Joe Peters
This sandbox is in the article namespace. Either move this page into your userspace, or remove the {{User sandbox}} template.
Gen Bio: Joe Peters (Born November 25, 1983) is an American glass artist who specializes in the sculpture of natural life-forms. An Eagle Scout and scuba diver, Joe has been heavily influenced by wildlife and the natural world since a young age. His solo work and collaborations have been featured in galleries and museums across the United States including Corning Museum Gallery, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Pismo Gallery, Hodgell Gallery, and Dane Gallery. 3
Early Life: Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Peters was active in the local art scene at a young age. 4 While attending Holyoke Community College, Peters began glassblowing and later studied flameworking at Snowfarm, based in Goshen, MA. Drawing on instruction from glass artists such as Robert Burch, Sally Prasch, Milton Townsend, Robert Mickelsen, Emilio Santini, and Loren Stump[ cut several], Joe’s work began to mature and gain recognition in New England. First selling glass pendants and beads at local craft shows, Peters later expanded his work to include sculpture for sale at galleries such as the Don Muller Gallery, Fire and Ice, Dane Gallery and others along the Atlantic Coast.
Furnace and Flame The opportune meeting of Joe Peters and Peter Muller at Snowfarm in 2004 was a pivatol event that sparked a close friendship and collaborative relationship. Furnace and Flame, a collaboration between the two artists began in 2008. The Flow described their collaboration: “Muller’s classic forms are deconstructed and reassembled to create hollows, nooks, stages and platforms. Peters then creates masterful flameworked sculptural elements that interact and become focal points within those forms.”2 Muller and Peters earned several awards together, including Best Glass Piece at the 2012 Niche Awards. Currently, an instillation of coral reef ecosystems is on display at the Boston Children’s Museum.
Solo Career Peters has stated that the goal of each new piece simply to create “some badass artwork, to turn heads and to push the medium further.” According to an interview done by Helloglass, Peters finds that sculpture is the best way to create works that produce emotion. Peters attributes the greatest influence on his work to be from glass artists Robert Michelson and Vittorio Costantini, while he is most impressed by contemporary artists Buck and Banjo. 1. Joe also became established as a flameworking teacher while working at Snowfarm, Corning Glass Museum, and has taught at Penland.
Functional Work In 2012, encouraged by growing international demand for by private collectors and galleries, Peters’s work became increasingly inclusive of functional glass components. In order to be more centrally located to the glass community and to benefit from increased collaborative work, Peters relocated to Evergreen, CO. There, Peters joined the Everdream Studio with other flameworkers, N8, Adam G, WJC, Elbo, and Eusheen. According to OC Weekly, Peters’s 2013 “Side Show” at Goosefire Gallery in Los Angeles drew an international crowd of over 1,500 people, so much so that attendees reportedly had to wait in line for hours. 5.6. Veteran glassblower Derek "DWreck" White compared Peters’s contribution to the functional glass art as Led Zeppelin’s to rock and roll, “He brought the contemporary glassblowing aesthetic and made it functional.” On his own and through collaborative engagements, Peters continues to create pieces for glass enthusiasts nationwide.