Biography
Steven Ciezki grew up in Calumet City, Illinois. He started drawing in 1995 at the age of seven. This talent helped him discover glass as a sculptural material in college. Steven graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Illinois State University in 2012. Two years later, he received a residency at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass to experiment with complex techniques in the hotshop. This resulted in solo exhibitions in Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH. After moving to Arizona, teaching opportunities informed the creation of a new glassblowing technique book. Steven published “Life on the Rails” in May of 2017. He has been invited as an artist and teacher to studios in Belgium, Turkey, and Japan and was the first international artist to receive the Art Group Creative Fellowship at Canberra Glassworks in Australia. Steven currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona where he is a practicing glass artist, author, and illustrator.
Artist Statements
Sweet Spot
I use glass as a canvas to capture light in scenes that both extend and compress space. This movement within depth places the viewer in a perceptual limbo between two and three dimensions. Pattern, shape, and color blend with glass to exist in this midway state: the Sweet Spot.
Stacks and Towers
With a nod to the past, this series is based upon my technical development as a glassblower. The Stacks emerged as a reaction to Venetian glass from the Renaissance. The silhouettes of goblet stems informed large sculptures to celebrate a rich history.
The shift in scale felt architectural. Childhood visits to Chicago introduced me to urban architecture. I remember being visually stimulated by buildings that divided space into layers of hard-edged shapes. The Stacks became Towers when building profiles started to influence the designs.
© 2020 Steven Ciezki Glass
