(Panamanian, 1952)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2012 - “Craft Embracing the World” Cheongju International Craft Competition
Prize Winners Korea Craft Museum, Cheongju, South Korea
2012 - “Introspectus” Foster White Gallery, Seattle, Wash.
2011 - “Retrospect/Prospect”, Foster White Gallery, Seattle, Wash.
2009 - “Incise”, Foster White Gallery, Seattle , Wash.
“2009 Cannon/Bullock Paper Works Invitational,” Museo, Langley, WA
2008 - “Patterns and Rhythms” Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles CA
Group Show, Judy Youens Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
“Recent Work” Soloman/Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2007 - “Small Works”, Group show, Solomon/Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA
“Cheongju International Craft Biennale,” Juried show,
Cheongju City, Korea
“Mise en place,” Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA
Glass 2007, Concept Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2006 - Solo Show, Butters Gallery, Portland, OR
“The Eccentric Vessel,” Group Show, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI
2005 - “Cheongju International Craft Biennale,” Juried show, Cheongju City, Korea
“Lifecycle,” Solo show of new work, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA
2003 - Center on Contemporary Art, Exhibition co-sponsored by CoCA and Pilchuck
School, Seattle, WA
2002 - Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition, Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue, WA
Solo Show, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA
Solo Show, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
2001 - Solo Show, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA
2000 - “New Work,” Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR
“Synergy 2000,” group show, Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
1999 - European Art and Craft, Pavillon Josephine, Strasbourg, France
Group show of instructors, C.E.R.F.A.V., Centre Europeén de Recherches et de Formation aux Arts Verriers. Vannes-le-Châtel, France.
“Recent Work,” John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
“Materials: Hard & Soft,” Greater Denton Art Council, Denton, TX
1998 - “The Vessel,” Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC
“North American Glass 98,” The Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT
“Painted Glass,” Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR, Group Glass Show,
Solo Show, Foster/White Gallery, Kirkland, WA
1997 - “Recent Constructions,” Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA
“Art glass ’97,” Hanson’s Art Gallery, Knoxville, TN
1996 - “The Evolution of Glass,” Archer Gallery, Clark College, Vancouver, WA
Solo Show, Foster/White Gallery, Kirkland, WA
Group Glass Show, Foster/White Gallery, Kirkland, WA
1994 - “The Beauty of Painted Glass: New Directions in the Northwest,” Bellevue
Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
1993 - Group Glass Show, Foster/White Gallery, Kirkland, WA
Solo Show, Foster/White Gallery, Kirkland, WA
“Recent Work by Gallery Artists,” Foster/White Gallery, Kirkland, WA
1992 - “The Cutting Edge: Modern Approaches to Enameling,” Frye Art Museum,
Seattle, WA
Solo Show, Art Elements Gallery, Meguen, WI
1991 - Solo Show, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA
Southwest Annual Group Show, Philabaum Glass Gallery, Tucson, AZ
World Glass Exhibition 2, Gallery Nakama, Sapporo, Japan
1989 - Foster/White Gallery at Frederick & Nelson, Seattle, WA
Northwest Annual Juried Show, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
1988 - Northwest Artists Group Show, The Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1985 - Contemporary Studio Glass Exhibit, Redding Museum, Redding, CA
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:
Bank of New York-Mellon , Harrisburg,PA
Di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA
Boeing Corporation, Chicago, IL
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Perkins Coie Law Offices, Portland, OR
Museum of American Glass, Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ
City of Cheongju, Cheongju, SOUTH KOREA
Niijima Glass Museum, Niijimamura, Tokyo, JAPAN
FELLOWSHIPS/AWARDS:
2007 - Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Gold Prize, Cheongju City, Korea
2006 - Bay Area Glass Institute, 2006 Jurors’ Choice Award, San Jose, CA
2005 - Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Silver Prize, Cheongju City, Korea
2005 - Museum of Glass, Artist in Residency, Tacoma, WA
2003 - John Hauberg, Fellowship Recipient, Pilchuck Glass School, WA
1992 - Creative Glass Center of America, Fellowship Recipient, Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ
1982 - Juried Show of Northern California Artists, Merit Award, Creative Arts Center, Chico,
CA
1982 - “California Works,” Honorable Mention, California State Fair, Sacramento, CA
PUBLICATIONS:
2005 - Urban Glass Art Quarterly, #100 Fall 2005, “The Informalist,” by Matthew Kangas
2001 - La revue de la Ceramique et du Verre, Issue #121, “Portrait: John de Wit” by Thierry de
Beaumont
1992 - Glasswork Magazine, Nov. Issue #13, “High-Fire Enamels,” by Dick Weiss
1991 - Glasswork Magazine,#8, “Glass Painters in the Northwest,” by Dick Weiss
1990 - Glass Art Magazine, July/August, p. 76
1990 - Glasswork Magazine
"When I began my art journey 35 years ago, glass as a medium was still considered a craft material. My professors at the time were clay artists. It was an unlikely union but, with time, glass matured as my material of choice. Along the way I have incorporated and developed techniques to allow dimension and uniqueness to the glass possibility.
I have primarily engaged myself for the last 25 years using the vessel as a canvas, using its sculptural potential to pivot the viewer beyond the commonplace. My interest is in the container as the emblem of domestic activity and by applying an abstracted functionality, creating a surface for narrative and decorative application; and expanding the context of purpose.
What I draw inspiration from is quite varied: African objects, Japanese and Korean Ceramics, Persian and Indian metalwork. Among contemporary artists, the painters Motherwell, Frankenthaler, and Rauschenerg and the sculptor Martin Puryear are the masters who I appreciate. To describe a theme or thread in my work, I would suggest that it has been the discipline to pursue a road less traveled; Many of the techniques I use are a result of my own development.
Combining the painting techniques I have developed with hybridized Swedish and Italian glass blowing processes, the vessels and objects I have produced reflect an interest in glass transcending its common purpose and achieving a sculptural possibility."
-DeWit
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