KOBO Seattle | since 1995

Living with Glass - Garasu to Kurasu ガラスと暮らす

July 31, 2025

Living with Glass - Garasu to Kurasu ガラスと暮らす

August 9 - September 27, 2025  |  KOBO Gallery  |  Japantown
Curated by artist, Sayuri Fukuda, showcasing contemporary glassworks of 22 artists from Seattle, Tacoma & Portland.
Demo & Talk: Saturday, August 30, 2025  |  1:00 - 5:15 PM  |  Pratt Fine Arts Center 
View the Show

The Artists:


Matthew Abadi 
@matthewabadi
matthewabadi.com

Matthew Abadi is a glass artist and designer based in Portland, Oregon, by way of Washington, DC, where, at the age of 27, he first witnessed glass being made by hand. Captivated by the process—and by the warmth and glow of the material in its fluid state—he relocated to the Pacific Northwest to pursue an education in the craft, finding work as a freelance glassmaker, artist assistant, and apprentice.

Matthew believes in the deep relationship that exists between humans and the objects and environments we inhabit. Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as friendship, nature, the built landscape, and the broad field of design, he creates works that highlight the subtle joys of form, color, and surface through the glassblowing process. 

 

 


Levi Belber
@levibelber
Leviglass.com

Levi Belber is a glass artist based in Seattle, Washington. After attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Levi moved to Seattle in 1995 to pursue his interest in studio glass. He has worked as a blown glass fabricator, gaffer, studio assistant, tool maker, and factory worker in the Washington glass community for over 30 years.

Leviglass.com was created to highlight his family of functional glass. His love of food and cooking has inspired him to create colorful products that bring excitement into the home. These new pieces combine his background in traditional studio glass practice with modern factory glass production and automation.

 

 

Morgan Bogart
@graffglassdesign
garretmuseumofart.org

Morgan Bogart is a glass artist based in Tacoma, Washington. In 2002 she earned her BFA in glass art from the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology.  She has worked for an array of artist around the country and owned and operated her own glass studio in Austin, Texas.  After moving back to the Northwest, she stepped away from working with glass full time, but she still enjoys the process.  Her work centers on clean, minimal forms that let color take the spotlight. With an eye for everyday use and a love of simple design, she creates pieces that are beautiful and functional. This collection of cups reflects their thoughtful approach to form, color, and craft.

 

 

Courtney Branam 
courtneybranam.com

Courtney Branam currently lives in Seattle and has worked as a freelance glass blower for over 20 years in numerous studios. When not tending the bonsai collection at The Pacific Bonsai Museum, in Federal Way, WA, Courtney can frequently be found working in the glass studios of The Tacoma Museum of Glass, Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle and Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA. Courtney has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions and has participated workshops, as both teacher and student, all over the world.

 

 

Brandyn Callahan
@brandyn_callahan
brandyncallahan.com

Brandyn Callahan is a glassmaker based in Seattle, WA who focuses on the interaction of glass with other materials such as ceramics, copper, and leather. With a desire to develop a broad understanding of the material, Brandyn continuously hones his diverse skill set by working with leading glass artists such as Martin Blank, Davide Salvadore, and Janusz Pozniak. In addition to his work with others, Brandyn has traveled around the world as an employee of the Corning Museum of Glass and continues to travel as a demonstrating artist and lecturer. In 2023, Brandyn was awarded the Hauberg Fellowship at the Pilchuck Glass School in addition to past residencies at the Corning Museum of Glass and Tacoma Museum of Glass. At home in the Pacific Northwest, Brandyn can often be found producing pieces for artists, designers, and architects.

 

 

Jason Christian
@jasonchrisglass
jasonchristianglassdesigns.com

Jason Christian is a glass artist living in the Seattle area. He was born in 1976 to a metal fabricator and a cardiac nurse. He became involved in glass art at the age of 21- starting as a factory charger, slowly developing his glass knowledge through experience. He has worked with a variety of well-known artists in the Seattle community, including Martin Blank, Preston Singletary, James Mongraine, and Nancy Callan. For almost a decade he has been an integral member of Dale Chihuly’s boathouse team, collaborating and working with international artists, including Pino Singnoretti. His individual work explores the art of reticello, classical Venetian techniques, and modern simplicity. 

 

 

Benjamin Cobb
@bencobb_glass
benjamincobbglass.com

Through 30 years of working in glass, Benjamin Cobb has honed his mastery the material, traveled across the globe, and worked with hundreds of artists. An east-coast transplant, Cobb holds a BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and has been a demonstrating artist at glass studios as far afield as Sweden, the Czech Republic, Italy, and France. He’s taught at Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School, and many other glass programs in the US. He’s a recognizable leader and voice in the glass community, and has contributed to the success of countless works of art. Ben continues to work at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.

In his own work, Cobb draws inspiration from the natural world, as well as scientific process. His work has been exhibited at Museum of Glass and the Museum of Northwest Art in LaConner, WA, and galleries across the country. 

 

 

Nick Davis
nrdglass.com

Nick Davis earned a BFA in Art with an emphasis in Glass from Emporia State University. He has worked as a freelance metalworker and technician, production glassblower, and instructor at institutions such as Pratt Fine Arts and Museum of Glass. In his own work, he uses the fluidity and optically distorting qualities of glass to draw the eye and attention in and around sculptures, often supported or attenuated with fabricated steel elements. In addition to his role at the Museum, Davis creates glassblowing tools for artists around the world.

 

 

Maria Enomoto
@maria_made_a_thing
mariaenomoto,com

Color is my favorite medium. I am not driven by narrative or representation, but by a desire to create works that speak to the everyday, using color as a vehicle to embed meaning into whatever object or image it inhabits.

 

 

Gabe Feenan
@gabefeenan_glass
gabefeenanglass.com

Gabe Feenan began his glass career in 1996 working in production studios in the San Francisco Bay area. He has been a visiting and demonstrating artist at glass studios across the world including Verrerie Pierini in Biot, France, The Glass Factory in Emmaboda, Sweden, and Pilchuck Glass School, to name a few. Elegant and refined, Feenan’s personal work evokes strength and balance with their stacked geometric shapes. Relying on pure ability and technique, Feenan seeks to emphasize the importance of a skilled artist’s hand in a machine-made world. 

 

 

Sayuri Fukuda
@sfykrd

Sayuri Fukuda started studying glass art and craft at Joshibi University of Art and Design, Japan. She worked as a glass artist and as an artist assistant in Glass studios in Japan and England, UK. In 2013, She moved to Seattle, WA. Since then, She has been calling PNW as her home, and working in the community of Glass and craft with joy. Sayuri appreciates the beauty of the material such as functionality, transparency, texture, and momentary memory in Glass.

 

 

Sarah Gilbert
@crashkillbert
sarahgilbertglass.net

I feel it is important to be connected to the subject I am speaking about.  Most often I am referencing photographs I have taken or photos collected from the people I am engraving.  In my narrative works, these spontaneous and momentary photographic moments are indelibly etched in glass, shifting our perception of a modern moment from fleeting to permanent. Traditionally used to document the staid and treasured for a lifetime, I try to utilize cameo engraving techniques to alter the narrative of the modern souvenir.

Originally from Rochester, New York, Gilbert took her first glass class in 2000. She received her BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2005, and in 2006 she moved out to the Pacific Northwest to work as a member of the Museum of Glass Hot Shop team in Tacoma, Washington. She has been there ever since, assisting artists from around the world in making their work in addition to developing her own practice.

 

 

Sean O'Neill
@s.e.a.n.oneill

Sean O'Neill is an artist and educator and has been working with glass in the Seattle area for 20 years. Instrumental in bringing glass to the School of Art at the University of Washington, Sean takes pride in helping to educate the next generation of glass artists. His passion to share beauty manifests through his artwork and the award winning flowers he grows at his home in Bremerton with his wife and two daughters.

 

 

Trenton Quiocho
@trentonquiocho_glass
basoglass.com

Trenton Quiocho is a Filipino-American, Tacoma native who has worked with glass for over 20 years in various capacities. He has held positions as a glassblower, hot shop technician, and teaching artist with organizations including Chihuly, Inc., glassybaby, Hilltop Artists, and Museum of Glass (MOG).

 

 

Lynn Everett Read
@vitreluxe
vitreluxe.com

My work is a conversation between material and idea, where glass serves as both medium and conceptual framework. Rooted in the lineage of functional objects yet untethered from utility, each piece navigates the tension between tradition and contemporary expression. I approach the material with rigor—planning, refining, repeating—until form, color, and process align into something distilled, atmospheric, and enduring.

Influenced by Color Field painting, Bauhaus systems, and the bold silhouettes of the Memphis movement, I work through a language of abstraction. Form is purposeful. Color is choreographed. I draw from textile structures and musical rhythms, finding kinship in systems that build complexity through repetition. My murrine compositions echo patterns found in time, architecture, and nature.

Glass is a demanding partner—volatile, precise, and wholly unforgiving. It requires presence and trust in process. I’ve come to see it not just as a craft, but as a philosophy of making: rooted in discipline, open to improvisation. My objects hold that duality—strict yet playful, abstract yet tactile, graceful yet grounded.

These works are not just artifacts of labor and light, but expressions of a lifelong inquiry: how can we shape meaning through material? What emerges when we hold tension between intention and surrender?   - Lynn Everett Read


 

Brent Rogers & Beccy Feather 
urbanglass.org
beccyfeather.com

Based in the Pacific Northwest, Brent Rogers and Beccy Feather are a collaborative glassmaking duo whose individual practices intersect through a shared commitment to craftsmanship, experimentation, and education. Brent, a Seattle native, brings a foundation in production glassblowing and design from his years at Glass Eye Studio, along with formal training from institutions such as Pratt Fine Art Center and Pilchuck Glass School. Beccy, originally from the UK and now living in Bremerton, Washington, holds an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology and blends flame-working with humor, science, and fine craft.

Together, they combine decades of experience across studio production, teaching, and public engagement. Their collaborative work reflects a balance of technical problem-solving and creative curiosity, drawing from both traditional and contemporary approaches to glass. Whether in the hot shop, classroom, or community setting, Brent and Beccy share a passion for pushing the boundaries of their material—and making the process accessible, thoughtful, and fun.

 



Boyd Sugiki & Lisa Zerkowitz
@twotonestudiosglass
twotonestudios.com

Boyd Sugiki and Lisa Zerkowitz began blowing glass together at Rhode Island School of Design in 1995, where Sugiki earned his MFA in Glass and Zerkowitz an MA in Art Education. Sugiki was first introduced to glass at Punahou High School in Honolulu, HI and went on to earn a BFA from California College of the Arts. Zerkowitz earned a BA in Studio Art from University of California, Santa Barbara. Together they design and produce a line of studio glass in Seattle under the name Two Tone Studios. They have lectured, demonstrated, and taught workshops throughout the US and abroad.

In 2020 they relocated to Toyama, Japan, where Sugiki completed a 4-year contract of Associate Professor of Hot Glass at Toyama Institute of Glass Art in 2024. Simultaneously Zerkowitz served as Secretary of the Glass Art Society board of directors, organizing and implementing their inaugural travel program trip to Japan.


 

Karlie Uphoff
@glass_royale

Karlie Uphoff is a glass artist whose artistic journey began in Illinois, where she earned a BFA in glassblowing from Illinois State University. Excited to begin a new chapter in life, Karlie's passion for glassblowing led her to Seattle, a city known for its vibrant glass art scene and passionate artists. Here, Karlie found the opportunity to further develop as an artist, drawing inspiration from the remarkable creators she encounters every day. Currently, Karlie’s artwork is centered around a crucial topic circulating the country: the social and political battle for a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. Through her art, she seeks to provide a powerful visual representation of the collective fears and uncertainties experienced daily in response to strict regulations controlling women’s reproductive rights and bodily freedom.


 

David Walters 
@davidwaltersglass
davidwaltersglass.com

David Walters, born in Central Pennsylvania in 1968, studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to work with glass masters including Dale Chihuly and Lino Tagliapietra, with whom he collaborated for over 26 years. Known for his unconventional blown glass forms and detailed enamel illustrations, his work draws from fairy tales and personal history to create contemporary allegories. His pieces have been exhibited internationally and are held in both private and museum collections.

 

 

Erich Woll
newyork.winstonwachter.com
Erich Woll has been living and working in the Seattle area for 30 years. His sculptures are held in private and public collections. They have been exhibited nationally and internationally.