Michael Bokrosh - Studio Art Glass

Desert Sky [filesize 13K]

Michael Bokrosh was born in 1953 in Minnesota. His father was a master glass craftsman for over 50 years. By the age of 14, young Michael began his apprenticeship under the guidance of his father at Zeno glass company in Mankato, Minnesota.

Through out his late teens and early twenties, Bokrosh continued to work in glass, venturing out to other companies adding various techniques of cold and hot working to his repertoire of skills.

In 1978, Bokrosh had the great fortune to meet George Smolcic, old world master of engraved and beveled art glass. His new mentor offered the opportunity for Bokrosh to travel to Europe and train in Yugoslavia with the elder Duro Smolcic, and then eventually in Orrefors, Sweden.

For Bokrosh, he always considered himself to be a glass blower, having learned glass blowing from his Dad, and admiring those skills he grew up around. Yet, in Sweden, Bokrosh realized his true talent and creative heart lay in cold working. This realization was to become a major emotional conflict for Bokrosh. The conflict sprang from the mental and emotional image he had of himself as a flashy and exciting hot glass artist. Cold work, on the other hand, was tedious, solitary and often grueling work. Still, the cold working artisan has the ability to put the creative process on hold at any time while turning his critical eye to the unfolding sculptural process. The patient methodology required for cold working better suited the artist