Glass Faculty

Degree MFA, glass, Ball State University
BFA, glass, Kent State University

Born in Cicero, Indiana, Benjamin Johnson earned his BFA in glass from Kent State University and his MFA in glass from Ball State University.

Johnson’s work is widely exhibited and held in the collections of the Indiana State Museum, the Evansville Art Museum, and the Glick Eye Institute. His work has received numerous best in show awards and he has been recognized as a Rising Star in contemporary glass at the Museum of American Glass in Millville, NJ. He has been the recipient of a Windgate Fellowship Grant Award, an Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, a Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group Jerry Raphael Fellowship, a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, and the Indianapolis Art Center Skip McKinney Faculty of the Year Award. Johnson has taught glass at the Herron School of Art, Indianapolis Art Center, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and lectured at many others.

An artist committed to sculpture, the design of contemporary glass objects, and the architecture of spatial installations, Johnson’s work explores pattern and texture to tell visual stories about our environment. Johnson wants the viewer to consider their presence in relation to intangible micro and macrocosmic realities. His work considers the impressions left from the connective interactions that affect and contribute to a visual history which tells a story of the natural cycles in our environment.

Zachary Gorell

Title Studio Manager
Department Glass
Phone 216.410.6712

• Contact
• Website

Since taking his first gather of glass in the fall of 2001, Zac has been practicing the craft as well as teaching others all over the world. Beginning his career in Cleveland Ohio, Zac had his ‘baptism by fire’ at Superior Hot Glass. In these fertile grounds a foundation was laid so Zac could acquire and hone the skills necessary to become a master gaffer. The following years he practiced what he learned from the local glass masters and attended workshops at various trade schools like Penland School of Crafts. His continued artistic pursuits have led him to work for Corning Museum of Glass, teach glass blowing in Taiwan, and travel throughout Europe and the Caribbean.