Nancy Gong: Marrying Science, Technology and Art

In Nancy Gong’s installation for RIT’s Innovation Center, titled, In Art, Science and Life, What is the Question?, a wide range of complex topics are referenced, ranging from RIT’s nine colleges to everything from the binary system to the black hole. A grand representative of her body of work in glass, the commission was heavily inspired by the marriage of science, technology and art. 

An accomplished glass artist with world-wide recognition in contemporary architectural glass art, Gong’s focus is on large and small commissioned work including installations, fine art designs, sculpture, donor walls, gifts and awards. Her designs embrace traditional techniques of stained glass craftsmen and stone carvers, combined with new materials, fusing, laminating and other new and emerging technologies. Developing skills in laminating and fusing glass has allowed Gong to display her colored glass art outdoors. Fused glass techniques enabled the artist to create impressionistic designs with soft edges, moving her art more towards abstraction.

Having mastered her own style of creating texture and painting, Gong depicts various levels of contrast using striking color, motion and spontaneity. As the ever-changing light plays against her integrated design elements, a unique living, breathing work of art is created, beckoning the viewer to see and experience something new and fresh with every passing look. American born of Chinese descent, her free-flowing modern designs echo the spirit, energy and beauty of all living things.

Inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder and Phillip Stark to name a few, Gong studied at the Naples Mills School of Arts and Crafts, the Allofus Art Workshop, SUNY Empire State College, Corning Museum of Glass, the prestigious School of American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology, Narcissus Quagliata design workshop, Norm Dobbins stained glass workshops, the famed Orsoni Smalti Veneziani in Italy, the Glass Art Society, and the American Glass Guild. She continues to hone her skills in workshops instructed by contemporary masters such as Quagliata, Kenneth von Roenn Jr., Martin Rosol, Tim Carey, Kathy Jordan, Deborah Coombs, Amanda Taylor and others.

As owner/principal designer of Gong Glass Works since 1979, Gong designs and fabricates commissioned architectural and fine art glass projects for residential, commercial, institutional and public clients. Her commercial and public clients include The Akron Civic Theater, The City of Rochester, ARTWalk of Rochester Inc., Beckoning Path, Corning Tropel, Duke University, LiDestri Foods, Rochester Museum and Science Center, State of Vermont, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, and Virgin Travel/Vacations. Her sculptures and fine art glass designs are acquired for private collections throughout the world, and are often presented as special gifts.

For her achievements in the world of glass art, Gong has been recognized by PBS – WXXI Arts in Focus, Who’s Who in Contemporary Glass Art, The World’s Who’s Who of Women, and 2,000 Notable American Women. She and her works have been profiled in over 20 professional publications, including: Interiors & Sources, China Daily News, The Design Journal of Korea, Stained Glass Quarterly, Professional Stained Glass Magazine, Builder/Architect Magazine, AmericanStyle Magazine, Beautiful Glass Magazine, Glass Now, ARTform, SOFA Chicago, and Guild Sourcebook of Architectural & Interior Art and Architects + Artisans. Professional memberships include the Glass Art Society, the Stained Glass Association of America, the American Glass Guild, AIA Rochester and New York, and the Society of American Mosaic Artists

Gong states: “My focus is to design artwork that speaks to the ages. If it’s good design, it will endure. My main goal is for artwork to bring peace and joy to the spaces through an experience. I want to feed the souls of people who are utilizing the space.”