An Arts Center Premiere Event
On Saturday, November 15, 2008
At the Sirata Beach Resort, St. Pete Beach, FL

James Mongrain

Born in 1968 in Minnesota, James Mongrain was introduced to glass while enrolled at Moorhead Minnesota State University, under the instruction of his brother Jeffery Mongrain, an internationally-renowned artist. He later studied glassblowing at Massachusetts College of art and Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, Tenn. At the onset of his career, Mongrain worked in hot shops around the country, including New York, Cincinnati, and New Orleans, where he focused on becoming technically proficient in the Venetian tradition of goblet making.

In 1993, Mongrain worked as a co-gaffer at the Pilchuck School where he met internationally-renowned glass artist and mentor Dale Chihuly. Two years later, Chihuly invited Mongrain to move to Seattle, WA to work for Chihuly, Inc. as a gaffer for the “Chihuly over Venice” installation. The project took him to glass factories in Ireland, Mexico, and France, and culminated with the installation of 14 chandeliers over the canals and piazza of Venice.

In 1997, Mongrain opened Mongrain Glass Studio in Seattle, which he continues to own and operate in Mukilteo WA. Today.

In 1999, He was nominated for the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, and began the “Jerusalem Cylinders” with Chihuly; the pieces were part of the “In the Light of Jerusalem 2000” project. Mongrain was also a lead figure amongst a team of glassblowers working on Chihuly’s “Fiore Di Como” in the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, and the “Bridge of Glass” in Tacoma, WA.

Over the years, Mongrain has collaborated with a number on contemporary artist including Jim Dine, Kiki Smith, Jeff Coons, and Robert Wilson, and Walter Lieberman.

Mongrain’s work has been exhibited nation-wide in galleries including the American Craft Museum in New York City, William Traver, Foster White and Vetri in Seattle, Jenkins Johnson Gallery in San Francisco, Louisville Museum of Art in Kentucky, Marta Hewitt in Cincinnati, Grohe Glass Gallery in Boston, and The Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. He continues to work for Chihuly and other artists on special projects, but has focused his attention on designing and crafting Venetian goblets, Veronese vases, and a variety of custom work including sculptural chandeliers.