Nick Leonoff

Nick began working with glass as an apprentice to Alan Masaoka, a stained glass artist in 1998. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Pepperdine University in 2002. Nick returned to glass in 2004 when Alan Masaoka introduced him to glass blowing. He has studied at numerous Craft Schools around the country including Pilchuck Glass School, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and the Studio at Corning. He has studied with many notable artists including Davide Salvedore, Martin Janecky, Jack Wax and Jiri Harcuba, to learn his craft and develop his skills. Luminescent qualities of glass appeal to Nick Leonoff as it responds to light. He's drawn to the potential of a material that can vary from a translucent to an opaque medium in a brilliant range of colors and gradations.

He creates blown glass using Swedish overlay techniques layering colored glass in the walls and on the surface of the glass forms. He carves the surface of the pieces with diamond wheels to remove layers of glass and expose colors within the piece. The blown pieces become the canvas for the carving process and the carving becomes the core of the design in each piece.

Through this coldworking process he's been able to explore the potential of the material and focus his artistic vision.
 "I am creating a relationship between the interior and exterior by juxtaposing opaque and translucent, glossy & matte, with light and dark. The balance that is revealed connects the conscious with the subconscious as the voice of the material emerges through the reflections of light".