to blow glass for a semester at the Alberta College of Art.

I moved to Nanaimo in 1976, and studied art history at Malaspina College, opening the original Glaskrafter Art Glass studio in Nanaimo in 1977. The Studio relocated to Lantzville in 1986 and finally in 1991 moved to its present location behind my home on the edge of Nanoose Bay.

Having exhibited sandblasted, stained glass and kiln formed sculptural objects in the '80's, I spent the 90's and early 2000's designing and fabricating site specific Architectural Stained Glass, in 2008 I decided to refocus on Glass as Art. Although I had never stopped showing my work at various galleries, I felt the need to refresh and renew my outlook and work. As a life-long lover of the natural world, I express this passion through my art, connecting the viewer with the magic and miracle of nature

Following the decades of creating, custom stained glass and sand carved work in architectural and residential settings I began a serious exploration into the potential of fused and cast glass. To that end I spent time working in Brock Craig's fusing glass studio in 2009 and studied kiln casting at Bullseye Glass in Portland, Oregon. My recent work is an exploration into the luminous and transcendent aspects of cast glass sculptures; life size kiln cast Salmon and Steelhead trout swimming through undulating steel river grass; ravens and salmon, some copper, some gold leaf, some painted, circling without and within woven glass baskets, or suspended in solid glass eggs. Everything I create is an invitation to share my unique perspective of life within nature and its transcendent value.

I show and sell new work in my studio gallery, Phoenix Gallery. My work is also represented by Reflecting Spirit Gallery, Ucluelet; The Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino; Coastal Carving, Combs; The Salish Sea Market, Bowser; Audain Art Museum Gift Store, Whistler; Weiwaikum House of Treasures, Campbell River; Side Street Studio, Oak Bay; The Gallery at Mattick's Farm, Cordova Bay and Studio 106, James Bay, Victoria.