Josh Simpson, American, is a contemporary glass artist who uses age-old forming techniques. Each piece is hand shaped using traditional tools at his Western Massachusetts studio.

"Running a glass studio is a lot like owning a farm. There are furnaces that go 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, month after month. The last thing I do every night before I go to bed is walk out to my studio and check my furnaces - turn them up, turn them down, make sure everything is OK. Some of the wonder of the heavens and of the universe that comes out in my work comes directly from walking out to check the glass on a March morning at 3:00 am, looking up at the sky and seeing the aurora borealis; watching a thunderstorm develop down the valley with a full moon shining; or looking up at the sky on a perfect summer night.