Prentice

Prentice Hicks studied glass as an elective his senior year at Tulane University. His fine arts degree was in Ceramics and he let 10 years pass before he actively took up glass again.

During that time he worked as a merchant seaman, acquiring documents as an Able Seaman, a license as 100 Ton Captain , and 500 Ton Master License. He worked both the US and Mexican Gulf of Mexico and the North and South Atlantic Ocean.

He also gained skills as a carpenter, eventually establishing his own business working with the trade. The family dwelling and the glass studio were built by Prentice and fellow craftsmen using post and beam architecture.

Prentice sees passion, attitude, and determination as being the keys to longevity in all the trades he has worked and, at times, the reason he and others have returned from the sea.

The edge that glass has is key to his interest in it as a working material, ever demanding full attention to the process, ever letting one know, like a cold sea over the rail, that mistakes are regarded with severe consequences. With glass at least, the trash can suffices for the inattentive moment.

"Experienta docet," he says. "Experience is the best teacher".

His work shows his nature as an artist and his learning as a seafarer, with the realization of the dynamic of any relationship. One has to give his all and let the other or the material give its all in order to have an outcome that can stand on its own.

The nature Prentice sees in glass is what makes his work so individual, strong, and beautiful.

Exhibitions and Shows

• Louisiana Glass, Louisiana Crafts Council, New Orleans 1978
• Regional History Museum, Wood Sculpture Show 1985
• Association for Visual Artists, Chattanooga 1989
• Hunter Museum of Art Spectrum, Chattanooga 1989, 1991
• Artstravaganza, Juried Exhibition, Chattanooga 1989-1991
• Association for Visual Artists, Member Invitational, Chattanooga 1989-1993
• National Association of Fund-Raising Executives Commission 1990-1998
• Columbus Ohio Arts Festival 1991, 1994
• Arts Festival of Atlanta 1992-1993
• T.A.C.A. Best of Tennessee Crafts Biennial 1991, 1994, 1996, 1998
• American Craft Council, Tampa Bay 1993-1995
• American Craft Council, Atlanta 1994
• Gasparilla Arts Festival, Tampa 1994
• American Crafts Council, Charlotte 1995, 1997, 1998
• American Crafts Council, Baltimore 1999

Collections

• Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Stockholders Systems Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
• McKee Foods Corporation, Colledgedale, Tennessee
• South Central Bell, Nashville, Tennessee
• SunTrust Bank, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Chattanooga Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Blue Cross - Blue Shield of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tennessee