Daniel Read: Glassblower

Daniel Read studied with Dale Chihuly at RISD and continued on as a member of Chihuly's glassblowing team for twelve years. He has taught workshops at Haystack, Pilchuck, Horizons, RISD, MIT, and private studios. Read has received grants from the Massachusetts Arts Council and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. His work has been exhibited at the New Bedford (Massachusetts) Glass Museum, the Lyman Allyn Art Museum and the MIT Museum.

Daniel's decorative technique evolved to have a body wrap consisting of two colors mixed just so and applied to the parison at the bench, usually with 9 revolutions. He then grabs three lines and gives a half twist. This is done in three sets of three so there are nine twists in all. The parison is free blown, that is blown off-hand, not in a mold, into the appropriate size sphere onto which the foot is cast. The cast-on foot adds a fresh gather of glass with no chill marks from a cut off sheer. The foot is shaped, the parison puntied, lip-wrap applied, then opened and shaped to the final shape. Each piece is unique. They are siblings because Read does not use a mold in the blowing.

The cast-on foot is a unique feature of the line. This technique was taught to Read by his second master Robie Mason who apprenticed in Edinburgh, Scotland and is the Master at Pairpoint Glassworks on Cape Cob.

Each of Daniel's hand-blown glass bowls is shaped by hand. All works are signed and numbered with the year, month, day and number of each piece during that day.