Robert Stephan - Studio Art Glass

Dichroic Obelisk

9.25 inches tall by 4 inches wide by 3.5 inches deep

Robert Stephan was born in California in 1949. After a stint in the Navy, Stephan earned a B.F.A. in Art from Florida Atlantic University working in ceramics and glass, and an M.F.A. in Crafts from Virginia Commonwealth University in glass.

Glass becomes alive in the hands of Robert Stephan. Stephan, a Master Glassblower, has been exploring the possibilities of glass, light, color and form for nearly 30 years. Working with cold glass (stained glass) in 1971, Stephan was immediately intrigued with glass and all its properties of light and color. Stephan soon found his way to the hot glass studio, making his own equipment and developing new ideas as he went along. Today, Stephan's work is the perfect marriage of hot and cold glass techniques, maintaining his position on the cutting edge of art-glass. Robert Stephan's work is respected and represented across the globe.

Stephan's interest in art glass began in 1971 as he began working with stained glass while still in the Navy. Later while doing independent study in an undergraduate ceramics program he convinced the instructor to allow him to explore glassblowing. He taught himself the fundamentals of hot glass with a furnace he constructed out of an old fifty-five gallon steel drum. His fascination with this unique and diverse medium grew and led to graduate work with Kent Ipsen."

Stephan opened his first glass studio in 1979. To this day he finds it is an exciting challenge to combine the varying factors of hot glass-light, color, form, and transparency into each piece.

His work is directed toward using internal iridescent forms and air inclusions. "It's my desire to involve the viewer in exploring the interior/exterior design. I see the chromatics and configurations as a reflection of a redeemed creation with its order and vibrant energy, from God who thought it good to give beauty to humanity."

Recently, in design collaboration with his wife Margaret, Stephan has adapted the process of applying his own uniquely patterned high-tech optical filter coatings, "dichroics", onto the surfaces and/or interiors of 3-dimensional blown, carved, and laminated glass sculptures. These optical coatings produce dramatic kinetic color shifts, which actively involve the viewer with the work.

To do this, Stephan uses optical glass that is heated to its molten temperature and then formed to the desired geometric shape (obelisk, sphere or triangle). Layers of dichroic glass are added through a complex process of slicing, layering and polishing.

The Obelisk is a favorite shape for Stephan to work in. The shape allows freedom and flexibility in the design and the play of light on the various surfaces he creates within the shape. These layers are created as Stephan carefully and expertly bonds dichroic glass onto layers within the Obelisk shape. Once polished, the piece is alive with color, texture and form from the core to the outer edges. The precise use of the dichroic glass is the key element to Robert's work. Many artists become overzealous with the use of dichroic, and rightfully so. However, such overuse is often hard on the eyes. In Robert Stephan's hands, the understanding of the complexities of dichroic is what separates him from the others.

"At the end of my undergraduate program I had an opportunity to combine my interests in flat glass and ceramics with kilns, chemicals and three dimensional forms by experimenting with blown glass. I taught myself the fundamentals of hot glass and fabricated my first furnace from a fifty-five gallon steel drum. This led to a more technically sophisticated and intensive investigation during graduate studies. My fascination with this unique medium involves manipulating a hot fluid mass into a finished glass form as it cools and becomes a solid. In addition, the real challenge is to successfully combine the other varying factors of blown glass, transparency, light and color all into one finished piece."

Robert Stephan has achieved a fresh new style into the glass medium by using internal colors of dichroic glass and air inclusions as integral elements of his designs. Each piece is a unique object, a statement of the artist's joy in creating it and the beauty inherent in God's world.