Mark Zirpel

American, born 1956

BiographyMark Zirpel received his BFA from the University of Alaska in 1985 and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1989 and is currently an Associate Professor and the Dale Chilhuly Endowed Chair in Glass at the University of Washington, School of Art + Art History + Design. Zirpel’s bio on UW website states the following:

Mark Zirpel describes his work as multidisciplinary, driven by ideas and context. It is physical in its materiality and conceptually insistent. It is sculptural, installation-based, and kinetic. His work often explores a convergence between art and science. It is this quality of inquiry, a way of investigating the world that is at the heart of his studio methodology. Zirpel’s work crosses media boundaries in its determination to address meaning. His work has been featured at numerous galleries including William Traver Gallery in Seattle, WA; Bullseye Gallery in Portland, OR; Kinetica Art Fair in London, UK; and it has appeared in Glass Magazine. He was awarded the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship where he explored collections of scientific apparati related to observation and measurement, time keeping, terrestrial and celestial navigation, electricity and magnetism.

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