Ep. 12 How his parents allowed him to learn, explore and figure it out lead him to becoming a Glass Engineer.

Chris Mosley was born in 1984 in Rochester, upstate NY. Always a creative kid, he got lost doodling in school, and somehow knew, ever since he was 12 years old, that creating was going to be an important part of my life. 

The first step on this path was attending college at the Art Institute of Atlanta for Graphic Design at 18. After graduating with an Associates Degree in Graphic Design in 2005, he explored his voice and different mediums as an artist over the next 5 years, while working all different types of jobs to pay the bills. In 2011 he got a job in an art community called the Goat Farm, making designer books for furniture show rooms. This was the first time he had the opportunity to work surrounded by accomplished artists, and it gave me a window into many different examples of what success as an artist could look like. He knew he hadn’t found my medium yet, and needed to keep trying things, so he reached out to a glassblower in the 4th Ward in Atlanta and asked for an apprenticeship. That moment changed my life forever. He became hooked on glassblowing and realized he had found the medium he wanted to grow and create in for the rest of my life. 

This certainty sparked a laser focus that consumed me for the next seven years. He had to learn everything about this material and become masterful at my craft. 

In 2013 he began studies in the Scientific Glass and Glass Art Program at Salem Community College. The next summer in 2014 he interned at the prestigious Corning Museum of Glass, where he gave talks about Fiber Optics and Glass Stress, as well as Flameworking demonstrations 11 times per day. 

In the summer of 2015 he got to take my work deeper by traveling all over the East Coast and blowing glass with different artists. He then took a risk, packing up everything he had and moving across the country to LA with my girlfriend at the time, to take a position at Phillips Lighting, making projector bulbs. 

After a few years he hit a tough moment in my glass work, clarifying my voice as an artist, when my girlfriend walked out on me suddenly, and I was left alone in Los Angeles. Though it was a difficult moment, it gave me the priceless gift of having no distractions and being able to focus entirely on my passion and ambition. This ended up being an incredible time for me, in which he put everything into chasing my dreams. 

Guest: Chris Mosley

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Host: Shereka Jackson

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