1952 - 2021

Benjamin Moore was a pioneer in American glassblowing. He was introduced to glass at the California College of Arts and Crafts while studying under Marvin Lipofsky. In 1974 he became Dale Chihuly’s first assistant and from 1974-1987 was Pilchuck Glass School’s creative and educational director. Moore went on to pursue his MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design. Unsatisfied with the American style of glass training where students follow the instructor’s example, Moore moved to Venice, Italy. He began his apprenticeship at the Venini with Checco Ongaro working as a glassworker and was soon asked to contribute his own designs. In 1980 he brought the Italian master Lino Tagliapietra to Pilchuck. Influenced by Venetian traditions in glass, he relies on simple, clean shapes in pure color and very little surface decoration. Benjamin Moore was a key player in establishing Seattle as a center for contemporary glass. He was a designer for the Venini Studio in Murano, Italy, on the faculty of the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, Massachusetts, and served as both a faculty member and Trustee Board Member at the Pilchuck Glass School.

Moore’s love and appreciation for classical technique and design are apparent in his Interior Fold, Exterior Fold, and Palla series, all of which utilize elegantly traditional methods of decorative form. His work can be found worldwide in collections in Bavaria, Denmark, Austria, and Japan, as well as in the Venini Collection in Murano, Italy and in such American collections as the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, the American Craft Museum, New York, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia.