)
Bronze & Sapphire)
Sapphire Midas Bonsai)
Gulfstream BonsaiSeveral courses at the Penland School of Crafts, combined with years of experience working for established glass artists in the Penland area (1984-1989), provided Lewis Woodruff with a strong and varied background in glass art techniques. He spent 2 years with North Carolina glass artists William and Katherine Bernstein, and 5 years with Gary Beecham. Lewis also found his best assistant at Penland - his wife, Judi Weilbacher.
Returning to their native Ohio in 1993, Lewis and Judi found the ideal building for their studio and began their careers as truly independent glass artists. Although their signature pieces are quite different, the two artists also collaborate very successfully on works that capture the particular strengths of each.
Lewis is best known for his bonsai series, paperweight-like forms in which the leaf canopy of abstract tree forms comprises precisely placed bubbles, or flecks of gold. The pieces have become increasingly complex, with the addition of a swirling, multicolored and multilayered internal base on which the trees stand in their crystal world. "In creating my pieces, I draw on myths, religious histories, and science fiction stories to fashion images that are recognizable, yet intriguingly unfamiliar. I think of them as a colorful metaphor of the reality we all observe."
