Michael Nourot

Welcome...Nourot Glass Studio

Micheal Nourot and Ann Corcoran, uniquely talented artisans of the glass blowing craft, drawn together as partners in 1974 to form Nourot Glass Studio. A collaboration that produces fine art glass displaying astonishing beauty, technical excellence and inspired imagination. The artists share with each other their individual knowledge, talents and techniques, resulting in a product sought after by art lovers and studio glass collectors the world over.

Micheal Nourot was born in January 1949 in Riverside, California. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from California College of Arts and Crafts in 1972. There he studied with Ruth Tamura and Marvin Lipofsky. Venice, Italy was his destination immediately after graduation. On the island of Murano, he worked with many of the glassmasters at Vanini. He was apprenticed to glassmaster Checo Ongaro who later became the first Italian to come to America to teach. In Italy, Micheal Nourot had the rare opportunity to absorb the old world methods for working glass as the famed Venetians still practice.

Micheal formed a partnership with Ann Corcoran (whom he married in November, 1974) resulting in the exploration of new artistic directions they developed together.


"What my glass tries to say cannot be separated from the forces of physics and chemistry which are used to create it. Glass becomes what it is made, or born to be. I try not to get in the way." - Michael	Nourot Glass Studio	"I combine heat, light, color and energy while making the pieces. At the end, this frozen motion is what gives them life and magic." - Ann


Nourot Glass Studio	"Red Satin"

Ann Corcoran was born in January, 1952, in Cincinnati Ohio. Ann was first exposed to glassworking in the old Gilman Street studio run by the California College of Arts & Crafts. She received an A.A.S. in weaving and textile design after attending the Rochester Institute of Technology's School for American Craftsman, in 1972.

Formal glassmaking education began under the guidance of Marvin Lipofsky at the California College of Arts & Crafts. Ann graduated with a B.F.A. in 1974, where she studied such varied pursuits as photography, printmaking, woodworking, fiber and video production. It was in the glass class that Ann met Micheal and apprenticed with him at his first studio "The Light Opera."

Ann has applied her many talents to the tasks of designing color patterns with enamels that would become part of the line of products. She worked carefully with Micheal to build the studio from the ground up, all the while developing new and more far-reaching glassworking skills.


Top Row, "Cezanne"		Left, "Monet"