HERB BABCOCK

ARTIST, TEACHER, LEADER IN THE ART GLASS MOVEMENT

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2014 JUROR & FEATURED ARTIST

A pioneer of fine art glass in America, Herb Babcock has been an influential teacher and advocate for over four decades. Studying for a year at Harvey Littleton’s Toledo Museum of Art Glass Workshop, he went on to get his M.F.A from Cranbrook, remaining in the Detroit area as professor and then chairman of the Glass Department at the College for Creative Studies. Before his recent retirement in 2013, he spearheaded the installation of an outstanding state-of-the-art glass facility of which he was the lead designer.

Originally known for his hand blown vessels, he turned to his roots in metal sculpture with large constructions, characterized by Babcock as “meditative,” made of counterbalanced cast glass, steel, and stone. The artist has also made his mark in the public sphere designing or overseeing stained glass windows at various Michigan locations in addition to other notable commissions, including a 22-foot mixed media sculpture for the Hsinchu Culture Center in Taiwan.

Long associated with Habitat Galleries, Babcock is original member of the Michigan Glass Month Committee, a body which now promotes glass activities year round and of which he is esteemed co-chair, and he was fittingly co-chair of the Glass Art Society’s 2012 annual conference held in Toldeo, Ohio, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the studio glass movement.


Website for Herb Babcock