shane fero

To explore color and pattern, North Carolina’s Shane Fero takes a painterly approach to his sculptural glass birds and vessels.

Artist: Born in Chicago, Fero’s family moved to Winter Haven, FL, in 1967. About a half-mile from his home, was the flameworking shop of Bob and Marie Howell, part of a well-known itinerant family of glassworkers. Fero would ride his bike to their place to watch them work.

A year later, Jerry and Lee Coker bought the place, and Fero began studying glass as an apprentice. He was 15. He also worked for Roger Smith while going to high school and as a student at Polk Community college.

In 1974, Fero moved to the Adirondacks to study philosophy at SUNY Plattsburgh and continued glassmaking during a three-year apprenticeship. At age 24, Fero and a friend opened a gallery and studio in Plattsburgh.

In 1983, Fero and his wife came to the North Carolina mountains on their honeymoon. Taken with the area, they returned each year and started a relationship with John Cram and New Morning Gallery.

Fero sold his work there until he joined Blue Spiral 1 gallery in Asheville in 1990 and moved to Penland, NC. His work can now be found in private collections and public institutions worldwide.

Studio: Since 1990, Shane Fero’s home and studio have been located on private property next to Penland School of Craft.

Art & materials: Over the years, made various glass animals, abstract sculptures, vessels, mixed-media pieces, paintings – and even glass prints.

In 2002, Fero started a bird series for a show at Blue Spiral 1, in Asheville, NC. He has focused on glass birds and vessels with birds ever since.

Birds, with various colors and surface details and patterns, are $675 to $700. Glass bottles and teapots range from $4,500 to $8,000.

Bird names: Fero likes to add a touch of humor and character to his glass birds. He gives them names like: Mottled Molly, Peter the Piper, Steely Dan and Tangerine Dream.

Influences: