Ethan Stern

Born in Ithaca, New York, Ethan Stern currently lives in Los Angels, CA. He earned his Associates degree in Ceramics at TAFE College in Brisbane Australia and his BFA in Sculpture and Glass from Alfred University. Stern’s work is widely exhibited and is held in the collections of The Museum of Glass in Tacoma Washington, The Eboltoft Glass Museum in Denmark, The Museum of American Glass in New Jersey and The Palm Springs Art Museum. Ethan has taught sculpture at the University of Washington, Pilchuck Glass School, Pratt Fine Arts Center, The Penland School of Craft and the Pittsburgh Glass Center.

Pushing glass beyond the anatomy of the vessel, Ethan Stern’s work is an ongoing exploration of abstraction, color, texture and light. While glass typically reflects light and has an inherently shiny and dense appearance, He is drawn to a richer, more luminous effect that can be achieved by carving and engraving the surface. These engraved marks, like the stroke of a paintbrush on canvas or a finger pushed into clay; leave evidence of the Artists hand and are undeniably connected to his process and the nature of the material itself. The imagery employed on the surface of Ethan’s works stands as a fictitious but recognizable deconstruction of landscape, topography and coastline, familiar only in its similarity to existing vistas and eroded urban geography.