Klaus Moje has been recognized internationally as one of the most significant innovators in the medium of glass, and as a highly influential educator who has inspired several generations of young artists. Born in Hamburg, Germany, Moje established his first studio with partner Isgard Moje-Wohlgemuth in 1961. He relocated to Australia in 1982, where he founded the Glass Workshop of the Canberra School of Art and the modern art glass movement in Australia. In addition to teaching, Moje has participated in countless exhibitions in Europe, North America, Australia and Japan. His work has been acquired by fifty public museums internationally, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum Bellerive in Zurich, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Arts & Design.

Light and landscape are recurring themes in Moje's fused glass. His early highly patterned mosaic works explored the ways in which color is affected by light, ranging from densely opaque passages to radiantly translucent and jewel-like colors. Moje's perceptive eye soon discovered the stern beauty of Australia's landscape and rich cultural history. He translated these impressions into ribbons of colored glass that suggest the Australian horizon, sometimes using patterns inspired by the ceremonial objects created by the country's indigenous peoples. Further explorations of geometry and juxtaposed pattern and form led the artist to transform his disciplined geometric forms into rich painterly canvases that explode with color and vibrate with rhythmic gesture.

Klaus Moje's work immediately engages the eye through his masterful use of color and pattern. However, the impact of Moje's glass is not only visual. Moje shares intimate glimpses of his world, his memories and his visions as tangible poetry.

By David Revere McFadden, Chief Curator
Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY
This text was written for Klaus Moje, A Life in Glass, an exhibition curated by
David McFadden for UrbanGlass in October 2004 and organized to celebrate
the presentation of the 2004 UrbanGlass Lifetime Achievement Award to Klaus Moje.