Fred Kaemmer

"My work is centered around exploring the processes that allow for the somewhat serendipitous reactions of glass, metal, and time. The vessels I blow, while simple in form, are canvases for these interactions."

Glass artist Fred Kaemmer likes to use the traditional decorative elements of glassblowing--frit, glass cane, metal leaf--in unorthodox ways. He often uses these elements on a piece's interior surface to create unusual textures or patterns, rather than adding them to the surface or sandwiching them between layers of glass.

Kaemmer's approach to glassblowing works against the grain of conventional glass decoration. By working on the interior surface, Kaemmer creates unusual vessels that fully engage the viewer, and the results edge the piece away from its utilitarian and traditional foundation toward a more sculptural work of art.

After graduating from college, Fred Kaemmer began working with glass as a distraction from the nagging question of "what now?" He took several summer workshops and eventually enrolled at The University of Wisconsin-River Falls to further explore hot glass. He now works full-time with hot glass in a studio that he built in St. Paul, MN.