2/12/09

Dear GAS student scholarship committee,

I wish to attend the 2009 GAS conference because I have found it integral in

maintaining relationships with friends and colleagues as well as a key moment to form

new relationships that will aid me in my career as a glass artist. I also look to the GAS

conferences for inspiration for the latest in glass design and technologies

A lot of the friends I have gained over the last nine years that I’ve been working

with glass live outside of my state and are students themselves without much time for

travel. That’s why things like the GAS conference are such a key experience; it gives all

of us an excuse to get together and revel in the atmosphere of like-minded people. As a

graduate student at San Jose State University in his last semester, I am now out on the job

hunt. The GAS conference will offer me the opportunity to go out with the purpose of

promoting myself and seeing what kinds of job openings may be out there. Being up to

date with the avant-garde in both art and its technologies is a strong point of mine which

will hopefully help me in my job search.

Keeping up to date on the concerns of people in the art world always fascinates

me. My graduate degree in sculpture has trained me to have a critical eye and constantly

question these trends as relational to current events or as evolution of the art world as a

contained environment all to itself. The facilities at San Jose State also gave me a diverse

knowledge of disparate art fields, but the new advances in glass art always astounds me.
Hollow kiln shelves, furnace recuperators, and new casting theories are just a few things I

picked up last year at the Portland GAS conference. It was my first conference, and

hopefully with your help, not my last.

It is hard for me to immediately pay out the cost of this experience, I know it is

worth it, but my wallet is tight right now. I’ve been working part time, probably to the

detriment of my studies, for all of my undergraduate and graduate years in the hopes of

funding my education and keeping some saved up for a rainy day (ie. When my student

loans are due). To help my pursuit for knowledge and skill, I have received scholarships

to study at Pilchuck and the Bay Area Glass Institute which I am always grateful for.

Any help I can receive to attend this years conference in Corning is very appreciated.