David A. R. Garcia was born in San Francisco, California in 1957. He works and lives in rural SW Washington.
From 1978 to 1980, while working on his landscape architecture degree at Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge, Garcia became interested in glass - both flat and hot - and studied stained glass with Paul Dufour. Upon returning to San Francisco in 1981, he resumed his glass studies at San Francisco State University with John Leighton and, in 1982, briefly studied hot glass at the California College of Arts and Crafts under the tutelage of Marvin Lipofsky. In 1983, Garcia began working independently out of Shaun Weisbach's studio and founded and built his own hot glass shop in 1987. Today his work is exhibited and collected throughout North America and Europe.
Licensed to practice landscape architecture and the son of an architect, Garcia admits that his work is at times reminiscent of cityscapes through his use of line and multilayered geometric shapes. But he also imbues his work with a sense of life and movement by mixing together brilliant colors, random patterns, and changeable, evolving forms.
His philosophy? A guiding influence is his strong belief in relating the ancient art of glassblowing to our contemporary world. And on a more subconscious level he supposes his attraction to hot glass originates from humankind's perpetual fascination with fire. The allure of molten glass is that it resembles fire. Intensely hot, fluid, and volatile, it must be handled with finesse, strength, and speed. Yet, unlike fire, it can be blown and crafted into permanent, intricate forms.
