Artist Bio

Tony Sorgenfrei began working with glass when he was fourteen through Hilltop Artists in Tacoma. While attending Hilltop Artist programs as a student from 1999-2004, Sorgenfrei worked under Greg Piercy and Patricia Davidson. During this time, Sorgenfrei interned at Tacoma’s Museum of Glass. He attended Pilchuck Glass School in 2003 and studied under Ken Ikushima. He also worked at the Museum of Glass as an instructor for several years in the Hot Shop Heroes program with wounded warriors and veterans. 

Sorgenfrei’s inspiration for his current mesoamerican artifact series stems from his own Mexican heritage and his infatuation with ancient cultures. Sorgenfrei’s work is a mix of traditional glass blowing technique and scultpture with an extreme emphasis on texture through surfacing and resurfacing of glass through grinding, cutting, and polishing.  

Sorgenfrei works as a teaching artist for the Hilltop Artists program sharing his love of glass blowing with middle and high school students, running an after-school program, and supporting the production team. In the past several years, Sorgenfrei completed several residencies at Tacoma’s Museum of Glass which developed into his current installation in the show GATHER by Trenton Quiocho at the Tacoma Art Museum.