• Walker & BowesNeighbor

  • Walnut Creek, CA

Walker & Bowes Glass

M. G. Walker &amp; Bobby Bowes are founders of two prominent glass studios in Silicon Valley --- The Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) which is a not-for-profit glass institute and workshop and Defining Elements Within Art (Dew-Art). Walker &amp; Bowes exhibitions have been featured in major California museum venues such as the Palm Springs Desert Museum and Santa Clara&#39;s Triton Museum of Art, and one piece is honored to be included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.<br> <br> While attending San Jose State University in 1995, Walker &amp; Bowes spent time working with renowned glass artists educated in the fine arts and century old technique of glassblowing from around the world. It was then that Bowes&#39;s idea for the first Glass Pumpkin Patch was born. Focusing on Italian style glassblowing, Bowes assembled his team of glassblowers to produce the original Glass Pumpkin Patch installation which consisted of 750-plus glass pumpkins. This exhibition, held at the Palo Alto Art Center, was so well received that all pieces were purchased on the first day of sale. Community loyalty and support grew this event to the annual phenomena and Bay Area tradition that it is today with more than 40,000 of these one-of-a-kind pieces of art held by collectors. Since 1995, Walker &amp; Bowes remain the instrumental force behind The Great Glass Pumpkin Patch©, a major fund-raiser for BAGI and the Palo Alto Art Center, raising more than $2 million in funds for the community and local artists.<br> <br> As their glass pumpkins have made their way into collections around the globe, The Walker &amp; Bowes glass pumpkin patch tradition has also expanded across the nation, raising funds for numerous non-profit programs for local children, communities, educational programs and to organizations as diverse as MIT&#39;s glass studio and the Corning Glass Museum.<br> <br> As a husband-and-wife team, Michele and Bobby Bowes live and work in San Jose, California with their two sons, 7 &amp; 3 year old. They are both graduates of San Jose State University with Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees. They continue to focus their art on the development and execution of significant art installations for private and civic entities and with not-for-profit and local communities.

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