Hugh Jenkins and Stephanie Ross

Hugh Jenkins and Stephanie Ross

Hugh Jenkins has worked in glass since 1969. He got his first introduction to glass blowing at the Foundry in Honolulu. He brought glass into the Punahou School art department in 1972 and continued to teach there until 1998. During summers and sabbatical leaves, he taught glass at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Hugh’s glasswork has evolved through several functional and sculptural phases usually including highly polished optical surfaces. Since 1996 he has focused in collaboration with Stephanie Ross on a highly colored series of bowls and vases. In 1999 and 2000 he created a glass teaching program and a professional glass studio on the Island of Hawai'i.  Hugh is currently helping other glass blowers improve the efficiency of their equipment.

Stephanie Ross earned her degrees first at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and then received her graduate degrees from the University of Hawai’i, Manoa. She has taught art to high school and elementary school students since 1975. In 1997 she opened her own studio where she creates her own works as well as teaching private students. Ross was introduced to glass in 1995 and has worked in collaboration with Hugh Jenkins since 1996. She designs the color and suggests shapes for each piece then when the color has been applied, Jenkins takes over to realize the form. Their recent glass is in direct response to working on the Big Island, depicting impressions of the volcanoes, forest, ocean and widely varying climate and light.