Hugh
Jenkins has worked in glass since 1969. He got his first introduction
to glass blowing at the Foundry in Honolulu. He brought glass into the
Punahou School art department in 1972 and continued to teach there until
1998. During summers and sabbatical leaves, he has also taught glass at
Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Hugh’s glass has evolved through
several functional and sculptural phases usually including highly polished
optical surfaces. Since 1996 he has focused in collaboration with Stephanie
Ross on a highly colored series of bowls and vases. In 1999 and 2000 he
created a glass teaching program and a professional glass studio on the
Big Island. He is inventing efficient glass studio equipment and consulting
with other glass blowers on fuel savings.
Stephanie
Ross earned her degrees first at California College of Arts and Crafts
in Oakland, and then received her graduate degrees from the University
of Hawai’i, Manoa. She has taught art to high school and elementary school
students since 1975. In 1997 she opened her own studio where she creates
her own works as well as teaching private students. Stephanie was introduced
to glass in 1995 and has worked in collaboration with Hugh Jenkins since
1996. She designs the color and suggests shapes for each piece then when
the color has been applied, Hugh takes over to realize the form. The most
recent glass is in direct response to working on the Big Island, depicting
impressions of the volcanos, forest, ocean and widely varying climate
and environment of that island. Light, weather and time of day are additional
variants in this on going group.