Jim Scheller Works

Jim Scheller is a glass artist based in Staunton, Illinois. After living 27 years in his forested home and art studio of Chehalem Mountain Glassworks in Schools, Oregon, Scheller relocated and opened his current studio near his childhood home of Mt. Olive, IL. There, Scheller operates Macoupin Prairie Glassworks, where he has created kilnformed glass art since September of 2018.

Following an extensive career as an engineer and technologist, Scheller discovered glass kilnforming in 2012 and has since been dedicated to this craft and his art. Extensive study of and experimentation with the medium of glass is a passion and healthy addiction for Scheller.  

The artist finds great pleasure in pushing limits and developing new techniques. Employing both “fusing and slumping” and “kiln casting” processes, Scheller’s works of art are composed using glass sheets, comprised of crushed glass (frit) and glass slabs (billets). These sheets are then fired in a kiln at over 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. His fired works in glass are then extensively cold-worked to achieve a refined finish. 

Scheller’s inspiration for his glass cast words comes from a fascination with geometric forms, textures, and colors found in nature. In the creation of his glass vessel designs, Scheller is also highly informed by the simplicity and abstraction of neoplasticism. Pioneered by the Dutch DeStijl movement of the early 20th century, this style of geometric abstraction implemented square forms and primary colors. 

With his background in engineering, Scheller immerses himself and relishes in the process of making—joining glass and using heat and gravity to create art. Jim Scheller invites viewers to see the once molten glass in a new way, as a dance of light and color.