Pei Ling Chan Gallery will open its doors to "Master Glassman: Jan Erik Ritzman: Exploring the Swedish Tradition" Oct. 14 - Dec. 1. The exhibition will feature work by Ritzman and several of his colleagues and protégés, including Josiah McElheny, David Levi, Michael Glancy, Jon Poirier and world-famous glass masters Dale Chihuly and Sonja Blomdahl.

Ritzman, who began working under glass master Benzt Heins in the Kosta Boda Factory in southern Sweden at age 13, was named the youngest master glass blower of the Swedish factory system at age 21. With 50 years of glass blowing experience, Ritzman has worked alongside some of the world's most famous glass masters and in 1977 was the first master glass blower to travel from Europe to America to teach and demonstrate. He frequently offers workshops with other well-known glass artists at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland and Pilchuck Glass Schol.

"I first saw Jan Erik blowing glass at the Kosta Glass factory in 1976," said Blomdahl. "He was out back with the windows open and snow falling on his shoulder. At the bench he crossed his legs, in his usual style. He seemed relaxed and smooth yet strong and in control. I watched carefully but did not speak to him because he was a master and I was a shy student." A few years later, Blomdahl was less shy. "He came [to Pilchuck] as a visiting artist and I had the opportunity to work with him. He made a huge bowl that was then filled with Bing cherries and a note, 'Philchuck is a bowl of cherries.' … I admire his skill, attitude and generosity as a glass artists and his warmth and sense of humor as a person."

Ritzman has made similar impressions on his other students. According to McElheny, the most difficult part of studying with Ritzman at the Transjö Hytta studio is leaving. "In fact, leaving is basically impossible; you don't ever really leave completely," he said. "What you learn is not just a set of skills, but a whole culture of how to think about beauty, working, the past and future. I believe that anyone who has ever studied there wishes that they could both stay forever and also go back to wherever they came from and recreate in every detail the whole village and the life there. And I think that we have all found that this is impossible, that we must instead create our own transformed version of the place and its ideals. Still that is never totally satisfactory … [For me], it is such a problem that I have had to buy a house in the village."

Much to the delight of his peers, students and admirers, Ritzman will lecture Nov. 13, 6 p.m., at Trustees Theater.

"Master Glassman: Jan Erik Ritzman: Exploring the Swedish Tradition" is on display at Pei Ling Chan Gallery, 324 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Oct. 14 - Dec. 1.