About the Artists
Born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, Robert Gardner has pursued a
career path in the arts from a young age. Initially apprenticing to a jeweler
as a teen, then studying filmmaking at the Art Institute of San Francisco
(BFA Film 85'), he then worked for several years as a film productio
assistant. A change in focus brought Robert to the mountains of North
Carolina, in the area that surrounds the Penland School of Crafts, where
he again began another apprenticeship, this time with several glass artists.
The material of glass with all of its transformative qualities propelled
Robert on to pursue a masters degree from the University of Illinois (MFA
Sculpture/MA Art Education 94'), and this led full circle to a working
position at the Penland School, where he taught and then managed the
glass studio facility.
Following that position, Robert moved to Asheville where he has
maintained a glassblowing studio in the River Arts District since 1997.
Over the course of the last thirteen years, Robert has exhibited in galleries
throughout the country, shown at international events such as SOFA
Chicago & New York, Art Miami and the Miami Bridge Art Fair. The main
focus of Robert's work is sculptural where he combines his knowledge
of glass and metal crafts to marry materials in a play of form and light.
Over the years Robert has also done public and private commissions in
collaboration with architects and designers, these include many prestigious
restaurant lighting jobs in Atlanta, a sculptural centerpiece in a lobby in
Charlotte, and locally in Asheville, Robert was commissioned to build
historically accurate lighting fixtures for the Grove Arcade and most
recently to adorn the Way Finding sign system now installed throughout the downtown and surrounding areas.
Alex Greenwood started learning how to manipulate glass in 2001.
With a small torch in his kitchen he began to explore the world of
lampworking. After a short time he found an apprenticeship in a
production studio in Eastern North Carolina.
"Working as an apprentice
for that time helped me to appreciate the lessons that full time
production had to offer."
After working for three years with this studio Alex felt the urge to broaden his horizons and went back to school. He moved to middle Tennessee and began attending the Appalachian Center for Crafts where he spent four years studying the craft of off-hand glass blowing.
Alex moved to Asheville in late 2007 where he and Logan MacSporran met and began organizing the Asheville Center for Glass.
Logan MacSporran was born in Toronto and emigrated with his family to the US in 1978. Raised in the South, he is a self taught artist who works in several mediums. Having worked as a graphic designer for most of the 1990's he found Lampworking in 1999. He worked as a 
glassblower until 2003 when he took a position as a CAD Jewelry Designer.
Logan moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 2005 and began working as a glassblower again while doing CAD design for artists, sculptors and rennovators. He is now dedicated to starting the AGC with Alex Greenwood.
