Brad Copping - both a sculptor and a functional glass blower – often traversing the line between.
Ontario-based Canadian glass artist Brad Copping graduated from Sheridan College's Glass Blowing Program in 1990 and works from his home on the edge of the Canadian Shield, near Apsley, Ontario. His brilliant glasswork can span both the worlds of traditional and contemporary design and makes use of brilliant colour, flowing lines and textures. His contemporary glass art pieces are transformative as light passes through and highlights them in their installations.
Most of Copping’s glass sculptures reference water. “Water moves us; it connects us one to another, both physically and metaphorically. It both nourishes and threatens us. Water flows within us and through all life, with water we are in constant communion. It is in this relationship that my search for balance and connectedness within one’s self, between people, and between people and place arises.”
Copping's functional blown glass art also explores form, surface and light. Often combining the hard edge of carving with the fluid form of the blown glass in the search for an aesthetic balance. This work can be found in the permanent collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, two examples of which are part of the 2023 exhibition ‘Canadian Modern’. The Canadian Embassy in Japan, the Racine Art Museum, and the Claridge (Bronfman) Collection also hold examples of Copping's blown glasswork. The water glass design ‘Forest Glass’ was selected for use at the G8 Summit in Huntsville, Ontario in 2010. In 2011, he was commissioned by Diageo to create a Crown Royal XR bottle commemorating the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Tour of Canada. Copping’s functional blown work was honoured at the 2022 Toronto Outdoor Art Fair with the Best of Craft and Design; the tenth time his blown glasswork has garnered recognition from the TOAF.
His studio practice has evolved around attempts to understand our place in a world where the only constant is change. Searching for a dynamic balance, or equilibrium, within the flow of our lives, the work examines how we live with each other and within the physical places in which we find ourselves.
