Lifetime Achievement Awards

Each year the Glass Art Society honors and acknowledges the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of the glass arts worldwide. The 2019 awards will be presented to Ginny Ruffner and Robert Mickleson at the Opening Ceremonies during the 2019 conference in St. Petersburg, FL.

Lifetime Achievement Award - View Full List

The Lifetime Achievement Award is the Glass Art Society's highest honor, given in recognition of significant and sustained contributions to the field of glass art to recipients over the age of 65. Achievement is construed broadly, including, but not limited to diverse endeavors such as artistic excellence, technical innovation, exemplary leadership, dedication to education, and support for and promotion of glass art.

Lifetime Membership Award - View Full List

The Glass Art Society honors and acknowledges the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Glass Art Society with an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award.

2018 Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award: Livio Seguso

Born in 1930 in Murano, where he continues to live, Livio Seguso began his life-long affair with glass from a very early age, fascinated by the mediums inexhaustible appeal. Livio Seguso reached his full artistic maturity in the late 1970’s, when he totally abandoned the pathway of the Murano glassmaking heritage, however noble, and began to focus on clear crystal glass, changeable and ambiguous in its transparency, and yet the perfect medium for the artist’s uncontaminated imaginative vision. His sculptures could then manifest themselves in forms of absolute purity, non-mimetic and non-representational of anything, reaching out to seize the principle of a visible event that was undisclosed before that moment, and, in doing so, reveal the personality of the artist, attracted by synthesis and icastic form. His sculptures thus became images of light that seem to adapt themselves to thought only to fade away into a series of oneiric forms. In recent years, his artistic research overstepped the confines of the medium used, experimenting with other materials like steel, rock, marble, and granite, and, more recently, wood. His artwork also took a departure from his previous rounded or elliptical forms, and he began to conceive volumes with a more geometrical pattern. This, in turn, was to lead to an ideological turning point, not only in the choice of mediums and their poetical potential, but also to an ideational transmutation that has enhanced Seguso’s expressive possibilities.

2018 Lifetime Membership Award Recipient: Durk Valkema

Durk Valkema was born in 1951. He attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam where he studied under his father, Sybren Valkema, the founder of the school’s program. In 1974, he studied and worked with Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague. Valkema served on the GAS Board of Directors from 1999-2003 and in 2002 chaired the first European GAS conference in Amsterdam. He also co-founded the Glas Amsterdam 2002 Foundation, a non-profit entity that helped to secure funds for the conference and brought together artists, designers, and scientists to help realize experimental and innovative glass projects. Since the 1970s, Valkema has gained a strong reputation as a furnace builder, pioneering energy efficient solutions including taking part on the first Green Glass Panel at the Seattle conference in 2003. Through his broad technical and practical knowledge, in combination with aesthetic insight, Valkema has been a sounding board in the development of competitive and technically innovative design for both art glass and product design. Today, he designs and executes his own sculptural work and engineers glass systems and equipment for studio artists in Europe and the U.S.

GAS Visionary Award: Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore was born in Olympia, Washington in 1952. He received his BFA from California College of the Arts and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Moore has done design work at Venini, Murano, Italy; J&L Lobmyer, Vienna, Austria; and Fostoria Glass Company, Moundsville, West Virginia. Moore’s connections, vision, and insight into inviting several Muranese glass masters to teach at Pilchuck is often credited with helping to raise American studio glassmaking to a new level. Moore lives and works in Seattle, Washington and is the owner of Benjamin Moore, Inc. (BMI), where he and his wife Debora Moore produce their work. Over the years, BMI has worked with and assisted many of the finest artists working in blown glass.

Lifetime Technical Achievement Award: Pino Signoretto

Pino Signoretto was born in 1944 in a small town near Venice and began working at a chandelier glassworks in 1954. In 1959, he learned from the great masters Alfredo Barbini, Livio Seguso, Emanno Nason, and Angelo Seguso. In 1960, at the age of 16, he became a master glassmaker. In 1978, he opened his own studio in Murano. In 1985, Signoretto went to Aumori, Japan by invitation, thus beginning a series of trips and lasting relationship with this country. On his second visit, he gave a demonstration in the presence of the imperial family. His work is also on permanent exhibit at the Museum of Venetian Art in Otaru, Japan. Throughout the years, Signoretto collaborated with artists and architects around the world including: Dali, Vedova, Licata, Pomodoro, Willson, Koons, Kummer, Vercrysse, Quinn, Chihuly, and more. He also taught at several glass schools in the U.S. and worldwide and was a beloved mentor to countless glass artists, young and old. He was known for experimenting and encouraging students to push past boundaries. Maestro Pino Signoretto died suddenly on December 30, 2017, at the age of 73. He knew he had been chosen for this award prior to his death. The glass community mourns his passing, but is eternally grateful for the art and legacy he leaves behind.

List of GAS Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

The Glass Art Society honors and acknowledges the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of the glass arts worldwide. This honorary award is given at the annual conference.

CHRONOLOGICALLY		ALPHABETICALLY
2018 Livio Seguso 2017 Joyce J. Scott 2016 James Carpenter 2015 Paul Stankard 2014 Dan Dailey 2012 Joel Philip Myers 2012 Bertil Vallien 2011 Ann Wolff 2010 Mark Peiser 2010 Dan Klein (1938-2009) 2009 Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) 2008 Henry Halem 2007 Jìrí Harcuba (1928-2013) 2006 Ann Robinson 2005 Richard Marquis 2004 Paul Marioni 2003 Dale Chihuly 2002 Fritz Dreisbach 2002 Finn Lynggaard (1930-2011) 2001 Thomas Buechner (1926-2010) 2000 Klaus Moje (1936-2016) 1999 Ludwig Schaffrath (1924-2011) 1998 Kyohei Fujita (1921-2004) 1998 Alice Rooney 1997 Lino Tagliapietra 1996 Jaroslava Brychtova 1996 Stanislav Libensky (1921-2002) 1995 Erwin Eisch 1994 Itoko Iwata (1922-2008) 1994 Sybren Valkema (1916-1996) 1993 Harvey Littleton (1922-2013) 1993 Dominick Labino (1910-1987)		1996 Jaroslava Brychtova 2001 Thomas Buechner (1926-2010) 2016 James Carpenter 2003 Dale Chihuly 2014 Dan Dailey 2002 Fritz Dreisbach 1995 Erwin Eisch 1998 Kyohei Fujita (1921-2004) 2008 Henry Halem 2007 Jìrí Harcuba (1928-2013) 1994 Itoko Iwata (1922-2008) 2010 Dan Klein (1938-2009) 1993 Dominick Labino (1910-1987) 1996 Stanislav Libensky (1921-2002) 2009 Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) 1993 Harvey Littleton (1922-2013) 2002 Finn Lynggaard (1930-2011) 2004 Paul Marioni 2005 Richard Marquis 2000 Klaus Moje (1936-2016) 2012 Joel Philip Myers 2010 Mark Peiser 2006 Ann Robinson 1998 Alice Rooney 1999 Ludwig Schaffrath (1924-2011) 2017 Joyce J. Scott 2018 Livio Seguso 2015 Paul Stankard 1997 Lino Tagliapietra 1994 Sybren Valkema (1916-1996) 2012 Bertil Vallien 2011 Ann Wolff

List of GAS Lifetime Membership Award Recipients

The Glass Art Society honors and acknowledges the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to The Glass Art Society. This honorary award is given at the annual conference.

CHRONOLOGICALLY		ALPHABETICALLY
2018 Durk Valkema 2017 Wayne Strattman 2016 Jutta-Annette Page 2015 Mary B. White 2014 Shane Fero 2012 John Steinert 2011 Scott Benefield 2010 Tom Philabaum 2009 John Leighton 2008 Laura Donefer 2007 Michael Rogers 2006 Penny Berk 2005 Lani McGregor 2005 Dan Schwoerer 2004 Robert Carlson 2003 Daniel Crichton (1946-2002) 2002 Takako Sano (1939-2006) 2001 Mark Peiser 2000 Ginny Ruffner 1999 Josh Simpson 1998 Dan Dailey 1997 Susanne Frantz 1996 David Jacobs (1939-2007) 1995 Jack Schmidt 1994 Audrey Handler 1993 Henry Halem 1993 Joel Philip Myers 1993 Sylvia Vigiletti 1992 Robert Kehlmann 1992 Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend 1988 Fritz Dreisbach 1988 O.J. Gabbert (1918-1992) 1988 Elizabeth "Libby" Labino (-2008) 1986 Marvin Lipofsky 1984 Andries Copier (1901-1991) 1982 Erwin Eisch 1982 Frances Higgins (1912-2004) 1982 Michael Higgins (1908-1999) 1980 William H. Blenko 1980 Paul V. Gardner (1908-1994) 1979 Thomas S. Buechner (1926-2010) 1977 William Brown Jr. (1923-1992) 1977 Frank M. Fenton (1915-2005) 1977 Dominick Labino (1910-1987) 1977 Harvey Littleton (1922-2013)		2011 Scott Benefield 2006 Penny Berk 1980 William H. Blenko 1977 William Brown Jr. (1923-1992) 1979 Thomas S. Buechner (1926-2010) 2004 Robert Carlson 1984 Andries Copier (1901-1991) 2003 Daniel Crichton (1946-2002) 1998 Dan Dailey 2008 Laura Donefer 1988 Fritz Dreisbach 1982 Erwin Eisch 1977 Frank M. Fenton (1915-2005) 2014 Shane Fero 1997 Susanne Frantz 1988 O.J. Gabbert (1918-1992) 1980 Paul V. Gardner (1908-1994) 1993 Henry Halem 1994 Audrey Handler 1982 Frances Higgins (1912-2004) 1982 Michael Higgins (1908-1999) 1996 David Jacobs (1939-2007) 1992 Robert Kehlmann 1977 Dominick Labino (1910-1987) 1988 Elizabeth "Libby" Labino (-2008) 2009 John Leighton 1986 Marvin Lipofsky 1977 Harvey Littleton (1922-2013) 2005 Lani McGregor 2016 Jutta-Annette Page 1993 Joel Philip Myers 2001 Mark Peiser 2010 Tom Philabaum 2007 Michael Rogers 2000 Ginny Ruffner 2002 Takako Sano (1939-2006) 1995 Jack Schmidt 2005 Dan Schwoerer 1999 Josh Simpson 2012 John Steinert 1992 Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend 2017 Wayne Strattman 2018 Durk Valkema 1993 Sylvia Vigiletti 2015 Mary B. White

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