Richard Ritter

Art Brokerage: Richard Ritter American Glass Artist: Ritter was born in Detroit but grew up in the then rural Michigan town of Novi. He was inspired to pursue a career in art by his high school art teacher and in 1959 on to study at the Society of Arts and Crafts (later renamed the Center for Creative Studies) in Detroit, Michigan. In 1962 Ritter left school to take a job with an advertising firm, returning in 1968 to the Society of Arts and Crafts to continue his studies and teach advertising there. His first experience with hot glass came in that year, when another instructor, Gilbert Johnson (b. 1930) built a glass workshop at the school. Ritter graduated from the Society of Arts and Crafts in 1969 and went to the Bloomfield Art Association in Birmingham, Michigan, to teach glassblowing. In 1971 he enrolled in a summer session class at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. His instructor there was glass artist Mark Peiser; Ritter soon afterward took a class with Richard Marquis. He returned to the Penland school the following summer to teach, and in 1973 was named artist-in-residence at Penland School of Crafts, a position that he held until 1978. He continued to return to the school to teach and give workshops in subsequent years. Ritter moved to Cass, Michigan in 1978. As a professional glass artist he was at this time making murrini vessels and paperweights. A commission from Joan Mondale, wife to then-Vice President Walter Mondale for dessert plates led Ritter to experiment with open platter forms containing murrini and lattacino. In 1980, Ritter purchased a small farm near Bakersville, North Carolina where he built a studio. In the mid-1980s he began working on his "Triolet" series of large glass sculptures. In 1993 and 1994 he created the 26 art works of his "Grail" series; blown discs to which a faceted solid base was attached. These pieces often displayed etched and copper electroformed surface decoration. He produced 136 glass sculptures in his "Floral Core" series between the years 2002 and 2009; the artist's "Mandala and Florescence" series was produced in the years 1997 through 2001. Listings wanted by Art Brokerage.