After completing seven years of undergraduate and graduate
study in Fine Art, Thomas Kite earned his final degree in Printmaking. However, he
had become more and more involved in applying Printmaking
processes to working glass so that the major works of his Graduate
Thesis Exhibition were sculptural- employing large
acid-etched glass
panels. This lead him to open a studio/gallery in New England during the
latter part of the 1970s.
Over the next 15 years, he immersed himself first in mastering
various
glass cold
working techniques and then in combining glass and other media such as stone
and metal into more
three dimensional expression.
During this time, he created hundreds of works, completed numerous private and commercial
commissions, and was represented for several years by Hobe Sound
Galleries North, part of Midtown Payson Galleries in New York.
For most of these years, the Art Glass Movement in the United States was
yet to take hold, so he did his research and acquired skill alone, building
his own glass engraving equipment, and perfecting techniques through trial
and error.
"In the 70's and 80's, I was a fulltime artist. Among other
things, I built a stone wheel glass lathe and setup a rig for
brilliant
cutting large glass panels.
At first, I set a goal to
recreate the Victorian style cut glass
panels popular in the 1800's. I wanted to take it farther, but became more interested
in the rich possibilities of working
glass with other media. So, I abandoned
putting further effort into it.
In the late '80s, opportunities lead
me away from Art. A couple of years ago it became clear, if I was ever going to dust them off, it better be now."
-Thomas Kite
In 2004, Thomas created Thos. Kite Design, Inc. to pick up where
he left off over 15 years ago.
"It's taken a few years to get started again, mainly because setting
up a studio takes a great deal of time- finding the right
equipment, then making it work. Also, there was the mental
transition from my day job in computers back to Art as well as the
brush up on old skills like glass engraving.
The goal I've set for myself is to do things I didn't do before. Before, I was into hot glass work on a very limited
basis- now that has
already changed.
Before, many of the experimental pieces were smaller. Now, the focus
is exploring
a larger scale and taking
bigger risks.
A rigger once told me that the best knot is one that is both very
strong and still unties easily after being under great stress. It
won't let go until you want it to. So hard times may shape us to be
like better knots? At least for me, past difficulty seems to have
informed the objects I make in mostly positive ways- some of which
only become evident over time and with letting go.
Now, the whole thing is about being
transparent to the Art making. And that's something I didn't fully understand
20 years ago."
-Thomas Kite
Other than his studio in Seattle Washington, this Web site is the
best place to track future directions or
contact Thomas.
Recent study :
School of Glasswork Abate Zanetti, Murano, Italy-
Lampworking Solid Forms/Sculpture
Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, Washington, USA-
Advanced Cold Working
Hotshop Glass Casting
Advanced Fusing
Previous Academic study :
SUNYA, Albany, New York, USA-
MA Printmaking
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada-
BFA Printmaking
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