Ryan Staub Works

Biography

Born in Seattle, Washington, Ryan Staub was originally introduced to glass art at a young age. As he began to develop his craft, he completed studies in political science and modern languages at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Staub's glass education comes from years of exposure to studio and factory work. He has trained with the world's most renowned glass artists and master glassblowers in the Seattle area and also abroad through his extensive travels. He teaches private glassblowing workshops at studios in Norway and Denmark and previously served as the resident artist at Gler i Bergkvik in Reykjavik, Iceland, Glashuset in Malmo Sweden, and at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo Ohio. Staub has provided teaching and training support and translation at two of the most prestigious glass schools in the world, the Scuola Del Vetro Abate Zanetti in Murano, Italy and the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington.

Staub's work has been included in numerous museum and display collections worldwide.

Artist’s Statement

Glass is a medium of many facets. It at the same time and to the same degree represents to me a technical obsession, a format for personal expression and an amalgamation of function and art.

I draw inspiration and influence from my travels, the things I see and people I meet. I am most influenced by the Venetian tradition of glassblowing. I have worked with several Venetian Masters and am well versed in the traditional techniques. I challenge myself both to modify these techniques, using them in new ways, and to master them in their traditional format. By mastering them I am part of a family of artists and artisans whose history is traced back to ancient Egypt. By modifying them, I am part of the tidal wave of innovation that has changed the face of art glass so dramatically in the last forty years.

Glass, as we work it, is a liquid. It is amorphous and entropic down to its molecular level. To harness its fluidity, one must control it, and to control it, one must let it be fluid. These symbiotic contradictions in both the forming and the nature of the medium inform my work. My work is about showing these contradictions and using them. My work combines the art and love of process with idea. My work is about the whole and not knowing. My work blurs the line between art and craft.