Internationally recognized artist Dana Robbins has worked with glass and metals for the last 30 years. His work was chosen by the Corning Museum of Glass and featured among the top 100 glass artists in the world in its exclusive magazine New Glass Review. Images of his glass and bronze sculptures, “The Gator Bowl” and “Artifact #7,” are in the permanent archive collection at the museum.
Dana’s formal training began in the mid 1980‘s, at San Jose State University where he started blowing glass under the instruction of Robert Fritz and Mary White. He also worked in the foundry with Rand Schultz, fabricating jewelry and casting sculptures with bronze, silver and other small metals. Dana has a BA in Art Education and Studio Arts and his studies include graduate courses in advanced glassblowing and metal smithing.
Dana also attended two summer sessions at the prestigious Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. In 1989 he studied advanced glass blowing with Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick and in 1994 created architectural elements in a class with Dan Daily. These experiences were very influential in his career and the foundation for Dana’s glass blowing, metal smithing and design skills.
In 1992 Dana established with two partners, a successful design company, Icon Studios, working with flat glass, sandblasting and deep carving one of a kind designs. Their clients included many small businesses, restaurants, casinos and private homes in the San Jose and San Francisco Bay Area. Dana mastered his skills working with two dimensional sheet glass, but his true calling remained working with hot glass. In the fall of 1995, Dana married Karen, and in just one year, they were off to New Mexico to built a home and glass studio. They would build a life together on an old family cattle ranch that was originally homesteaded by Dana’s great grandfather in 1918. In the fall of 1998, they officially launched Robbins Ranch Art Glass.