BRIAN BRENNO

I was first introduced to glass blowing in 1981 while attending a stained glass class at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood,  WA, I was hooked and have been involved with blown glass since. In 1985 I received a BFA degree in glass from California College of Arts and Crafts. For the next ten years I worked for Dale Chihuly on his glass blowing team. In 1997 I built a glass blowing studio on Vashon Island,  WA.

Since 1989 I have been working on a series of blown glass hats. After working with Italian masters, Lino Tagliapieatra and Pino Signoretto,  I began to use the hat shape to combine the techniques I learned and to explore a combination of fashion and decorative objects. 

Inspired by contemporary folk and outsider art I had seen in exhibits at the Mia Gallery in Seattle I started a series of images made from cut up pop and beer can pieces, nailed to plywood, in 2011. Using pop and beer cans provides an amazing palette to create with. I build an image from a photo, the cans are cut up into mosaic pieces and nailed piece by piece, layer by layer to create the image. I like being able to use the colors and text on the cans to create texture and depth. Many of the scenes I create are historical sites that still live and breathe keeping history alive for me, and I hope for the viewer too. 

I had shoulder surgery several years ago, as a way to ease back into the physically demanding glass blowing process, I began a series of blown glass garden flowers. The garden flowers led to a new recycled product of garden pendants made from