Mark Zirpel

Mark Zirpel is an Assistant Professor at UW, where he was recently selected as the inaugural holder of the Dale Chihuly Endowed Chair. Mark holds a BFA from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and an MFA in Printmaking from the San Fransico Art Institute. Zirpel returned to Alaska in 1990 to teach at the University of Alaska , anchorage. Moving to Seattle in 1993, zirpel taught drawing at Cornish College of Art for five years and also began a long and productive working relationship with Pilchuck Glass School. Since moving to Seattle his work has become primarily 3 dimensional and often incorporates glass as a material of focus. Zirpel has traveled extensively and taken part in many art residencies around the world. The last 10 years have been marked by prodigious studio output, numerous exhibitions and being recognized as an artisit who is making a contribution to the field of glass art. Zirpel was recently nominated for a Tiffany grant, was awarded the Rafael Founder’s Prize from the Socieity for Contemporary Craft, was awarded the Stephen Proctor fellowship from the Australian National University in Canaberra. He was recently hired by the University of Washington in seattle as the dale chihuly endowed chair of glass, charged with introducing glass into the university’s three dimensional program.