Stoneware crucifix by Glass
After serving in the U.S. Navy, Michigan native Bill Glass received his MFA from the University of Notre Dame in 1957, where he was the first graduate student selected to study with Croation master Ivan Mestrovic. Under Mestrovic's tutelage, Glass says he found his own voice and deepest expression in religious subjects.
Glass also painted fresco murals with Jean Charlot, a participant and chronicler of the Mexican Mural Renaissance, studied at Parson's School of Design in New York, and worked as a designer/artist for Rookwood Pottery, known as America's most famous art pottery.
“I pride myself on being original,” Glass says. “I’ve resisted any attempt to adopt this ism or that. My mission is to create original ceramic arts for the 21st century in one-of-a-kind and limited editions that appeal to a new generation of art enthusiasts and collectors. For my muse, I turn to nature and the infinite variety of creative possibilities it inspires.”
This piece, donated by Notre Dame alumna Maria di Pasquale '90, is #48 of an edition of 50. The artist gifted an earlier number of the edition to Barack Obama upon his inauguration as President of the United States in 2008.
In addition to the other Glass crucifix at Notre Dame, two of his pieces can be seen at St. Mary's College—a large one that hangs in the Great Hall of Le Mans and a smaller one in Carroll Auditorium in Madeleva Hall.
