Valerie Michel, Collections Assistant
On the outside, the glass world appears to be vast, given the number of glass artists and the expressive nature of the medium, yet it is interconnected in ways not always noticed. Each generation of glass artists passes on its ideas and techniques to the next, and each subsequent generation takes that knowledge and expands on it, resulting in an array of new work constantly taking the medium to new heights. The recent acquisition of Looking for the Light of Day, a glass work created by Mark Bokesch-Parsons, led to the unearthing of a connection between him and two other artists of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art’s permanent collection.
Mark Bokesch-Parsons, formerly known as Mark Adrian Parsons, was born in Birmingham, England in 1967. His artistic passion started as a child, as he would draw to create imaginary worlds to pass the time. Greatly influenced by the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, supernatural European folk tales, and old black-and-white movies, his drawn worlds took on a darker tone, which is still prevalent in his works today. He did not realize that the world of art was an area he could make a career out of until he was eighteen and took his foundation course in art at Sutton Coldfield College of Higher Education. From there, he attended the Stourbridge College of Technology and Art, the English school most recognized for glass, where his introduction to glass began.
“There was something about the material of glass that really intrigued me. I saw a lot of interesting work that was being done figuratively and design work, and I thought it would open a lot of doors,” Bokesch-Parsons mentioned in an interview. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts honors, he decided to continue his sculpting path, and made the decision to leave England; he moved to the United States in 1990. At Illinois State University, he completed a Master of Fine Art, with an emphasis on glass, taught by Joel Phillip Myers, a studio glass pioneer, creator of the program, and an artist of the FWMOA permanent collection. Myers’ goal for the program was to refrain from restricting what a student could make. He stated in an interview, “I want to see something that I’ve not seen before. I want to see a kind of excellence that I see in my mind and I know exists. I want to see something that in some way contributes to the field of glass. I don’t care if you blow it, stamp it, whatever it is, whatever process fits you, whatever process fits your idea – if that’s casting, if it’s slumping if it – lampwork, whatever it is.”
Myers developed his skills in relative isolation from the studio glass movement, where he avoided elaborate sculptures in favor of substantial vessels that are simple and powerful. According to curator and contemporary glass specialist Dan Klein, “Myers is best described as an abstract colorist although his kind of abstraction nearly always relates to imagery connected either to landscape and nature or to human forms and human behavior.”
This is shown in 8-138 Black, from the Contiguous Fragment series created in 1981, a blown glass piece with melted colored shards of glass that create the details of the work. This piece takes on an organic feel, almost reminiscent of ancient cave drawings, telling a story as the viewer observes it. The use of color only adds to this idea as the main color of the piece is black with melted colors flowing throughout the piece, causing the eye to travel across the work. Combining these ideas, the piece starts to resemble a nature scene, with the colors morphing into an animal that is galloping across the surface. Similar characteristics are evident in Bokesch-Parsons’ work.
While attending Illinois State University, Bokesch-Parsons met Janusz Walentynowicz, another glass artist who is a part of the FWMOA permanent collection; Bokesch-Parsons became his assistant. Walentynowicz is known for his cast glass, reverse painting, expressive figurative imagery, and the intensity of emotions portrayed in his reliefs and sculptures. Anna in Respite by Walentynowicz, created in 1993, is a perfect example of how expressive his work is. Respite portrays a cast glass female figure laying on her side upon a gathered sheet. The use of greenish-clear glass as the color of the body evokes viewing a statue, yet this is conflicting because of the life-like raw emotion exuding from the figure. Laying in an almost fetal position, she seems so lost in thought over something that is troubling her that she must take a moment to relax. Connecting this idea to the keyword of the title, Respite, defined as a brief pause from something difficult, unpleasant, or intense, it confirms the idea the figure is distressed. Walentynowicz’s use of the title and the portrayal of the figure’s emotional state effectively guides the viewer to perceive the piece in a certain way, qualities that many of Bokesch-Parsons’s works possess.
Joel Philip Myers’ and Janusz Walentynowicz’s influence on Mark Bokesch-Parsons can be seen in how he uses color to create a story, how he is able to convey so much emotion from the figure, as well as his use of multiple production techniques. Bokesch-Parsons’ art-making process starts off with a drawing, followed by clay or wax modeling of precise details if necessary. After that, he will make a mold and fill it with molten glass to create the components of the work. The work will then take one to two weeks to anneal, the process of slowly cooling hot glass objects after they are formed to relieve residual internal stresses introduced during the molten state. Once that process is completed, the cast elements are assembled with other components of the piece, such as laminated wood or metal. Covering the varied materials with polyester resin, he creates a uniform surface, so the viewer is not distracted from the form. His last step is to paint over the surface with oil paint to further obscure it and add an additional expressionistic effect. This process is apparent in Looking for the Light of Day by Mark Bokesch-Parsons, created in 1990, depicting a man’s head and shoulders emerging from a mainly gray piece of glass, surrounded on both the left and right sides by gothic-style windows. These rest upon a series of clear arches that surround the base of the sculpture. The head itself is made of a brownish-green color inscribed with symbols that suggest European folklore. The man’s multi-colored eyes instantly captivate the viewer. Two hands are seen surfacing from the greenish-gray base, as if the figure is grabbing onto a ledge.
Taking these elements, it can be theorized that the figure is emerging from some sort of body of water, given the slight ripples coming off the body, the hair is slicked back, and the intense contrast of the details on the fingers which might indicate pruning. One of the more fascinating elements of this piece is the white line that encircles the figure’s entire neck. Could it be a rope? A collar? A tan line? The title, Looking for the Light of Day, gives insight into what the line might be. Is this a figure being held captive in a watery jail, looking to the sky for hope of their future or to reflect on what is happening to them in the present? Bokesch-Parsons’ ability to invoke these questions speaks of how meaningful his work is. The viewer might view this as a sorrowful work or as a hopeful depiction of someone trying to find the good in their situation and their future. Mark Bokesch-Parsons mentioned that the goal of his artworks is to produce a reaction in whomever views the work, “something that is thought provoking, to affect them in some kind of emotional way, whether that be for good or bad, to make them think and evaluate themselves.”
The intermingling of glass artists is what allows the glass world to be extraordinary and the connections between Joel Philip Myers, Janusz Walentynowicz, and Mark Bokesch-Parsons is a testament to this. From Myers’ use of the abstract to convey nature, to the emotional intensity that Walentynowicz’s figural works produces, these influences resulted in Mark Bokesch-Parsons’ own style and the creation of a work like Looking for the Light of Day.
To see other thought-provoking glass artworks, visit the Glass Wing at FWMoA!
SOURCES:
Annealing (glass). Wikipedia. (2015, December 8). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annealing_(glass)
Bio. Janusz Walentynowicz. (n.d.). https://jw-studio.com/bio.html
Chambers, K. S. (1997). Self-Expression The Work of Mark Bokesch-Parsons. Neues Glas, 97(2), 35–39.
Janusz Walentynowicz. Habatat. (n.d.). https://www.habatat.com/artist/109-janusz-walentynowicz/
Joel Philip Myers. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (n.d.). https://americanart.si.edu/artist/joel-philip-myers-18610
Klein, D., & Myers, J. P. (2007, May 1). Oral history interview with Joel Philip Myers. other. Retrieved July 1, 2026, from https://www.aaa.si.edu/download_pdf_transcript/ajax?record_id=edanmdm-AAADCD_oh_270854.