Fred Tschida

Fred Tschida (born 1949, Saint Paul, Minnesota) is an American neon artist and professor of glass.

Early life and education While attending St. Cloud State University, Tschida interned with glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, who taught him how to work with neon.

Career and work

Tschida's work focuses on kinetic neon sculpture. In "Light in Motion" (1980), Tschida aimed to travel "the speed of light" by mounting a 22-foot neon mast to the top of a Chevy Impala and driving on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, taking a time-lapse photo of the endeavor. A photo of "Light in Motion" was featured on the cover of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly in 1996 for an issue in which his work is profiled by glass art critic and curator William Warmus.

In 1985, Chihuly invited Tschida to teach glass art at Pilchuck Glass School and to establish the school's neon shop alongside Deborah Dohne. Curator William Warmus described the intent of the "Martini Glass": "It attracts attention to the exhibition in the same way that signs on neighborhood bars are designed to lure us inside." In July 2007, Tschida was a Visiting Artist at Museum of Glass (Tacoma, Washington) and worked with the museum to make large glass beads for a sculpture.

Tschida taught as Professor of Glass and Design at Alfred University until his retirement in 2015. 1991 – Vessels: From Use to Symbol, American Craft Museum, Manhattan, New York 2001 – Luminous Beginnings: Neon Art From the '50s, '60s and '70s., Museum of Neon Art, Glendale, California 2021 – CIRCLESPHERE: Alternative explorations in neon. 7A Event Space & The Art House, Wakefield, England

Awards Tschida received the 2014 Libensky/Brychtova Award from Pilchuck Glass School, which acknowledges extraordinary talent and high achievement in the world of glass and educational leadership. The award jury described Tschida as a "leading pioneer of neon as an expressive medium" who has "inspired new generations of glass artists."