Featured Artist Mike da Ponte

Mixed media artist Mike Ponte combines sculptural technique with his background in graphic design to create a compelling collection. View more of his portfolio on his website.

 

 

My name is Mike da Ponte, and I am a glass and mixed media artist and educator from Grayslake, Illinois. I started studying glass at Illinois State University where I received my bachelor’s degree in glass blowing and sculpture.

 

 

Since graduation, I helped develop curriculum as well as build the equipment for a hot glass studio in a high school located in Winnetka, Illinois. Although I had no original intentions of working in secondary education when I left college, teaching has quickly become a passion in my artistic career.

 

 

Glass is a unique medium for students to learn because it does not rely on traditional forms of art making like painting or drawing, to be successful. Removing this kind of intimidating element from an art program has been one contributing factor to the rising enrollment and curiosity for those willing to give an art class a shot.

 

 

Our studio boasts a two-thousand square foot space that allows for many different forms of glass making under one roof. Being a well-rounded and versatile teacher is something that has forced me to work in many different mediums and processes for my own artwork.

 

 

This kind of exploration and experimentation has opened many new doors for making glass with both hot and cold techniques. I am a huge fan of grinding, cutting, coloring, and engraving the surface of glass to change the typical shiny and seductive surface of the material.

 

 

Before I discovered glass in college, I was heavily involved in the graphic design program at Illinois State University. One of the last areas I had been focusing on before fully committing to glass was typography, which is the study of lettering and hierarchy with visual elements in the design world. I really enjoyed learning about this. Every typeface is so unique based on its creator.

 

 

All my work explores identity and questions my own path as an artist. Can my artwork help guide me through being someone who was adopted at birth and has no real ties to a biological family? Much like the typefaces that exist today, every single one has a story to tell and comes from a different place in the world.

 

 

My most recent body of work titled “Communication,” is woven out of these themes and questions. Creating letters in glass and discovering new, hidden meanings using negative space and scale has helped me navigate through these ideas and continuously create and reflect along the way.

 

 

My goal is to keep working on this body of work and share my story with a global audience.

 

Mike da Ponte invites you to follow on Instagram. 

 

 

Want to stay current on cutting edge business articles from Artsy Shark, plus artist features, and an invitation to the next Call for Artists? Click below to sign up for our twice-monthly email. You’ll get all this plus opportunities and special offers that you can’t get anywhere else!