"A Still Life" – John Moran

John criticizes but he does not accuse. He does not attack the recipient as an individual but rather highlights the collective processes of denial and approval of conformism. In many respects he does not aspire to change the world but he is critical towards it in the hope that people will start thinking beyond pure beauty and entertainment.

The time has come to ask questions. The time has come to re-establish the gravity of even the most brutal, dismal, true imagery and content. Moran achieves it by putting his sculptures in the ethical and aesthetic context of an art gallery. It is the subject matter that is in essence shocking; the work is a reflection of that, says the artist.

Dominika Drozdowska – part of the introduction to the exhibition A Still Life

JOHN MORAN
Graduated and was awarded his Bachelors in Fine Arts degree from Tyler School of Art under Jon Clark in Philadelphia, PA, USA, 2006. Graduated and was awarded his Masters in Fine Arts Degree from Illinois State University under John Miller in Normal, IL, USA, 2013.
He was awarded the Creative Glass Center of America Fellowship in 2009 at the Wheat on Arts and Cultural Center, Millville, NJ, USA. He has been awarded several residencies and fellowships since, including: the Institute for Arts and Crafts in Mechelen (Instituut voor Kunst en Ambacht), Belgium, 2010; GLAZENHUIS – Flemish Centre for Contemporary Glass Art, Lommel, Belgium, 2014; and the S12 Open Access Studio and Gallery in Bergen, Norway, 2015. He has received several grants, including: Contemporary Glass Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 2003, 2006; the Puffin Foundation in New York, NY, USA, 2011; the Friends of the Arts in Normal, 2011, 2012; and the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass grant, USA, 2014.
Throughout the past six years, he has had several solo exhibitions in Europe and the USA, including: Hodge Gallery at the Pittsburgh Glass Center in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2012; Geuzenhuis in Ghent, Belgium, 2013; the Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, DE, USA, 2014; and the S12 in Bergen, 2015. He has also participated in several group exhibitions, including: SOFA Chicago, 2009; GLAZENHUIS, Lommel, 2012; the Stanislav Libenský Award Exhibition in Prague, the Czech Republic, 2013; Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde, Play with Glass - European Glass Festival, Wroclaw, Poland, 2016. In 2016, he is also participating in the Habatat 44th International Invitational at Habatat Galleries in Royal Oak, MI, USA.
His work is included in several public collections, including: Nevis Historical & Conservation Society, Charlestown, Saint Kitts and Nevis; the Museum of American Glass, Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville; and GLAZENHUIS, Lommel; as well as in a number of private collections.
John Moran has taught workshops at the Institute for Arts and Crafts in Mechelen, 2010; the Pittsburgh Glass Center in Pittsburgh, 2012; the Illinois State University, Normal, 2014.
After moving to Belgium in 2013, he founded Ghent Glas, a public access glass studio in the heart of Ghent, where he is the studio coordinator, spending most of his time trying to bring together a community of new and young glass makers.
John Moran’s own work utilizes his exceptional glass sculpting abilities and knowledge of a variety of materials to create emotional works fuelled by political and social issues. At this point in time, he is one of the only people living in Belgium who is both critical of Belgian culture and his own.