Winner of Season 3 of Blown Away “John Moran is a hot glass sculptor, mixed media artist, and all-around nice guy who cares about politics and society.” He was born in Philadelphia, but his job has taken him all over the world, including to Poland, Belgium, and China.
During the 10-episode season of Blown Away, John Moran used his sculpture Behind The Golden Door to beat out the other artists and win a $60,000 cash prize.
In the last round, the contestants had eight hours to fill one half of the gallery with a “cohesive, original, and immersive glass installation.” The theme was completely up to the people making the glass.
The curator of Post-War and Contemporary Glass at the Corning Museum, Susie Silbert, was the guest judge. She brought six glassblowers from the Corning Museum to help the two finalists, John Moran and Minhi Su.
After the finalists made their creations, they had to install them themselves in the creation room so that the judges could judge them and pick a winner for Season 3 of Blown Away.
In the end, Behind The Golden Door by John Moran was chosen as the winner of Blown Away. His idea came from the blank spaces. He wanted people to see that “life is pushing through, finding a way to shine” by being in this empty space.
All about John Moran, who won the third season of Blown Away.
In 2006, he got his BFA in Glass Cum Laude from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. In 2013, he got his MFA in Glass from Illinois State University.
John used to paint, but he became interested in glass because “it takes a team to make a piece.” He told the magazine Beautiful Bizarre more about why he likes glass:
“The first time I walked into a glass studio, people were working, talking, and hanging out together, both inside and outside of the studio. There is a kind of cult following for the material, and I tried to stay away from it for years. However, I recently realized that it has been the center of my adult life.”
He started working with glass in 2006 and made “unique works of art that focus on sociopolitical observation.” According to his LinkedIn profile, these works have been shown in “many prestigious museums and galleries in the United States and Europe.”
He started working with glass after watching a video of Pino Signoretto sculpting with glass. The video showed him “a whole new world of possibilities.”
In 2014, he helped start the public studio Gent Glas so he could share his passion and “love for the international glass community” with people in Belgium.
Art lovers have said nice things about most of his work, but there is one sculpture that “got a particularly strong reaction from viewers.” He said the following about it: