Flo Perkins b. 1951
One of only a handful of female artisan glass blowers active during the nascent American glassblowing community in the 1970s, Flo Perkins was educated at the Philadelphia College of Art, UCLA, and Pilchuck Glass School, and studied under world-renowned maestro Lino Tagliapietra. In the 1980s, Perkins built her own studio in New Mexico, where she has lived and worked since. The plant life of the American West–cacti, in particular–inspired her, and over time she developed a unique style marked by vividly colored botanical sculptures incorporating a variety of Italian techniques, including murrina, reticello, and granulare. She has taught at the Pilchuck Glass School, California State University at San Jose, Penland School, and the University of California in San Diego and is now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Perkins’ work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe and can be found in many permanent collections, among them the Albuquerque Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
