Joel Bloomberg
Glass Sculpture
Joel Bloomberg's Jellyfish lamps are a wonder to behold. Joel has spent years perfecting his fabulous jellyfish lamp designs, capturing the essence of jellyfish in motion. As with jellyfish in the wild, his designs display gradations of light and color that seem to change with the viewers perspective. Also captured is the gentle motion jellyfish display as they gracefully propel themselves through the water.
Several restaurants and commercial buildings have commissioned Mr. Bloomberg to create captivating custom jellyfish chandeliers and lighting, building on Joel's original design. Mr. Bloomberg's jellyfish lamps also grace the collections of discriminating art glass collectors around the world. Joel Bloomberg's jellyfish lamps are a very unique and special gift to the world of art glass. Each jellyfish lamp component is hand-formed and fitted, ensuring it meets Mr. Bloomberg's high quality standards. While no two jellyfish lamps are the same, each displays an extraordinary beauty.
Joel Bloomberg has been designing and creating sculptural and functional artworks for galleries, designers and collectors since opening his studio in 1980. Largely self-taught in his glass designs, Bloomberg earned degrees from two of California's most respected glass schools : Palomar College (Associate Degree in Chemistry and Glass) and California State University, Chico (Bachelors Degree in Glass and Sculpture).
The many site-specific glass sculptures he has created by commission include those for the city of West Hollywood,CA; the Great American Bank, San Diego; the Gesim Corporation, Calabasas, CA, Coastal Flats Restaurant, McLean,VA, and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Oceanside, CA.
Joel Bloomberg's work has been shown at more than 100 galleries and museums in the United States and Canada, including the Downey Museum of Art, CA; the Los Angeles Museum of Art ; the Harvard University Museum of Natural History, and is part of the permanent collections of the White House, Washington, DC and the Corning Museum of Glass.
His work is included in major collections throughout North America, Japan, and Europe.
Joel Bloomberg's distinctively sculptural jellyfish lamps are part of an ongoing exploration of the vocabulary of glass; his object being to create designs and develop techniques which use the materials in new and unexpected ways. Each illuminated jellyfish is unique in color, shape, size, and appearance . Each requires a complex combination of blowing, coldworking, and lamination that Bloomberg has perfected over many years . "The interplay of glass and light " Bloomberg says, "is fundamental to the medium . Light can reveal the subtle qualities of glass ; glass reflects, transmits and transforms light . In many ways, glass work is ultimately about light ."
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