parts of a whole…

March 28, 2020

To stay connected with the creative spirit that sustains us through difficult times, and to support our gallery friends, artists, and their families, STUDIO FOCUS takes you inside the minds and studios of our artists. We hope that in them you will find places of art, reflection, joy, and contemplation. Like Richard Royal’s Geometric series, we are all parts of a whole coming together in community.

Richard Royal on his Geometric series….

“I've worked in glass for thirty years and for a good portion of that, I've focused on making large-scale sculptural objects that have deeply personal roots. A reoccurring theme is one of the relationships of individual parts, in a whole.

The Geometric Series is an exploration into the theory that all things have a geometric significance or a mathematical sequence. Often this sequence builds on itself. If you break objects down, eventually you will find a geometric structure in the essence, whatever it is. My vision is to create organic sculpture using rigid components to portray this concept of growth and clarity in form.”

What Richard Royal had to say about his Aperture series….

“The birth of my son Adrian changed every aspect of my life, what's important and the re-prioritizing that occurs. This work is not so much about my son but what his presence has done to my perspectives and values. I feel he is a window to my soul and I choose to acknowledge that through some of these pieces. I want to focus on purity of form and fluid continuity, a connectedness of sorts, which relays the power of the sight and sounds of Adrian.”

Richard Royal working on Apropos at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Filmed by Derek Klein.

Creating the Optic Lens during the June 2016 Glass Weekend. A SCHANTZ GALLERIES PRESENTATION, filmed and produced by Jeff Masotti, Rock Star Videos.

Richard Royal, a faculty member of the Pilchuck Glass School, has pushed the limits of large scale blown glass sculpture for the past twenty five years. Richard was the first Artist in Residence at the Waterford Crystal Factory in Waterford, Ireland in 1998 and 1999. His work is included in numerous permanent museum collections including the Mint Museum of Art and Crafts in Charlotte, North Carolina; the Daiichi Museum in Nagoya, Japan; and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia.

A past grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Arts, Richard has recently served as a visiting artist at the Corning Museum of Glass, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Ohio State University and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  His work is also represented in numerous international public and private collections including the IBM Collection, the Safeco Collection, and the Westinghouse Collection in Muskegan, Michigan.