Jack Storms

As an incredibly talented and skilled sculptor, Jack Storms was destined to be someone really amazing. Jack was a tremendous athlete and motivated student growing up in New Hampshire. It wasn’t until later in life that Jack discovered his passions in contemporary art and graduated at age 30 from Plymouth State University with a BA in Art; Focusing primarily on studio production. It was during his junior year that he happened upon the studio of a nearby glass artist who produced a phenomenally rare style of glass art work. This artist was combining lead crystal and dichroic glass using a cold-glass process.  This introduction would eventually become an entryway to Storms’ legacy. 

The process itself, which required weeks and weeks to produce even one completed glass sculpture, was incredibly intense and physically challenging. The number of glass artisans working in this form of fine art could be counted on one hand. Working side by side with the artisan for over a year, Jack Storms learned every component and facet of this incredibly challenging and rare art form.The intense cold-glass process can take up to 10 weeks for each contemporary glass sculpture to come to life. It begins at the heart of the design, by creating a core of lead crystal which is cut, polished and laminated creating reflective mirrors. When wrapped in optical glass, the refraction of light as it passes through the glass art creates rainbows of hypnotic color. The process is drawn out consisting of repetitive cutting, grinding and polishing. At the heart of each lead crystal sculpture by Jack Storms lays the theory of Fibonacci, a great mathematician that articulated the natural math seen in nature. Natural beauty is created, not manufactured. From the repetition florets of a flower to the scales of a pineapple’s skin, Fibonacci numbers are found in the pattern of growth of every living thing in nature. Eventually Storms became a strong enough sculptor to branch out on his own in 2004, and open StormWorks Studio.

Storms was often told his vision would be impossible. He was both challenged and inspired by the notion of impossibility. One of Jack Storm’s first major accomplishments as an independent glass artist was his invention and design of a cold-working lathe. His invention offered him the ability to turn glass and sculpt shapes with curves and details like one would produce from a wooden medium. His early memories of studying his father’s craftsmanship provided him with the blueprint of his vision. His father worked for hours in his own studio with a wooden lathe. Storms’ intense drive and deeply embedded passion as a glass artist motivated him toward this remarkable accomplishment. Pioneering new trails in the world of fine art was a leading inspiration.