Art Glass by Kevin O'Grady

“Each one of my pieces is a one of a kind, signed, hand worked original made solely by me using no apprentices. My inspiration for colors and designs come mostly from nature. Such things are feathers and water as well as flowers and galactic stars can be seen in my work. Artists such as Monet, Escher and Matisse also inspire me.

“I started making marbles in 1993. In the winter of ‘93 Lewis Wilson and I were in Quartzsite, Arizona attending a rock and mineral show where we met Mark Capel and his father Jerry Capel. Mark, his father, and Lewis were “old school” boro workers making “carnival” glass objects. Lewis had just started to make his bead making videos and was very interested in teaching lampworking. I had already set up a successful business of making glass bracelets. This is how we struck up a relationship with Mark and his father. In the evenings after the shows, we spent time playing on the torch where Mark showed us how he was making marbles. To my knowledge, Mark was the first to make lamp worked borosilicate marbles, an idea which he shared with Lewis and me on those crazy nights in Quartzsite. I was fascinated by what Mark had showed me and I was hooked on the challenge of making marbles. That year I experimented and made hundreds of different kinds of marbles. I made everything from pinwheel designs to dichroic galaxies, to ribbons and more. I attempted to do a face cane marble. That first, rather crude, face cane is now part of the Corning Glass Museums’ collection. In 1993, inspired by the Hulet sisters face cane marbles, I attempted to achieve the same thing in borosilicate and struggled with success. While trying to put the cane into the marble without distortion, I kept pulling the cane to the back of the marble to straighten it out, what I discovered was the early version of the vortex. Over the years I taught and demonstrated the vortex technique which now has become a borosilicate “standard”.

“I learned to love working glass while employed by Ann Miller Wearable Glass in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the late 80’s. It was with her initial bracelet making instruction that I found my passion. I soon left her company to explore all the ideas in my head. I have since built my business and reputation on my unique glass cuff bracelets. But those early days in dusty Quartzsite, making marbles with Mark and Lewis under that moonlit desert sky have always haunted me and I have continued to chase my marble dreams.”