Massive Art Glass Figural Sculpture in cast blue glass with bronze insert, on glass base. Titled "Cobalt Scissors Figure". Rick Beck began working glass at Hastings College in Nebraska in 1978. He was awarded a visual arts fellowship by the North Carolina Arts Council, followed by a National Endowment for the Arts regional visual arts fellowship from the Southern Arts Federation in 1995. Beck is known for his large-scale cast glass sculpture depicting industrial, everyday objects and the human figure. His recent series of large-scale abstracted, figurative work is often constructed of several parts. The assembled components express the weighty, monumental aspects of the human form while at the same time they often render the body in very lively poses. Beck's cast pieces are one of a kind. He says that, "My work in glass is a synthesis of human and mechanical form, with an emphasis on formal aspects. I am interested in playing the volumes of mass against the rhythm of the lines. I enjoy the interplay of the visual (visceral) versus the verbal (descriptive/technical). The work should challenge the eye and the mind." Size: 41 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 40 in.