Steve Immerman: Bio

Although a native New Yorker, Steve Immerman has lived in the Midwest for the last 40 years, currently residing in Wisconsin. Immerman has been working in glass for the last 33 years, but exclusively with kilnformed glass for over seventeen years. Immerman uses glasswork as a respite from his more left brain and stressful career as a general surgeon and surgical oncologist.

He recognizes many parallels between kilnformed glass and surgery. “They each involve technical skill and precise planning in preparation for the portion of the process where the elements are left alone to heal (in the case of surgery) or fuse (with kilnformed glass). Both processes require intense knowledge of what is expected to happen, and neither allow much margin for error. Both combine science and art.”

His journey in glass has included classes throughout the United States with recognized kinformed glass artists, as well as extensive personal study and experimentation. He has been a finalist in the ArtsWest Wisconsin show on five occasions, and has been a finalist in the Bullseye Glass Company’s annual kiln formed glass competition in 2002, 2004 and 2008. His work has been featured on the cover of Glass Craftsman Magazine in 2005 and again in 2006, and he has been a regular contributor of articles for that publication. In 2005 he was nominated to be the commissioned artist to supply original artwork for the Wisconsin Arts Foundation’s annual “Governor’s Award in Support of the Arts”.

His work often includes a design element called an “aperture pour”. This is created in a kiln by melting glass in a crucible with a hole or “aperture” in the bottom which allows streams of glass to flow out of the container onto the kiln shelf. Immerman marvels at the many colorful patterns he is able to create in this manner. These swirly, chaotic, and colorful glass designs are then cut, shaped, polished, and used to enhance his compositions.

These compositions are made by assembling strips and sheets of glass into three dimensional assemblies that are subsequently fused together in a kiln at temperatures around 1500F. The resulting glass panel is then ground, sandblasted, polished, and possibly placed back in the kiln for other firings.

Depending on the particular piece, the glass Immerman uses may be transparent or opalescent; textured or smooth; glossy or satiny. However the common theme is his use of geometric shapes, and, as one juror described his work, his ”...clean form and patterning.” He successfully juxtaposes wild, chaotic design elements with serene backgrounds and geometric regularity. Says Immerman, “When people look at my work I want them to be at the edge of recognizing something beyond the glass itself; I want the glass to draw them to a memory of an emotion, feeling, or place at a subliminal level.” Immerman does this with repetitions of textures, patterns, colors and shapes, in the form of vessels or sculptures.

The works on these pages were each individually created in a small studio exclusively using Bullseye glass. All of the kiln formed artwork, sculpture and designs on these pages are original, and are copyrighted to the artist. The primary purpose for this site is to display examples of fused glass artwork, and to be a resource for other glass workers. This artwork is also sold under the name of  "Steve Immerman Kilnformed Glass". All photography on this site, unless otherwise noted, was done by Steve Immerman. Web site design and creation was also done by Steve Immerman. All designs and images are copyrighted to the artist, and may not be reproduced without permission.

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