Pat Weyer

Pat's graal glass vessels create a mythical watery world, and reflect her doctoral research on dolphin mythology and the ancient Minoan ritual vessel known as rhyta or rhyton. Pat Weyer an artist/educator residing in Seattle, Washington is a Pilchuck glass School scholar and recipient of the "Alice Rooney Women in Glass Scholarship". She has also served as a teaching assistant at the Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Arts and Crafts, and the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass. Pat recently completed her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences with a focus in Visual Art at Union Institute and University. Dr. Weyer continues as a volunteer artist, and Advisory Board member for the Wild Dolphin Project, and she is a contributing author to the University of California Press/Sierra Club Anthology, Between Species Celebrating the Dolphin-Human Bond.

We were delighted that Pat treated us to an exhibition of her art in Seattle during our 2002 Conference. The following is a slightly edited excerpt from that program.

Pat Weyer works in a variety of media, including bronze and print, but her main focus is on glass. She specializes in integrating the optic qualities of sand-etched and sand-cast glass with structural elements of welded steel. Most of her work reveals an underwater realm of dappled light, and she likes to explore the expressive power of human and animal figuration. She has produced hand-blown Graal vessels (Graal is a type of decorative glass developed by Orrefors Sweden in 1916) in which the design is carved, engraved, or etched on a parison (a mass of molten colored glass at the end of a blowpipe). It is then reheated, encased in a thick outer layer of transparent glass of a different color, and inflated. Many of her stunning glass vessels are made in the Minoan style of Aegean art, known for its dynamic swirling sea forms, the ones that were favored by King Minos of Crete. Weyer has earned recognition and awards for her talent and craftsmanship, and her work has been installed in private, public and corporate collections throughout the world.