Jon Kuhn

Jon Kuhn originally studied ceramic art and received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University before becoming one of the world’s leading cold glass artists. Today, his architectural glass sculptures are renowned among connoisseurs and collectors alike for their intricacy and intense beauty.

For Kuhn, the refracted light radiating from within his work and refracting against external surfaces represents a spiritual force. He has said that his “philosophical expression in glass has always been a reflection of my interest in eastern mysticism. Recently it has come to focus on the inspiration from several personal meditative experiences. For specific subject matter, I make reference to my interests in architecture, music, mathematics, and textiles, as well as the formal considerations of structure and color. The pieces, in a sense, become architectural models for an inner world, possibly a better world.”

Unlike the majority of glass art that is created through the manipulation of molten material, Jon Kuhn’s cold glass artistry involves the complex cutting, polishing, gluing, and laminating of thousands of small pieces. The resulting sculptures are constructed from the inside out, faceted like a fine diamonds and naturally illuminated from deep within. Often set on slowly turning pendulums, the glittering sculptures are ever-evolving prisms of rainbow-colored light bouncing around the room. Such technical feats are enhanced by Kuhn’s use of customized industrial strength grinding and polishing machinery, computer-controlled saws, and a gifted team of artisans, craftsmen, engineers, machinists and glass technicians who all work in service of the artist’s vision.

Jon Kuhn’s glass sculptures are featured in over forty public collections including: the White House Collection and Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC); the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY); and the Vatican Museums. He lives in Winston-Salem, NC.