Artist's Statement

Glass has held my attention for 50 years now, which is amazing because I have interests that scatter me in many directions.

I am moved by the beauty of the night sky and other astronomical phenomena. Physics and cosmology fascinate me, as do high temperature chemistry, powered flight, and all things mechanical. I am mesmerized by color, form, contrast, iridescence, tessellating patterns, and complexity.

My studio is located in the rural hills of Western Massachusetts, in a converted dairy barn beside my home. Every night, the last thing I do is walk from the house to my studio to check the furnaces. Sometimes seeing an aurora borealis, watching a storm develop down the valley, or looking at the sky on a perfect summer night, compels me to translate some of the wonder of the universe into my glass. This process doesn’t happen in any planned way, but gradually and unpredictably. I never try to replicate what I see around me and in fact often don't recognize the source of inspiration until someone points it out to me later.

Molten glass consists of sand and metallic oxides combined with extraordinary, blinding heat. The result is a material that flows like honey. When it's hot, glass is alive! It moves gracefully and inexorably in response to gravity and centripetal force. It possesses an inner light and transcendent radiant heat that make it simultaneously one of the most rewarding and one of the most frustrating materials for an artist to work with. Most of my work reflects a compromise between the molten material and me; each finished piece is a solidified moment when we both agree.

Biography

1972
Learns to blow glass at Goddard College. Puts temporary hold on potentially lucrative career as spoons player in Celtic and bluegrass bands as he builds his first studio in northern Vermont. Lives in hand-made tipi with wood stove and frequent uninvited visits from local wildlife. Trades glass for hundreds of pounds of dried chickpeas because they offer the greatest caloric bang for the buck.

1973
Lives in back of Datsun pick-up truck for the summer. Builds second studio in Northford, Connecticut. Accidentally discovers new process for using metallic oxides and develops eventual signature creation: New Mexico Glass. Main source of protein: chickpeas.

1974
Attends ACC Rhinebeck Craft Show; displays glass on grandmother’s felt-covered card table; writes first gallery order on scrap of paper. No business cards, no phone, no brochures.

1976
Marries, buys farm/studio in Shelburne Falls. Excavates four feet deep quagmire of duck manure, removes cow stanchions, pours new concrete floor, tucks tipi poles and canvas in rafters in case things don’t work out. Makes first planets to entertain visiting school children. Still eating chickpeas.

1977
Rosalynn Carter commissions wine goblets for the White House. Chickpeas stricken from diet. First IRS audit triggered when gas consumption in glass studio exceeds total propane use at all McDonald’s restaurants in western Massachusetts. Of the two enterprises, only McDonald’s shows a profit that year. IRS auditor becomes glass collector. Josh hides first planets in town for kids to find.

1979
Set of six New Mexico Goblets selected for Corning Museum’s “New Glass Review” traveling exhibit. Attends Grand Opening wearing two non-matching left shoes that he packed accidentally. Socks match, also accidentally.

1985
Wins Juror’s Award in “Artists Look at Earth,” at National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC. Becomes the driving force that helps create Craft Emergency Relief Fund, and serves as its first Board president until 1992.

1990
Answers what is arguably the best wrong number ever and meets Air Force Captain Cady Coleman. Teaches at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Deer Isle, Maine. Travels to glass conference in Lviv, Ukraine where the city’s mayor offers Josh ownership of glass factory… hoping he will keep staff of 4500 fully employed.

1991
Exhibits at George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts and Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York. Meets Mr. Y. Morito, president of Moritex Corporation, who challenges him to make the “largest possible planet” for his new Corporate Headquarters in Tokyo; Josh makes first 8” diameter solid glass Planet sphere.

1992
After having served on the Board for the previous 5 years, Simpson was elected President of the Glass Art Society for two years. Serves on board for a total of seven years. Cady chosen as Mission Specialist NASA Astronaut. Now, with something to prove to his sweetheart, Josh earns pilot’s license and scuba certification.

1992
After having served on the Board for the previous 5 years, Simpson was elected President of the Glass Art Society for two years. Serves on board for a total of seven years. Cady chosen as Mission Specialist NASA Astronaut. Now, with something to prove to his sweetheart, Josh earns pilot’s license and scuba certification.

2001
PBS documentary about Josh, “Where the Earth Meets the Sky” broadcast system-wide in the US and selected stations in Japan. Josh breaks leg while emptying cat box.

2006
Afflicted with testosterone poisoning, Simpson accepts commission to make 100-lb. Planet for Corning Museum of Glass.

2007
Simpson’s 35-year career retrospective, “Visionary Journey in Glass,” opens at Huntsville Museum of Art. Awarded Honorary Doctorate from Bay Path College; as fellow honoree Gwen Ifill trips and is about to fall backward into his lap, makes a full frontal save that is memorable for all. Invited to collaborate with Steuben Glass.

PBS releases “Defying Gravity,” an hour-long documentary about the making of the Corning 100-pound Megaplanet.

2008
Hamilton College awards Simpson and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson honorary doctorate degrees. Ironically, the banking industry collapses a few months later. Thanks to the ensuing recession, and with little other work, Simpson endeavors to recreate the glass formula he first melted in 1978 but never thought to write down. After nearly 200 melts Simpson finds a version of the lost glass, and with an uncanny sense of marketing, calls it “Corona.”

2011
Simpson’s solo exhibit “From 60,000 Miles Away” opens at Hamilton College, then travels to the Sandwich Glass Museum.

2013
Performs onstage with the Pioneer Valley Symphony for the 50th commemoration of the death of JFK.

2018
Solo exhibit, “Galactic Landscapes,” opens at Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA.

2019
Receives Creativity Award from Salem State University.

2020
MIT offers Josh a "seat" on a Zero-G flight; amazed not to throw up, floats weightless alongside one of his Planets.

Coronavirus pandemic hits the world. Josh chagrined that “Corona,” the name he gave to a new glass he invented 40 years before, has become a worldwide hashtag. Considers growing his ponytail again. Blows glass as he did at the beginning: alone in the studio.

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