Photograph by Christer BErg
Artist Statement
The work I create is reflexive and responsive to its surroundings while the repetition of shapes provides a visual rhythm accented by flourishes and outcroppings. I am interested in the audience's experience of discovery and support this through how the materials are processed and presented.
With a focus on flameworked and blown glass, I integrate texturing and coloring techniques such as sandblasting, powder coating, mirroring, painting and light. The matted and hyper-saturated colors pop softly with calm enthusiasm as the works are intended to be playfully ambiguous and not immediately recognizable as glass. The goal is to play with the viewer's perceptions and encourage their curiosity, giving them moments of pause in liminal spaces.
My ideas begin as translations of heat and movement, evoking themes of aquatic life, viruses and molecular structures. The modular glass components allow for interplay and spontaneity during assembly. This tangential format lends itself to the adaptive installation and public artwork I am drawn to and lends itself to being displayed as suspended or freestanding.
As my process has evolved, I have pushed my physical limitations in aspects of technique, scale and texture by using a fusion of lamp working and traditional glassblowing. After years of experimentation with surface treatments and coatings, my color palette has expanded while allowing me the versatility to adapt with the large, installation-based work that I am drawn to.
Photo by Morgan Collini
Bio
Jonathan Davis is from Durham, North Carolina and has been practicing his love for art and music since his awareness of the human condition. Jonathan studied jazz at North Carolina Central University in 2001 while apprenticing as a glass craftsman at the Carolina Glass Arts Studio in downtown Durham. During his apprenticeship, he began designing and making his own production art while promoting and teaching classes through the Durham Arts Council.
Shortly after that, Davis moved to a remote cabin in Pittsboro, NC and attended school for sustainable agriculture in which he holds a degree. He has also worked extensively with the Forest Foundation, an organization dedicated to sustainable livelihoods, environmental education and fair trade craft development.
Davis has studied with many talented people, including master glassblower Emilio Santini. He has taught hundreds of students, worked with numerous universities and gifted groups like the Cirque du Soleil performance troupe, and had the honor of receiving a residency at The Toledo Museum of Art.
Davis specializes in architectural lighting and sculpture. With a bias for the profound, he now works out of the studio he designed and built in Chatham County, constructing botanically inspired creations and mid-century modern designs. When he’s not in the studio or teaching, he seeks adventure and inspiration through his love of rock climbing, scuba diving, whitewater kayaking and traveling the world.
Photo by Morgan Collini
CV
Personal details
Jonathan Davis, (b. 1981, US)
jonathan@jonathanmichaeldavis.com
www.jonathanmichaeldavis.com
Education
2001-2003 Carolina Glass Arts Studio Apprenticeship
2006 NC State Lapidary concentration
2008 Private Study under Emilio Santini
2010 Furnace Glassblowing, Sally Resnik Thermal lab
Sponsorships
Residencies
2016 G.A.P.P. Artist Residency The Toledo Museum of Art
Photo by Stanley Capps
Selected Works and Exhibitions
2013 Windows on Chapel Hill, Town of Chapel Hill Public Art Installation
2008-2014 Chatham Studio Tour, Chatham Artists Guild, Pittsboro, NC
2014-2020 Sculpture in the Garden, Chapel Hill Botanical Gardens, NC
2014 Tupelo Honey Café, Collaboration with Matt Mcconnell Studios, Raleigh, NC
2014 Fabricator for Laura Belem’s 1,000 bells project, Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC, Private Commission
2015 The Ritz Music Hall, Lighting Collaboration with Nate Sheaffer and Louis st. Lewis, Raleigh, NC Private Commission
2015 IX Art Park, lighting installation, Charlottesville, VA, Private Commission
2015 Tupelo Honey Café, Collaboration with Matt Mcconnell Studios Nashville, TN
2016, 2017 Shimmer The Art of Light, Carrboro, NC, Public Art Commission
2016-2018 Sculpture Visions, Chapel Hill Public Art Installation, Chamber of Commerce
2016 Cucalorus Film Festival “Glass Fire Poi” Experimental Short Film, Wilmington, NC
Photo by Stanley Capps
2016 “Quadrivium”, The Roundabout Arts Collective, Raleigh, NC
2016 “Geminate”, The Arts Center, Carrboro, NC
2017 The Glass Wheel, Glass Art Society Show, Norfolk, VA
2017 Toledo Arts Commission “Hot Glass” Exhibition, Toledo, OH
2018 Vetro Illuminato, Illuminated Glass Show, Berengo Studios, Murano, Italy
2018 Toledo Museum of Art, Limited Edition, Commemorative Ornament, Toledo, Ohio Private Commission
2019 Morean Art Center, Glass Art Society Show, St. Petersburg, Fl
2019 Long Leaf School of the Arts, Theater Chandelier, Raleigh, NC, Private Commission
2019 Dix Art Park, Outdoor Illumination Installation, Public Art Commission
2019 “From the Flame” Blown Glass Exhibition, Flint Arts Institute, Flint, Michigan
2019 Queer Lens, Queer arts exhibition, Durham, NC
2020 The Chrysler Museum “Glass Fire Poi” Live Performance
2022 “Antinomies” Charlotte Airport, Arts and Science Council, Public Art Commission, Charlotte, NC
Teaching
2002-2003 Durham Arts Council, lampworking, Session Instructor
2003, Cirque du Soleil, lampworking workshop, Instructor
2010 Jesse Sanderson High School, Visual Art Honors Class, lampworking, Guest Instructor
2007-2026 North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics mini-term, Session Instructor
2008- 2011 Central Carolina Community College, Introduction to lampworking Continuing Education, Session Instructor
2011 North Carolina State University, School of Business Management, team building workshop, Instructor
2011 UNC Charlotte Art Club, lampworking workshop, Instructor
2011 High Point University Art Club Introduction to lampworking, Instructor
2012-2019 North Carolina State University Craft Center Introduction to borosilicate, Session Instructor
2013 High Point University Introduction to lampworking workshop, Instructor
2014 Siemens team building event, Introduction to lampworking workshop, Instructor
2014 University North Carolina Charlotte Art Club, Introduction to lampworking workshop
2014 North Carolina State, School of Architecture, Alternative materials workshop, Guest Instructor
2014 North Carolina State University, School of Business Management, Team building workshop, Instructor
2018 Burts Bees team building event
2019 Carrboro Arts Center, Borosilicate Flameworking, Instructor
Photo by Stanley Capps
Awards
2010 Chatham Artists Guild, Studio Tour Showcase “Honorable Mention” Judge Dan Gottlieb, The North Carolina Museum of Art Director of Planning and Design
2012 Chatham Studio Tour, Studio Tour Showcase “Best in Show” Judge Jeffrey York
2014 Botanical Gardens, Sculpture in the Garden show, “Merit Award” Judge Carolyn Putney, Chief Curator of The Toledo Museum of Art
2015 Botanical Gardens, Sculpture in the Garden show, “Merit Award” Judge Jennifer Edwards, Bechtel Museum of Modern Art
2018 Botanical Gardens, Sculpture in the Garden show, “Best in Show” Award Judge Carrie Alter
2019 Botanical Gardens, Sculpture in the Garden show, “Honorable Mention” Award
photo by Morgan Collini
Press
Chatham Living Magazine, cover, p.22-26 2008 edition
Forrest Greenslade, Chatham County Line, cover, Vol. 8, issue 10
Jonathan Davis, “Borosilicate Sunflower Pendant Tutorial” The Annealer Magazine, Vol. 3, Winter 2008, p. 27-30
Gerry Broome, “NC artists burns glass into sculptures” Associated Press, September 23, 2014
The Flow Magazine Spring 2017
Triangle Business Journal, The Book of Lists 2017
ABC “Localish” Feature Episode 37
Arts and Objects, “Pre-pandemic Coronal Glasswork: Can Art Autonomously Evolve” 2022
