Robert Mickelsen

Bio

Born in 1951 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Robert apprenticed with a professional lampworker for two years in the mid-seventies and then sold his own designs at outdoor craft fairs for ten years. In 1987, he took a class from Paul Stankard that opened his eyes to the possibilities of his medium. In 1989, he stopped doing craft shows and began marketing his work exclusively through galleries. In 2011, Mickelsen turned his attention to the glass pipe industry, embracing this new community and culture and, in turn, receiving a much-needed shot of youthful enthusiasm for his career.

Robert Mickelsen has been a professional flame worker for more than 50 years. He has taught extensively at the major glass schools, including the Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Crafts, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, and The Pittsburgh Glass Center. He has published numerous technical and historical articles on flameworked glass. He served for six years on the board of directors of the Glass Art Society and was their treasurer and vice-president. His work is exhibited in many prominent public collections including the Renwick Gallery of American Crafts at the Smithsonian Institution, the Corning Museum of Glass, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Tacoma Museum of Glass, The Museum of Arts and Design, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Baker Museum of Art, and The Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village. At 72 years of age, Mickelsen continues to work every day, pursuing his vision of art rendered in glass.

Artist Statement

“My glass fish are little sculptural vignettes reflecting my own fragility and mortality. They are my most innocent thoughts hovering weightlessly in my dreams.”

Robert Mickelsen has always had a passion for the ocean and the creatures that live in it. Coral reef fishes are his favorite. He sees them as little animated flowers, brilliantly colored and unbelievably diverse. His work attempts to portray them as they really are, with dignity and accuracy, to capture their living spirit in the form of the glass. 

Robert Mickelsen creates his pieces using the ancient technique of lampworking, or flameworking. He melts rods of brightly colored rods of glass and forms them into the shapes he needs freehand. No molds or pre-fabricated parts are used. Each piece is created one at a time, from beginning to end, and so every piece is unique. 

Robert Mickelsen has been a professional flameworker for more than 50 years. He has taught in the finest glass schools in the US, including Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Crafts, Corning Studio, and the Pittsburgh Glass Center. His work is included in many permanent collections such as the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute, Carnegie Museum, Corning Museum of Glass, Mint Museum, The Museum of Arts and Design, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Kentucky Museum of Art, The Henry Ford Museum of Art, and the Lampwork Museum in Kobe, Japan.

Exhibitions