PRESENTERS & BIOGRAPHIES

Presenters

We continue to add to the line-up of speakers, panelists, workshop teachers, and studio tour hosts on the program. We have started and continue to collect biography information. Please be sure to check back often for updates. Current participants who have committed to join us are:

return to top

Presenter Biographies

Ray Ahlgren, one of the original founders of Bullseye Glass Co., now operates Fire Art, a fabrication studio in Portland, Oregon that executes leading-edge architectural and fine art works in kilnformed glass for numerous architects, designers and artists. A recognized authority in the field, Ahlgren regularly consults on projects initiated by other glass professionals.

Rick Allen joined Heffernan Insurance Brokers (HIB) in 1991 after employment with a national broker in New York City and a national carrier in San Francisco. He currently manages the NW regional Operating Center (ROC) in Portland, OR. The ROC specializes in commercial property casualty insurance, serving industry niches of High Tech, Contractors, Property Managers, Non-Profits, Portable Sanitation, and general Portland Area clients

George Batho is the owner and sole employee of Batho Studios. For over 10 years, he has been creating large-scale kilnformed glass for architectural installations, ranging from stairways and tabletops to sculptural cast glass. Working closely with architects and designers, he creates pieces that are often an integral part of the buildings or environments that house them. Bullseye glass is the primary material, often complimented with steel or wood. You may view his work online at http://www.bathostudios.com/

Linda Ethier is known for her pioneering, innovative work with fused and kiln-cast glass, and has been working in glass since 1969. She has created numerous public art commissions and successfully balances her career as an exhibiting artist with innovative, site specific glass works for public spaces. Her Web site is http://www.lindaethier.com/

Mel George, with partner Jeremy Lepisto, owns and operates Studio Ramp where, in addition to making their individual artwork, they fabricate designs in kiln-glass for other artists and architects. A graduate of Australia's prestigious Canberra School of Art glass workshop, George completed a residency at the Bullseye glass factory while still an undergraduate, later returning to work in the company's Research & Education department on projects with notable international glass masters. She and Lepisto taught in the Pilchuck 2005 summer session.

Walter Gordinier, a visual artist for 35 years, creates customized architectural glass using a cold casing technique in which glass pieces are arranged in a mold and then fired. Gordinier's glass, which is rich in pattern, depth, and color, has been certified as a structurally integral building material and is sought after for use in homes, corporate offices, and public buildings across the United States and abroad. Recent work by Walter Gordinier Studios, LLC has been featured in Architectural Review, Home & Living Trends, and Western Interiors & Design.

Paul Housberg received a BFA and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design where he has also served as an instructor. Early in his career, Housberg studied painting, but was drawn to glass for its atmospheric color. After his graduate work, he studied in England with Patrick Reyntiens, a pioneer in contemporary stained glass and author of a standard work on the technique. As a Fulbright scholar, Housberg worked at the International Center for Glass Research (CIRVA) in Marseille, France. Housberg is noted for his inventive applications of glassworking technologies in architectural settings. Central to his work are the tactile qualities of glass and the expression of its materiality. View his work at: http://www.glassproject.com/.

Gordon Huether founded his studio in Napa, California in 1987 with a mission to create site-specific art installations. Huether, who has dual citizenship in Germany and the U.S., says he owes much of his aesthetic vision to the influence of German Professor Johannes Schreiter. Huether has completed countless commissions for corporate, religious, governmental, educational, and medical facilities around the world. In 1993, Huether responded to the stringent requirements of contemporary building codes by developing a new glass art technique. The process, which received a US patent, allowed artistically altered glass to be installed into a commercial glazing system. This new technique has created many opportunities to successfully integrate art into architecture. http://gordonhuether.com/

Tom Jacobs received his BA from Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. As a Bullseye staff instructor he has taught at Creative Glass, Switzerland; Glass Forum, Norway; Vitrum Studios, Maryland; and assisted Richard Marquis at North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland. He develops and teaches classes for college instructors and the general public, gives lectures and demonstrations on glass technique, and works with visiting artists.

Juno Lachman has been working in the field of art and architectural glass for over 17 years. Eleven of those years were spent working for private studios in the Bay Area, Seattle, and Portland enhancing his skills and developing his own techniques. In 2001, Lachman opened his studio, JunoGlass, LLC, which specializes in custom-designed sandblasted projects, laminating and coldworking. His clients include architects, designers, homeowners, business owners, and artists.

Rich Lamothe has been working in architectural glass with a focus in cold processes for over 21 years, beginning in with a company called Cristalum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He began working at glass studios in Oregon in 1988, where he has been responsible for methods ranging from CNC machining to sandblasting, from beveling to lamination. In 2002, he started his own business, Glass Strategies, LLC, which focuses on producing glass products for clients throughout the world using a range of lamination processes.

Jeremy Lepisto co-owns and operates Portland's Studio Ramp with partner Mel George. A graduate of Alfred University with a BFA in glass and metal, Lepisto has been a visiting artist and glass instructor in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His work is exhibited in galleries internationally including William Traver in Seattle and the Bullseye Gallery in Portland.

Professor Harold Linton is Chair of the Department of Art and Visual Technology at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. His work on color is the subject of articles and interviews in the New York Times, Metropolis and Departures magazines, and others. Linton's work in color research for architecture and industrial design is well-recognized. Color Forecasting: A Survey of International Color Marketing and Color Consulting: A Survey of International Color Design are standard reference books in their fields. Color in Architecture: Design Methods for Buildings, Interiors, and Urban Spaces was published in June, 2000 by McGraw-Hill Professional Books, New York. This book delves into planning color for architecture with a special emphasis and analysis on methods of application and the architectural design process.

Patrick Loughran (AIA, PE, LEED AP) studied civil engineering at the University of Notre Dame, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1986. In 1990, he obtained a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Illinois. He proceeded to work for several architectural practices in Chicago and has been employed at Goettsch Partners since 1994. Loughran is licensed as a professional engineer, LEED-certified professional, and architect in the State of Illinois. In 1999, he traveled to Europe on a Francis J. Plym Traveling Fellowship and was awarded the Young Architect Award from the American Institute of Architects one year later. His first book, Falling Glass: Problems and Solutions in Contemporary Architecture (2003), summarizes several years of research into glass building enclosure problems. It has been translated into German and Chinese and named an "indispensable title" by Architecture Magazine (July 2004) and the "architects bible on how to prevent glass from failing" by the New York Times (May 1, 2005).

Lani McGregor is the Executive Director of Bullseye Gallery. Prior to joining Bullseye Glass Co. in 1984, she operated a glass studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that specialized in kilnformed and flat architectural glass. In 1990 she established Bullseye's Research & Education Department and developed its initial teaching programs. Today, with partner Dan Schwoerer, she shares a home that doubles as a private museum and laboratory for the study of architectural kiln-glass. In 2005 the couple shared the GAS Lifetime Membership Award. McGregor has served on various non-profit glass art and craft boards and is currently a director of North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland.

Carla McLaughlin has been assisting artists and organizations with their visions through promotion, marketing, and design for more than ten years. With a degree in both film and graphic design, she honed her marketing skills in self-promotion and has since worked in all aspects of the industry from advertising to event planning. She has done work for Movado, Room & Board, Artspace, IFP, & Planned Parenthood. In 1999 she founded her own graphic design company, Sassafrass.

Richard Parrish maintains a studio for kilnformed glass and architecture in Bozeman, Montana. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and has taught design fundamentals at Montana State University and the University of Michigan. His work includes functional objects such as sushi plates, bowls and freestanding and wall-hung panels as well as architectural installations such as tiles, windows, and walls. Most recently he has won a commission to design glass for the chapel at the Denver Children's Hospital. He had a debut show at the Bullseye Connection Gallery in May 2006. Read more about Parrish at http://www.bullseyeglass.com/aboutyou/ and at the Bullseye Gallery.

Laurel Porcari earned a Bachelor of Architecture, an MS in Architecture and Urban Design and an MFA in glass sculpture. She taught in Tulane's architecture school and glass sculpture studio and served as curator of the architecture gallery. She has also taught in Australia and Texas. In New Orleans, Porcari owns and operates NOKO studio for architectural kilnformed glass and fine art commissions, designing and fabricated glass components for Tulane's 9/11 memorial and uptown campus. A founding board member of the New Orleans Creative Glass Institute (NOCGI) and member of the International Glass Art Society, Porcari has worked closely with renowned glass sculptors including Warren Langley, founder of Ozone Glass Australia and served as an intern in Bullseye's research and education department in the fall of 2005.

Brian Posewitz has his own law practice in Portland, Oregon. From 1991 until 2006, he was with the Portland law firm of Tonkon Torp, LLP. He represents clients in a wide variety of civil litigation, including cases in the areas of contracts, products liability, trademarks, and copyrights. He also advises clients on ways to avoid litigation. Brian received his law degree in 1991 from the University of Oregon.

Narcissus Quagliata was born in Rome, mentored by De Chirico, and traveled to San Francisco in the early 1960s where he earned his master's degree in painting at the Art Institute, studying with Elmer Bishoff, Richard Diebenkorn, Jim Weeks, among others. A pioneer of the rambunctious young West Coast stained glass movement, he was already renowned for his painterly renderings of the human figure in glass when, in the early 1990s, he visited the Bullseye factory to explore kilnforming. The methods he developed eventually became known as "painting with light" and formed the basis for some of his subsequent monumental projects: Gateway to Night, the last window of San Francisco's Grace Cathedral and sections of the glass cupola atop Michelangelo's basilica, Santa Maria degli Angeli, in Rome. Currently the artist is executing a 7,200 square foot glass dome, Wind, Fire and Light, for the main metro station in Kaohsiun, Taiwan. http://www.nquagliata.com/

Nathan Sandberg received his BFA in Glass and Ceramics from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. His work has received critical recognition through awards and shows, including Art or Artifact in Memphis, and is held in private collections. Now a member of the Bullseye research and education team, he teaches and assists, tests new glass styles, and helps with fabrication of visiting artist projects. He enjoys helping students grow creatively, taking glass art to new levels with unconventional processes.

Ted Sawyer is the Director of Research and Education at Bullseye Glass Company, where he has been working since 1997. The nine-person R&E team tests materials and equipment, helps develop and refine processes during factory artist-exchange projects, and disseminates the resulting information internally and externally through publication, workshops, and lectures. Ted teaches workshops, lectures to a wide range of audiences, and exhibits his work internationally, including at Bullseye Gallery.

Daniel Schwoerer is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin (BS, Civil Engineering; MS, Engineering Mechanics) where he also worked in the art department as graduate assistant to Professor Harvey Littleton in 1968-69. He then moved to Portland, Oregon where he set up a glassblowing studio and later founded Bullseye Glass Co. with partners Ray Ahlgren and Boyce Lundstrom. He and Lundstrom co-wrote Glass Fusing Book One. In addition to his tasks as CEO of Bullseye Glass Co., Schwoerer continues to research and write technical articles on glass and to investigate leading-edge issues in kilnforming.

Erik Whittemore received his BS in Art/sculpture (with a minor in Geology) from Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, and has been working as an instructor/technician at Bullseye since 2004. He teaches Introduction to Kilncast Glass and Cold-Working and Lost Wax Kilncasting and is involved with artist exchange projects and internships. A practicing sculptor, he appreciates the process of gaining empirical knowledge and applying it to technique.

return to top