Biography
Joe “Illus” Morelos, was born in Fresno, CA. In high school, his younger brother Steve, introduced him to graffiti. The suburban art connected him to a world of colors, designs and creativity that help ignite a light on what would later grow to be a flame for the love of art. His graffiti tag name Illus became part of him. Along with the graffiti, came some legal troubles for him, but he would later turn around and use it to build a foundation of love for art, particularly, in glass blowing. In high school his art teacher, Miss Lynn introduced him to the art of glassblowing by showing him a video of the process and one of the most American artist to influence the glass art movement, Dale Chilhuly. Illus was in awe and fell in love with the process and the beauty that came with it. Mrs. Martinez encouraged Joe to pursue further education by going to college. From all of the colleges that Illus applied for, he was only accepted to one, Ca. State Univ. of Chico and it had a glass blowing program. He studied glass blowing under Robert Herhusky in college and that is when he got first feel and sensation for the molten material. In 2010 he moved to Seattle, WA. to pursue his goal of becoming a glass artist, but with the little experience he had, it was not until 2014 that he got his first job as a glass blowing instructor working for and along Ryan Blythe. From that point on, he would use each day to learn, teach, reflect and enjoy the art of glassblowing.
Artist Statement
I can not say enough about glass that has not been mentioned before. To me, simply in words, it is a beautiful and mesmerizing medium. Glassblowing allows my visions, my ideas, my thoughts, my emotions to become real. Glass allows me to bring them to life. I use the inspirational times in my life as themes for my art. The graffiti culture, music, craftsmanship, teamwork, and just overall fun are to be found in my work. Whether it is the process that it took to make the piece or the piece itself, I want my work to reflect my life and what I have gone through and have yet to reach. Glassblowing has influenced me to think that one's life is like a molten glass bubble. The idea is that one can do almost anything to one’s life and create whatever one wants from it like a glassblower does with the molten bubble.
The overall process of planning, practicing, executing, and finishing a piece to me, is like a choreographed dance or an orchestra working together. The maestro glass blower can be seen as the conductor of their team\orchestra, hoping to have everyone work harmoniously and confidently to achieve a masterpiece. Sometimes it can be easy to do a form, but even after doing it several times over and over, there are days where things just don’t or won’t go the way you want to. It is one of the most challenging mediums to understand and work. It takes years of practice to get an understanding of the material and the thermodynamics involved. Some pieces, always have the same steps, but you get to a point where you take off from the platform of planned steps and start to really add one’s touch\signature to the piece by maybe doing something spontaneous or having to adjust something that was not planned for, or an idea comes to you at that moment that you can just implement into the piece. It has been a such a fun ride for me on this adventure that glass has taken me through and I would love to continue to grow with the medium. I hope to achieve the status as a maestro one day through my illustrious work and gained respect from my fellow peers. Thank you to all and anyone who supports.