10 Best Glass Painting Artists Who Influenced The Art World

Glass painting has been around for centuries, but the art form is still evolving. From ancient stained glass to modern-day anime reverse painting on glass, artists have experimented with this medium in many different ways. 

In this blog post, we will explore the ten best artists who influenced the world of glass painting and how they did it!

1. Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly with his blown glass sculptures - Image by Chihuly Studio

Dale Chihuly is an artist worthy of note who influenced other glass artists with his fearless modern glass art. At 78, Chihuly's most notable contribution to glass art is his gigantic sculptures made from colored glass, ranging from numerous pieces of bowls, seashells, and chandeliers.

He built his name, collection, and fortune in Seattle. Art lovers can see his glass sculptures in the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum, a storage facility in Tacoma, the Boathouse, and his office and studio in Ballard.

While he is mainly known as a glass-blowing artist, he also reinvented glass painting using vitreous enamels. He calls this collection Glass on Glass which uses flowers as its subject. It premiered in 2017 and is on exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. He also has pieces on display privately at the Chihuly Sanctuary, part of a Nebraska cancer center.

Another series, Light Drawings, shows his greater creativity when he merged the beauty of light by sandwiching a light source on acrylic glass to give his 3D glass painting a translucent and luminous effect.

2. Richard Rowan 

Richard Rowan’s A River’s Tale - Image by Richard Rowan

Richard Rowan is one of those remarkable glass painting artists who create impressive realistic glass paintings. He uses oil-based paints and his unique formula to create. Even as a new artist, he pushed himself to the limits and perfected his technique in reverse glass painting, though he admits he still has a lot to learn, even after over a decade of true artistry.

He currently teaches master classes and other artists in Castle Fine Art because he wants to share the beauty of using glass as a canvas. He discovered the possibility of using oil-based paints on his glass paintings while recycling some glass window panes.

Though he set aside his art for a more practical career in motorsport, he eventually left his job to focus on his first love of creating art. Much of his inspiration stemmed from his travels during his motorsport days.

He has many paintings, but his latest works, the Twilight collection, evokes tranquility and peace, showing the powerful reflection of light from the darkening sky. Aside from his glass paintings, he loves traveling with his family to find inspiration for his next collection.

3. Meirav Sher

A Giving Grace by Meirav Sher - Image by Meirav Sher

Meirav Sher seems to have one fascination in her life - the nautilus. It is the title of one of her collections and also a recurring subject for her Zohar pendants. Visit her profile on Instagram to see her glass artwork. You can purchase her artwork through this website.

Sher originates from Israel and has a degree in Fine Arts at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and a Master's degree in art therapy. When she's not busy working on her commissioned art, she works with interior designers and consulting firms to decorate high-end hotels and resorts. Some of these locations have their halls and rooms decorated with her artworks.

She uses powdered paint on glass and oven-curing techniques to set the colors for her paintings. Her paintings feature religious motifs inspired by Kabbalah, the spiritual aspect of the Jewish religion.

4. Dobriela Koeva

Flight by Dobriela Koeva - Image by Dobriela Koeva

Dobriela Koeva is a Bulgarian artist specializing in oil painting, engraving on metal plates, stained glass art, and jewelry from various materials and stones. 

Together with her artist husband, Jordan, they started ArtStudio VivaFamily gallery in Varna, Bulgaria, in 1999, which remains successful to this day. The gallery shows the couple's original paintings, prints, and glass art to contemporary art lovers.

She has a shop on Etsy where you can purchase stained glass paintings of symbolic forms, flowers, landscapes, and nature. Even her oil paintings have the dimensional elements of stained glass art, which she favors.

Bulgaria's rich art history has inspired artists to improve their techniques and use their background to promote Bulgarian visual art to other cultures.

5. Michael Burges

Reverse Glass Painting #69 by Michael Burges - Image by Michael Burges

Michael Burges is another of the many glass painting artists whose preferences are abstract paintings, including reverse painting on glass and acrylic. A native of Dusseldorf, Germany, Burges does not call his paintings abstract because it limits your interpretation of them.

Instead, he likes to call his creations lyrical non-figurative forms that focus on the nuances of color instead of using it for his illustrations alone. For him, color is a powerful medium to communicate with people.

Germany has a rich art history that goes back centuries, usually featuring religious motifs. Its historic churches have lovely stained glass windows, some recently restored by renowned stained glass painting artists. No wonder Burges found his niche in this art form.

6. Milica Dimitrova

Milica Dimitrova's Stained Glass Clock - Image by Milica Dimitrova

Milica Dimitrova also joins other Bulgarian glass painting artists in bringing us functional stained-glass paintings that you can use to decorate and enliven your home. She is one of the few artists whose preferences are functional artwork, like her unique clocks and suncatchers that you can purchase through her Etsy shop.

Although she finished her degree in Graphic Design, it wasn't until 2010 that she started to create practical glass artworks. Before the shift, she worked as a graphic design and fine art freelancer for seven years. In 2012, she also completed her course on Engineering Design at the Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria.

Before joining the ranks of accomplished glass painting artists, she made her name in the design industry when she won an international competition, "Europe at School," in 2005. Her exhibition in numerous galleries and museums in Bulgaria are well-received, and her artwork is a favorite among collectors for its creativity, detail, and beauty.

7. Vitraaze

Customizable Teapot Set by Vitrazee

If you think tea time is boring, it's because you have been using boring teacups. Vita, a self-taught artist from Ukraine, specializes in creating still life, landscape, and even abstracts paintings on tea sets and wine glasses. Recently, she decided to add suncatchers and ring plates to her Etsy and Amazon shop.

Though she never had formal art training and only discovered painting on glass by accident, she spent years perfecting her technique because she got inspired by this art form. Her very first motifs, according to her, are flowers and were nothing to be proud of.

Six years later, though, because of her dedication to becoming one of those successful glass painting artists, she already has a shop where customers constantly leave rave comments.

8. Artanett Vitrage

Nature-inspired glass paintings by Artanett - Image by Artanett

Anna Ovchinnikova, known as ArtAnnett on her social media profiles and online shop, is a Russian artist who loves doing stained glass paintings on glassware, vases, candleholders, wine bottles, and earthenware. She loves creating realistic landscapes, flowers, animals, movie characters, and other similar motifs.

With artists working for her in various capacities to expand her online site, Anna has more time to perfect her styles and expand her categories. Her artwork is a perfect reflection of her dedication to her inspired art.

9. Isaure

Glass painting of a honey face portrait - Image by Isaure

Isaure, known as Drawwwwit on her Instagram account, is a vibrant 20-year old French artist who paints evocative portraits on paper, canvas, or glass. Her subjects rarely smile, and when they do, she captures those precious moments perfectly with a bit of mystery.

She first dabbled with charcoal paintings before moving on to acrylic and watercolor paint. She discovered painted glass art during the height of the pandemic when she had limited access to supplies.

10. Wang Xiaocheng

Wang Xiaocheng and holding a painted snuff glass - Image by China Daily

For older artists like Wang Xiaocheng, preserving art is very important so younger generations can take on their unique art form. Wang, celebrating his 76th birthday this year, revolutionized the Chinese brush in 1961 to help other artists perpetuate the art of creating paintings in snuff glasses.

Although the art of painting in snuff glasses took a backseat with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, it made a comeback in Boshan in 1949 because of the government's desire to revive this intricate art.

He became a glass artist by accident when he filled in for his sick sister in the glass factory, then became an apprentice to Xue Jingwan, where he learned to paint in snuff bottles. He then joined the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now known as China Academy of Art) to improve his techniques.

An acclaimed artist vested with the title of China's National Master of Arts and Crafts in 2006, Wang believes the most significant challenge he took to date was the painting of 108 heroes from The Water Margin inside a bottle no more than 40 square centimeters in size in 1971.

Now Wang uses his background and influence to build a museum documenting the heritage and development of this craft for future generations. He also wants to preserve the peculiar characteristic of Chinese paintings that distinguishes them f175rom Western art.

Conclusion

Every artist looks up to someone for inspiration. Whether these glass painting artists work on stained glass or reverse painting, abstract or realistic, one of the talented people on this list must have touched your inner creativity. 

Of these artists, who do you think inspired you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments.