Tyler Rock

Alberta 

Biography

For the past fifteen years, Tyler rock's artistic practice has shifted between conceptual art and glasswork based on the aesthetic tradition of the vessel. In the late 1990's, his blown glasswork began to receive critical attention both nationally and internationally through the development of the "Luminary" and "Lidded Vessel" series.

"The process of making the Lidded Vessel and Luminary work was pivotal to my understanding of the aesthetics of form," says Rock. Initially while working on this series, Rock was drawn to the interplay of glass and light, which he still sees as an essential characteristic of glass. However, as he continued working, he became increasingly interested in the relationships among the components of the vessels themselves. "The work became one colour and exclusively focused on visual weight and the profile of the form, of how that edge cuts into the space surrounding it."

The idea of the edge remains relevant in Rock's new work. Sculptural in nature and mounted on the wall, his new work carries forward vessel associations while shedding the notion of functionality. These pieces operate on a human scale to engage and create an emotional response from viewers with the use of a broader sculptural vocabulary. "I want the work stripped down to the essential, for it to be about beauty, and the material on one hand, but for it also to take the viewer in other directions. It is an experience that can only happen in a gallery with the work."

Tyler Rock has demonstrated continuous growth as both an artist and consummate craftsman. In 1995, when he began teaching glass at the Alberta College of Art and Design he was both the youngest faculty and employee of the college. Since then, Rock has worked collaboratively with artists in a variety of studios and schools in Canada, the US and Europe.

In 2002, Rock and his wife Julia Reimer collaborated as Artists in Residence at the studio at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York. In addition to maintaining his studio practice, Rock is currently the head of the glass program at the Alberta College of Art and Design and president of the Glass Art Association of Canada.