Having grown up along the Seattle shores of Lake Washington and later in Hawaii, Jean-Pierre (J.P.) Canlis' affinity to water was clear. He got to know the water intimately, studying and surfing it, until he became one with it.
His glass art is reflective of that connection. Many of his pieces - like his Backwash, Undertow and Waves series in his Ocean Studies collection - "portray the emotion of the ocean," he explained.
"It came naturally to me - similar to the ocean...," he said. "If I never see the ocean again, I would still make [art of it]."
As his last name alludes, the 33-year-old Canlis is a member of the local restaurateur family. His grandfather started the Can-lis restaurants, his uncle owns the one on Queen Anne and his father operates the one in Hawaii.
But Canlis' passion was in his glass art. With his parents' support, he studied art in high school, picking up his first glass-blowing pipe as a junior in Hono-lulu. Later, he studied glass art at Alfred University's School of Art and Design in New York.
During summers in college, Canlis returned to the Puget Sound area and studied at Stanwood's Pilchuck School, ultimately working full-time with famed glass artist Dale Chihuly.
"Chihuly is very different from other glass artists," Canlis said. "He's not afraid to spend money to make something exces-sively well." He also taught Canlis to "don't be afraid of what you're making," he said.
Chihuly's "excitement about his work is contagious. It's inspiring to be around," said Canlis' wife, Leigh, whom he met while she served as Chihuly's executive assistant.
Leigh, 30, continues to repre-sent Chihuly's work while she handles the business side of the couple's gallery and cold shop at 3131 Western Ave., Suite 329. They opened it last December.
"Our whole world is glass," Leigh said.
Even so, they don't have any of J.P.'s work in their Queen Anne home. Though Leigh said she can't part with any of his glass, J.P. affirmed that he's never had a piece of his that he wanted to keep.
"I want to go home at night and there not to be glass," he said. "As much as I like glass, it's work. It's not relaxation; I'm always looking at how to improve it.
"I truly explore all options. It's a matter of when I need to make more [of the same piece to] get a real sense of contentment, completion," he explained.
"Each piece is different from the last," Leigh added. "J.P. moves forward - he doesn't revisit the same piece."
J.P. admitted that "there are pieces I'm very happy with. There's a sense of completion with the piece. But it's pointless to do over."
With each new piece, he draws inspiration from other artists' work. "Sometimes, there are aspects of the work that I respect or envy," he said. "I am always thinking of my own work, so if another's artwork allows me to see something new or a way to alter or progress my work, I feel the freedom to do so."
The couple use J.P.'s glass to promote such causes as the Swedish Medical Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs, PONCHO and other arts groups.
Like their mentor Chihuly, they like "opening doors for people who want to do what we do," Leigh said, "open up more doors to the arts for them."
J.P. fondly recalls the first piece he sold, at age 17: someone else's mixed-media project that he fished out of the dump near the Pilchuck School. He took it back to the hot shop and sandblasted and polished it for 10 to 15 hours until it was virtually unrecognizable from the original piece.
He sold it at a school auction for $50.
J.P. has since had a private solo exhibition of glass vessels at the Seattle Tennis Club, taught other art students in Hawaii and at Seattle's Pratt Fine Arts Center, demonstrated his craft at the Museum of Glass and installed his glass at Wild Ginger and now the new BOKA restaurant in Downtown Seattle.
The couple hopes to bring their work to the national stage, with J.P.'s glass art at museums and galleries throughout the country.
"We're living our dream project now," Leigh said.
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