David Walters
David Walters graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1993 with a BFA in Glass. He immediately moved to Seattle after graduation to work with Dale Chihuly. He was the lead gaffer at Dale Chihuly’s Boat House for three years and worked with Dale a total of nine years. David began working with Lino Tagliapietra in the summer of 1994 and works with him presently. He has been awarded two residencies (1995, 2004) at the Creative Glass Center of America. He also received two scholarships to the Pilchuck Glass School and the John and Mary Shirley scholarship award at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle where he also has been an instructor. David has been a gaffer at Pilchuck and was also included in the “Lino E Amici” show at the Fuller Museum of Art in Massachusetts. He began using enamel during his 1995 CGCA Fellowship. His initial inspiration sprang from the graphic quality of Albrect Durer’s woodcuts. The imagery he uses ranges from a purely graphic decorative style to a fantasy based narrative style which generally draws from personal experience in an effort to convey a message on some universal theme. Some of the images are derived from biblical and mythological stories and are spun into a personal interpretation of very old themes. He is currently interested in fairy tales and fables and is trying to incorporate some of these stories into his work, exploring new metaphors and some of the dark nature and humor within the narratives.
