David Patchen is American glass art

Glass art

Studio glass or glass sculpture is the modern use of glass as an artistic medium to produce sculptures or three-dimensional artworks. Specific approaches include working glass at room temperature cold working, stained glass, working glass in a torch flame , glass beadmaking, glass casting, glass...

ist who uses the Italian techniques of cane and murrine

Murrine

Murrine is an Italian term for colored patterns or images made in a glass cane that are revealed when cut in cross-sections. Murrine can be made in infinite designs—some styles are more familiar, such as millefiore...

 in an American style. (Cane are colored and patterned glass rods, murrine are patterned cross-sections of glass 'tiles'.) Patchen's work is known primarily for a combination of complexity and scale in patterned work. His work is in various private collections internationally, featured in many publications and juried shows such as SOFA (Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art), Chicago. His work is shown in galleries in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Patchen was awarded an artist residency in 2010 in Seto City, Japan where his visit was covered by the local media and included lectures, demonstrations and a show of his work at the Seto City Art Museum.

Born in New Rochelle, New York, Patchen resides in San Francisco, California. He studied at Public Glass in San Francisco, at the studio of Afro Celotto, maestro and former assistant to Lino Tagliapietra

Lino Tagliapietra

Lino Tagliapietra is an Italian glass artist.-Training:Tagliapietra was born on the island of Murano in 1934. Murano, an island whose history of glass dates back to 1291, provided Tagliapietra an ideal educational environment to develop his techniques and glass artistry. At the age of 12 he was...

 in Murano

Murano

Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1.5 km north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 . It is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking...

, Italy, and was awarded an artistic merit scholarship to the Pilchuck Glass School

Pilchuck Glass School

Founded in 1971 by Dale Chihuly, Anne Gould Hauberg and John H. Hauberg , Pilchuck Glass School is an international center for glass art education. The name "Pilchuck" comes from the local Native American language and translates to "red river"...

. He has assisted several artists including Afro Celotto and Marvin Lipofsky

Marvin Lipofsky

Marvin Lipofsky is an American glass artist. He was one of the six students that Studio Glass founder Harvey Littleton instructed under an independent study program for the University of Wisconsin-Madison in fall 1962 and spring 1963...

in creating their work.

About his work

Patchen's series include forms titled "Resistenza", "Foglio", "Parabola", and "Allegro" which are created in murrine or mixed cane.

Patchen is involved in the glass arts community in San Francisco as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors at Public Glass and is a former member of the Board of Directors, Glass Alliance of Northern California.