Scottish Artist and Designer Eric Hilton is a skilled master at working glass to convey the aesthetic and philosophical issues that confront artists. “Art for me is a vehicle that synthesizes order into the awe of existence. It is the vehicle for dance, music, poetry, literature and the visual arts. It represents the soul of human consciousness.” Eric’s true passion is in the creative process in the molding, etching, cutting, sandblasting and the polishing of each work. His process is like painting, as he builds each piece gradually etching and cutting his detailed imagery and patterns over the whole surface. You can find the elements of life – earth, air, fire, and water in his work. “I am influenced by nature from which infinite information can be gleaned.”

Eric Hilton

Eric Hilton Biography

Education:

1959 Edinburgh College of Art, BFA

1960 Edinburgh College of Art, MFA

Teaching:

1971 – 1977 NYS College of Ceramics at Alfred, NY

1969 – 1971 University of Victoria, Canada

1967 – 1969 Birmingham College of Art, England

1962 – 1967 Stourbridge College of Art, England

1960 – 1962 Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland

Commissions:

Modular Architectural Units in pressed glass for Plouden & Thompson,

Dial Glassworks, Stourbridge, England

Modular Units for architectural application, Ansons Gallery, London

Architectural Panels for TW. Ide, Ltd. Glass Manufacturers, London

Sandblasted Sculptural Relief, Ansons Gallery for Jaguar, Coventry, England

Sandblast Sculpture, commissioned by Ansons Gallery, Mayfair, London

Exhibited in the Building Centre, London

Crystal sculpture ‘Enigmatic Pathways” for the University of Virginia, Richmond, VA

Planets Series – Corporate Gift Commission for Comdisco, Chicago

Architectural Commission for the Rockefeller Center, Paramount Publications, NY

Sculpture Commission, Queens College, New York

Design Work for Steuben Glass

Sculpture for Greenbriar, West Virginia

Sculpture for the World Golf Hall of Fame St. Augustine, FL

Grand Am Sculpture, Daytona, FL

Commissioned sculptures for Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Board Room Doors for S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Racine, WI

Grants, Prizes Awards:

1981    National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

1980    National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Architectural Research

1971    Canada Council Materials Grant

1971    Canada Council Travel Grant

1970    Faculty Research Grant: University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia

1967    Major Prizewinner: Open Glaziers Competition, British Glass lndustry

1961    European Traveling Scholarship from Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland

1960    Post Graduate Scholarship: Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland.

Exhibitions:

American Glass Now – Touring Exhibition

Bienally, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Birmingham College of Art, Birmingham, England.

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY

Edinburgh College of Eclinburgh, Scotland.

Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan.

Illinois State University: The Art of Craft -the American View, Champaign-Urbana, IL

International Glass Sculpture, Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL

Jewelry Exhibition, Steuben Glass, New York, NY

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland

Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris,

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

Osaka World Exposition, Osaka, Japan.

Otari Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya, Japan.

Pilkington Glass Museum, Liverpool, England.

State University of New York, Albany, NY

SOFA Expo Chicago

Tokyo Daimaru, Tokyo, Japan.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA

Eric Hilton Description

Scottish Artist and Designer Eric Hilton is a skilled master at working glass to convey the aesthetic and philosophical issues that confront artists. “Art for me is a vehicle that synthesizes order into the awe of existence. It is the vehicle for dance, music, poetry, literature and the visual arts. It represents the soul of human consciousness.”

Eric’s true passion is in the creative process in the molding, etching, cutting, sandblasting and the polishing of each work. His process is like painting, as he builds each piece gradually etching and cutting his detailed imagery and patterns over the whole surface. You can find the elements of life – earth, air, fire, and water in his work.  “I am influenced by nature from which infinite information can be gleaned.”

Through reflection and refraction, lines he cuts with a copper wheel seem to travel from one surface to another, creating an imaginary landscape or map for the mind to travel. Works by Eric have a touch of the magic of ancient times as well as the futuristic plans for places yet to be explored. Scotland has a rich history of tales and Eric Hilton is a great teller of them, both through his art and his wonderful sense of humor and deep appreciation for the mysteries of life.

In 1972 Hilton was hired by Stueben glass as their lead designer where he continued until Corning finally closed the operation in 2011. He was simultaneously making one of a kind objects under his own name and continues to do so today. Eric shows his work in the finest galleries in the US.