Rago Auctions

World-renowned American visual and glass artist Dan Dailey was born in Philadelphia and educated at the Philadelphia College of Art (B.A.) and the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (M.A.), where he was the first graduate student to study under Dale Chihuly. He has produced sculptural and functional art, with a particular emphasis on lighting, since 1970. Dailey is Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and founded their Glass Department in 1973. He also taught at RISD, the Pilchuck Glass School, and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and has lectured and led workshops across the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Each of Dailey’s creations begins with detailed drawings and watercolors inspired by humans and the world surrounding us. Dailey works primarily in series and has explored a myriad of forms, styles, and topics, including faces, animals, architecture, masks, mythology, gender, and nature. His drawings and watercolors are not only used to refine his ideas, but to direct his geographically diverse team which can include glassblowers in Seattle, acid polishing in West Virginia, waterjet cutters in local shops, and a variety of assistants at his New Hampshire studio.

Since the early 1970s, Dailey has been a part of over 300 group, juried, and invitational exhibitions, and held numerous one-person museum and gallery shows including a retrospective at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to his impressive personal and educational accomplishments are his more than 70 architectural commissions at a variety of locales including corporate headquarters, hospitals, and private residences. He is the recipient of many awards including a Fulbright Hayes Fellowship (1972-73) and the James Renwick Alliance’s Masters of the Medium Award (2001) and was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 1998. His work is held in over 50 public and private collections worldwide, including the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and the National Gallery of Victoria.