Bandhu Dunham
I always wanted to be a mad scientist or an alchemist. By fifteen, I had an extensive chemistry lab in my parents’ basement. Since the beakers at the hobby store were never cool-looking enough, I taught myself the basics of lampwork glassblowing. Later, I dropped out of Chemical Engineering at Princeton to become an artist.
Whimsy and elegance are the yin and yang of the functional work; the goblets display a childlike delight or playful combinations of forms. Many of the sculptural pieces seem to carry scars, implying growth over time or an unspoken history. The patterns of Nature and Nature’s effects on man-made structures fascinate me. I express my experience of the natural world by incorporating odd juxtapositions and bending forms to follow my quirky sensibility.
I find glass the perfect medium for this kind of work: its fluidity, malleability, and paradoxical nature bring out the mysterious parts of myself that I seek to explore and express through art. I enjoy and have pursued lampworking since 1975 because of its immediacy and practicality. The beauty, transparency, and fragility of glass are especially well-suited for exploring the themes that interest me.
Fanciful steam engines and other kinetic sculptures represent a full turn of the circle, back to the colorful, elemental mysteries that captivated my childhood self. He’s still in there, and he wants you to come play, too.
An internationally respected glass artist, author and teacher, Bandhu’s work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums in the US and abroad, and his Contemporary Lampworking books are the authoritative, standard instructional texts in the field.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1959, Bandhu began to teach himself lampwork technique in 1975, while still in high school. As an undergraduate at Princeton, he received informal training from the University’s glassblower before completing his apprenticeship under American and European masters at Urban Glass, the Pilchuck Glass School and the Penland School of Crafts. He regularly teaches workshops at craft schools and private studios around the United States and internationally, including the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, The Penland School of Crafts and the Pilchuck Glass School. Bandhu has been a Visiting Foreign Instructor at Osaka University of Arts in Osaka, Japan, and has presented his work at numerous international conference,s including The Glass Art Society, Ausglass, The International Festival of Glass, Kobe Lampwork Festa and Glassymposium Lauscha.
The Corning Museum of Glass; Kobe Lampwork Glass Museum, Kobe, Japan; Enigma Restaurant; Athanor, Inc.; Niijima Glass Art Center, Niijima, Japan; Sphere Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Museum für Glaskunst, Lauscha, Germany; Museum of Arts and Design (Formerly American Craft Museum); Osaka University of Arts Museum;
Selected Private Collections: Robin Anderson; Curtis Brock; Dale Chihuly; Shane Fero; Suellen Fowler; Brian Kerkvliet; Pavel Molnar; Marilyn & Steven Neulander; Jonathan Richman; Ginny Ruffner; Lewis C. Wilson.
2014: Glassmakers (Phoenix Airport Museum, Phoenix AZ)
2014: Hsinchu City International Glass Art Festival, (Hsinchu City Glass Museum, Taiwan)
2013: Life Forms (Web exhibition)
2013: Ceci N’est Pas Une Pipe (Seattle Center on Contemporary Art)
2013: STEAM Off (Philabaum Gallery, Tucson, AZ)
2012: Flow: 10 Years of Glass at Mesa Arts Center (Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ)
2012: Arizona Valentine (Phoenix Airport Museum, Phoenix, AZ)
2011: A Legacy of Fine Craft (Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, CT)
2010: Playing With Fire (Philabaum Gallery, Tucson, AZ)
2010: Mechanics of the Imagination (Prescott College, Prescott, AZ)
2010: Momentum (Tempe Public Galleries, Tempe, AZ)
2010: Playing With Fire (Philabaum Gallery, Tucson, AZ)
2010: Mechanics of the Imagination (Prescott College, Prescott, AZ)
2010: Momentum (Tempe Public Galleries, Tempe, AZ)
2009: International Hot Glass Invitational (Las Vegas, NV)
2009: Craftsmanship 2009 (Arizona State University, Tempe AZ)
2009: Contemporary Flamework (Wheaton Arts Gallery, Millville, NJ)
2009 Governor’s Arts Award Glass Artist Exhibit , (Mesa Art Center, Mesa AZ)
2008: Behold The Brilliance (Cattletrack Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ)
2008: Playful Mystique (Solo exhibit; Phoenix Airport Museum, Phoenix, AZ)
2008: Steep In Thought (Teapot exhibition, Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA)
2007: Kobe Biennale: International Lampwork Competition (Invited Artist) (Kobe, Japan)
2007: Cheers! A MAD Collection of Goblets (Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY)
2006: Color and Movement (NAU Art Museum, Flagstaff, AZ)
2006: Passing the Torch (Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, CT)
2006: Glass Art Association of Canada (Red Deer, Alb., Canada)
2006: 2d Invitational Glass Exhibition (Venice Art Center, Venice FL)
2005: Glass Metal Wood (Phoenix Airport Museum)
2005: Solo Exhibition (Yuma Fine Art Museum, Yuma, AZ)
2004: Summer Instructor Show (Pittsburgh Glass Center)
2004: Solo Show (Mountain Artists Gallery, Prescott, AZ)
2004: North American Glass 2004 (Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT)
2004: International Glassymposium Lauscha (Lauscha, Germany)
2003: Glass Weekend (Creative Glass Center of America, Millville, NJ)
2004: International Glass Collectors Exhibition (Global Art Venue, Seattle, WA)
2003: Solo Exhibition (Parada Gallery, Prescott, AZ)
2002: Magic of the Lamp (Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY)
2002: Goblet Invitational (Kittrell/Riffkind Gallery, Dallas, TX)
2002: Instructors Exhibition (Penland School Gallery, Penland, NC)
2001: Regions of the Flame II (Philabaum Gallery, Tucson, AZ)
2001: Passing the Torch (West End Gallery, Corning, NY)
2001: Instructors Exhibition (Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass)
2000: Niijima International Festival Exhibition (Tokyo)
2000: Recollection & Recognition (Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix)
2000: Glass Art Association of Canada (Red Deer College)
2000: When It Melts, It Pours (Shemer Art Center, Phoenix)
