Large 1974 Kent Ipsen Ovoid Vase

Recently I have been very fortunate to purchase several museum quality objects by Kent Ipsen from the collection of an artist who knew him and collected his work extensively in the 1970s.

This large ovoid vase stands 10.5" tall and is 8.5" in diameter at the widest. It is quite massive, weighing approximately 8 pounds. The vivid red, yellow, white, and beige glass swirls together in a striking way, and there is a hint of iridescence in places. In some ways, it reminds me of the planet Jupiter. It is signed Kent F. Ipsen '74.

It bears repeating that Ipsen was one of Harvey Littleton's students at University of Wisconsin in the early 1960s. This was the first college course in glass blowing. Ipsen debuted in the important 1970 exhibition, 'Objects USA,' with the work of other studio glass pioneers such as Marvin Lipofsky, Dale Chihuly, Fritz Dreisbach and Richard Marquis. He went on to be the director of the glass program at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Arts in Richmond, VA. His works are exhibited in venues including: the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass and the Vatican Museum.