William Morris lays down the pipe

At the age of 49, after almost thirty years at the furnace, William Morris, he of the detailed historical and archeologically referenced work, his homages to ancient and historical peoples, has decided to call it quits. Morris was an art student, who took a job at Pilchuck as a truck driver in 1977. Not long after, he was given the job of head gaffer for Pilchuck’s founder Dale Chihuly, who became his mentor and close friend.....and the rest as they say, is history. “With unmatched technical virtuosity, Morris helped push American glassblowing beyond a fixation on shiny perfect vessels. He coaxed molten glass into forms that more closely resembled bone, wood, antler or ceramic.” This past spring, Morris sent a letter to his dealers with the unexpected announcement of his retirement.

On July 25th he turned 50, and is happily and fortunately positioned to begin a different journey. Urbanglass reached him at his home in Hawaii, where he spends time “surfing, diving and paragliding.” He also has cabins in Washington State near his violinist son and dancer daughter. He’s “carving wood for fun and imagines he’ll always spend time making things, just not for sale. Success was absolutely amazing he says, a complete blessing. It’s a strange thing to walk away from.”

A documentary on Morris by the New York production Company Spot Creative will be released this year. See a clip at spotcreative.com. See the complete article by critic James Yood in Glass the Urban Glass Art Quarterly Summer 2007.