Zachary Jorgenson Works

Zachary Jorgenson grew up in the countryside west of Portland, Oregon. As a child, Zachary and his family lived in New Hampshire. Then in Ireland for three years. While in Europe he visited many art and natural history museums in a variety of countries. As a late teenager he returned to Germany with a friend for two months, together they explored the castles & countryside of Germany, Italy and France. His experiences there and his encounters with the people and cultures have influenced and helped shape his perspective on life.

Zachary Jorgenson began exploring glass in 1999. After two years Zachary and Chelsea moved from Portland, Oregon to Tucson, Arizona and quickly integrated into the desert glass community. He expanded his knowledge base by learning furnace glass blowing techniques at Philabaum Studios. Intrigued by the larger scale and teamwork of furnace glass he soon got a job on the production team. He helped start up Sonoran Glass Academy, taught offhand glassblowing classes at night and taught weekend lampworking classes, while he continued to sculpt over the open flame in his home studio. During this time he had the opportunity to learn from many visiting glass maestros including Michael Schunke, Wes Hunting, Shane Fero, Lucio Bubacco and Lynn Read.

In 2002 while having success with lampworked sculpture, Zachary took a class with Loren Stump to learn more about murrine. In 2004 he refined his focus to lampworked murrine, marbles and paperweights. He continues to explore his interests in glass imagery and pattern. He creates images at the torch, building one component at a time, stretching them down to size, and melting them all together to create a larger image. These canes which are called “murrine” can take from days to months to complete depending on their complexity. Jorgenson is among a small handful of people currently working in this highly specialized glassworking technique. In 2011 he won the Glasscraft Emerging Artist Award for up and coming flameworking artists who are recognized for their technical and artistic innovation in the field.