Mark Peiser Glass

A contemporary glassmaker based in Penland, North Carolina, Mark Peiser has been creating cutting-edge art glass for nearly four decades. Continually updating his approach, Peiser has successfully evolved into one of the most acclaimed glassmakers working today.

A native of Chicago, Peiser turned to glass during his years of schooling, pursuing it officially as a career following his relocation to North Carolina in the late '60s. By the mid-'70s, Peiser was exploring the development of his Paperweight Vases, which were vessels with images seemingly suspended within their glass walls. From this point, Peiser continued to experiment, playing with the integration of patterns and images in both molded and blown glass pieces.

As Peiser explained in a 1985 lecture in Japan, "I like to believe that objects can have a life of their own and that they can sing." It is this melodic harmony that resonates throughout Peiser's pieces and adds to their accolades given by collectors today.

Quick Facts

• The current record sales price for a Mark Peiser piece was set in 2013 at a Bonhams New York auction. A blown glass vase measuring 9 inches high sold for $15,000
• Peiser's glass is included in museum collections around the world from the Art Institute of Chicago to Tokyo's Museum of Modern Art
• Peiser's most recent endeavor is the Palomar series, so named as it is in part an homage to the Palomar Mirror created in 1947, the world's most substantial optical telescope at its creation