“Tickle,” 2022, neon, flame-worked, blown, cast, mirrored, and cold-worked glass, fabric, feathers, acrylic, enamel, vinyl, mixed media, 84 × 72 × 18 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Bri Chesler
Teaching Artist Cohort
,
2026
Bri Chesler is a multidisciplinary artist whose sculptural installations fuse glass with a range of unconventional materials to explore intimacy, desire, and embodied memory. Chesler studied foundry processes at the Kansas City Art Institute, drawn initially to the physicality and rawness of metal. Yet it was glass that ultimately captivated her with its sensuality and ability to capture gestures. She quickly began to experiment beyond the vessel, building psychologically charged environments inspired by the intimate architecture of the body. Working across blown glass, casting, flameworking, neon, and mixed media, she creates encounters for her audience that blur the line between attraction and discomfort.
Outside the studio, Chesler has spent over a decade mentoring at-risk youth, teaching workshops in juvenile detention programs, alternative schools, and community-based outreach. Currently, she is developing a mobile glassblowing studio designed to share glassmaking as a form of healing and connection for communities in need.
Her work has been exhibited across the United States and internationally, earning recognition through the Pilchuck Emerging Artist-in-Residence Program, the Hauberg Fellowship, the McMillen Fellowship, the Saxe Emerging Artist Award, and the Corning Museum Studios Artist-in-Residence. In 2024, her first solo exhibition, Untamed: The Anatomy of Desire, was featured at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. Chesler is a United States Artists Fellowship nominee and has an upcoming exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum.
Selected works
“Fun, Flirty, and Festering,” 2018, blown, cast, fused, and flame-worked glass, beads, synthetic hair, Apoxie Sculpt, Swarovski rhinestones, found objects, vinyl, mixed media, 8 × 10 × 1.17 ft. (large wall installation). Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Fun, Flirty, and Festering (detail),” 2018. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Bruised Brute (detail),” 2020, blown, flame-worked, found, mirrored, and sandblasted glass, synthetic hair, Swarovski rhinestones, beads, fabric, wool, Apoxie Sculpt, mixed media, 33 × 35 × 21 in. (object size). Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Squirm,” 2021, blown, fused, flame-worked, and gilded glass, neon, beads, fabric, sequins, synthetic hair, monofilament, mixed media, 56 × 48 × 21 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Tit-Tasty,” 2021, blown, sculpted, and flame-worked glass, fiber optics, synthetic hair, beads, wire, fabric, resin, LEDs, mixed media, 38 × 38 × 26 in. (object size). Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Affliction,” 2024, blown, sculpted, and flame-worked glass, neon, silver nitrate, Swarovski rhinestones, beads, fabric, acrylic, vinyl, mixed media, 60 × 42 × 35 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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