Robert Eickholt (B 1947) American, Art Glass Vase. Signed and dated 1982 on the underside. Blue glass layered with biomorphic designs and shimmering metallic colors throughout. 

Size: 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 7 in. 

#2409 . 

Robert Eickholt was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1947. As a youth he became obsessed with light refraction and color theory, but opted to pursue a BS in business management and computer science from Miami University in Oxford at the behest of his father. When he graduated in 1970 he went to work as a systems analyst for a computer software company in Cincinnati, but quickly grew disenchanted with the work. After attending a presentation by pioneering glassworker Fritz Driesbach he quit his job and moved to Berkeley, California to study glassblowing under Marvin Lipofsky. He returned to Columbus in 1975, taking graduate classes at Ohio State University and Columbus College of Art and Design. In 1978 he opened his own studio in his hometown, which has produced countless art glass creations such as paperweights, vases, abstract sculptures and more. Each piece is made one at a time and completely unique, and the Eickholt style is recognized for distinctive designs which incorporate precious metals including gold and silver and rare oxides like cobalt and copper. Eickholt retired in 2013, but his studio continues to inspire new generations of glass artists.