Ross Richmond started working with glass at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1991. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art with a major in glass and a minor in metals. He has studied and taught at the Penland School of Craft and the Pilchuck Glass School. In 1997 Richmond began working as an apprentice to William Morris, becoming a member of his team in 1999. Richmond’s pieces are typically narrative, working mainly with figurative elements and symbolic objects. His work currently shows at a number of galleries across the country and he teaches in the US and Canada.

Richmond’s work is blown and hot sculpted, and nothing is cast or mold blown. First he establishes the main shape of the piece, then allows the glass to cool, working it in a colder state so that he has a “solid core” to work from. All colors are applied in layers of glass powders and the finished piece is coated with an acid to remove the shine for a matte finish. About his work, Richmond states: “Much of my current work is influenced by man’s relationship with nature, as well as his impact upon nature. I find faces and hands to be very beautiful and expressionistic, a source of silent communication, and I use gestures and titles to help convey an overall story. My pieces are usually about communication with self, or between others.”