About the Artist
Bryon Sutherland creates one-of-a-kind hand-blown glass that embodies the rhythm of nature in form, color, & light.
Inspired by California’s vibrant Mediterranean climate, deep blue waters, and the flowing rivers that have captivated him since youth. His interpretations of natural form combine elegant design with rich, vivid hues, resulting in timeless glass sculptures that are both refined and alive with energy.
Bryon was first introduced to glass at California State University of Chico, where he earned his degree in Glass Sculpture.
After graduation, he refined his craft at Orient & Flume, one of the pioneering glassblowing studios in the United States, before opening his own studio to pursue his vision full time. Following his dreams to “blow glass like the Italians do” led him to the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, where he studied under William Gudenrath, a master of Venetian technique and historical glass. Recognizing Bryon’s talent and devotion to the craft, Gudenrath invited him to return as his personal teaching assistant, an experience that deeply shaped his technical precision and artistic discipline.
Continuing his studies, Sutherland attended the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, founded by the legendary Dale Chihuly.
There, he worked alongside fifth-generation Venetian master Davide Salvadore, known for his intricate Murrini designs. During this time, while Lino Tagliapietra was visiting the Tacoma Museum of Glass, he lifted one of Bryon’s first murrini pieces to the light and offered his congratulations, an unforgettable nod from a Venetian master.
A true master colorist, Sutherland is recognized for his distinctive color combinations and meticulously developed formulas that bring depth and life to every piece. His evolving body of work has been featured in galleries, awarded top honors in juried exhibitions, and commissioned for large-scale installations by private collectors around the world.
Latest public installation at Scripps
In 2026, Sutherland completed his latest public installation, Waves of Memory, for the new Scripps Sports Medicine Facility in San Diego. Inspired by his lifelong connection to the Pacific, the wave-like glass wall captures motion, light, and renewal as an homage to the coastline where he first swam as a child. Returning his art to Scripps Beach, where sea and science meet, the work embodies a homecoming and a celebration of healing through form and color.
“I feel like it’s my duty to stay on this path with Glass, this material. I’ve spent 25 years, perfecting my abilities to relate to it. When we make our last piece before we hit the road for tour a part of me is sad. it’s like when someone you LOVE goes away for a while.”
When manipulating this magical material, I am overwhelmed by its unique characteristics, its molten physicality and brilliant glow. When it is extracted from the furnace one experiences the full spectrum of viscosities. At its hottest point 2200°F, it acts as honey, moments later it turns to a molasses texture cooling to 2000°F. Within a matter of seconds, it cools and acts like leather, then wood, and as it drops to 1200° to 1000° it embodies tile or shell like characteristics.
I see the furnace as a portal in which we extract the molten silica from, I call it the direct artery or main vein to the earth's blood. That molten core of perpetual movement has a gravitational and magnetic desire to go back home.
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Art born from nature, shaped by hand.
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