Otter Rotolante

Otter Rotolante has been studying art and illustration since grade school. As an undergraduate, he studied ad design and graphics, and later naturalism and botany at the Evergreen State College. In 1996, Otter decided to focus his artistic study in the medium of glass, apprenticing in the European tradition to old time master lampworker Robert Snodgrass. Also taking lessons in furnace blowing (offhand) glass and sculpting from several prominent artists individually and at the Eugene Glass School, he combines ten years of flameworking experience with offhand techniques to bring you the wide array of functionality and designs in his artwork.

"In other mediums of art it's always about the end result, the finished product. In the blown glass medium, however, the process of creating the finished piece is its own form of art. Much like a well-choreographed dance, its almost like 'behind the scenes' performance art. The end result is a tangible work of glass art, its minute details of form and shape revealing to the studied eye a quick peek behind the curtain for a glimpse of its creation. This makes blown glass as an art medium tense and dramatic, with the contrasting results of graceful and fluid forms. The resulting combination of skills, knowledge, and practice needed to pull it off makes blown glass a very exciting medium for me."