Christopher Ries

      Christopher Ries was born in 1952 and grew up on farm in Columbus, Ohio. After receiving a BFA in glass and ceramics from The Ohio State University in 1975, Chris worked as an assistant to Harvey K. Littleton, professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UWM) and founder of the American Studio Glass Movement. Ries earned a MFA in glass from UWM in 1978.

        Though initially Ries blew glass, by the late 1970s, he was sculpting glass cold by cutting, grinding, and polishing it in his home studio in Columbus, Ohio. Chris acquired blocks of pure, clear lead crystal cast from Schott Glass Technologies of Duryea, Pennsylvania. Today Christopher Ries lives in Pennsylvania and serves as the Scott Glass artist-in-residence. Some of his works are the largest, whole, unassembled pieces of sculpted crystal known. The art of Christopher Ries is deceptively simple in form but complex in expression as it engages each viewer in an ever changing intimate world of images.