James A. Houston, 83; Glass Sculptor
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James A. Houston, an artist who brought an appreciation of Inuit art to audiences around the world when he lived in the Canadian Arctic in the 1950s and ‘60s, has died. He was 83.
Houston died April 17 at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn.
He was a master designer at the renowned Steuben Glass Co. in New York City, where he worked for the last 43 years, and became the first designer to be honored by Steuben with a major retrospective exhibit in 1992.
Among his best-known works were “Arctic Fisherman,” a sculpture showing an Inuit fisherman preparing to spear a fish in the water, and “Trout & Fly,” in which a fish leaps to catch a gold fly.
Houston was the person who introduced the use of gold, silver and other precious metals to Steuben’s glass sculptures.
“Realizing a connection between glass and ice was of huge importance to me and set me on Nature’s trail,” Houston wrote in the preface to “The Arctic Fisherman,” a limited-edition book from Steuben.
New works by Houston were released by Steuben this year. The $18,000 sculptures are of two bonefish encased in a block of glass, with their tails breaking the surface as they dive for a fisherman’s fly.
Houston was also the author of numerous adult and children’s books on the Inuit people and stories. His novel “The White Dawn” was made into a film starring Louis Gossett Jr. in 1974.
Born in Toronto in 1921, he grew up being inspired by nature.
He met Inuit people in 1948 on a sketching trip to the Canadian Arctic. He ended up living among them for 14 years.
Houston described the first time he saw the Arctic to New London’s newspaper, the Day:
“I looked around at the barren rocks and tundra with the few tents graying with age and weighted down against the wind, and I took in the steel-blue sea and the biggest ice that I had ever seen and then the tanned, smiling people. I could scarcely breathe. I thought, this is the place that I’ve been looking for and now I’ve found it. I’m here!” he said.
His work helped introduce Inuit art to the world.
In 1974, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for his role in representing the interests of Inuit artists and craftspeople.
Houston is survived by his wife, Alice; and two sons.
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