Oone of Britain's most highly recognised and leading glassmakers
Throughout the variety of the work, Bob Crooks exploits the many properties of the material through refraction or reflection; sharpness or softness, transparency or opacity, working with its fluidity and freezing it as the desired form is realised.
Within the range of production work made, Bob has consciously developed work that is, because of the nature of different applications, a one-off it is not possible to make two pieces identical. The Unique pieces have now escalated in size, creating a more dramatic statement. Although large scale, closer inspection reveals intricacies which demand ones eye. The resultant objects demonstrate a masterly love of the material with attention to fine detail.
"For twenty years I have continued my passion for the pursuit of perfection within my work. The endless metamorphic qualities of hot glass, combined with traditional British, Italian and Scandinavian techniques and a love affair with the material have been synthesised into my work."
Solo and Two Man Exhibitions
2017 Kaleidoscope by Bob Crook, Scottish Gallery, celebrating their 175th anniversary
2011 Virtuoso, Bob Crooks & Siddy Langley, Steam Gallery Devon
2011 Bob Crooks Solo, Neville Johnson, London
2010 Bob Crooks & Siddy Langley, Steam Gallery, Devon
2010 Bob Crooks, Solo, Old Court House Gallery, Cumbria
2009 Bob Crooks, Solo, Cowdy Gallery, Gloucestershire
2008 Bob Crooks, Solo, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2007 Bob Crooks, Solo, Cecilia Colman Gallery, London
2007 Bob Crooks, Solo, Eton Applied Arts, Eton & Windsor
2006 Focus, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2006 Bob Crooks, Solo, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2006 Focus, National Glass Centre, Sunderland
2006 Bob Crooks, Solo, Susan Megson Gallery, Gloucestershire
2005 Bob Crooks, Church Gallery, Devon
2005 Bob Crooks, Norton Gallery, Spain
2005 Focus, Bob Crooks, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool
2005 Bob Crooks & Karina Thompson, Grace Barrand, Surrey
2004 Bob Crooks, Susan Megson Gallery, New York
2004 Bob Crooks, Primavera, Cambridge
2003 Bob Crooks and Ptolemy Mann, Contemporary Applied Arts London
2003 Bob Crooks, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2002 Bob Crooks, Norton Gallery, Spain
2002 Bob Crooks and Zoe Hope, Flow Gallery, London
2002 Bob Crooks, White Gallery, Hove, Brighton
2000 Focus, Bob Crooks, Crafts Council at the V&A Museum, London
2000 Focus, Contemporary Applied Arts, London.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
Affordable Art Fair, London, Broadway Modern
SOFA, New York, USA, Contemporary Applied Arts
2010
Affordable Art Fair, London with Broadway Modern
The Honey Bee and the Hive, curated by Wendy Ramshaw, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
Take Thirty – Broadfield House Glass Museum.
SOFA New York – with Contemporary Applied Arts
British Glass Biennale, Ruskin Glass Centre
2009
Collect, London with Contemporary Applied Arts
Affordable Art Fair, London with Broadway Modern
Siddy Langley & Bob Crooks, Steam Gallery, Beer, Devon
British Contemporary Glass, St. Joseph Gallerie, Holland
2008
Collect, London with Contemporary Applied Arts, London
Affordable Art Fair, London with Broadway Modern
Glasshouse, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
Focus, Royal Academy, London
British Glass Biennale, Ruskin Glass Centre
Scent Bottles, St. Joseph Gallerie, Holland
In and Out, New Brewery Arts Centre, Gloucestershire
2007
Collect, London with Contemporary Applied Arts
Collection, Grace Barrand Design Centre, Surrey
Affordable Art Fair, London with Broadway Modern
Hue Line & Form, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
Yellow, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Partridges, London in association with the Scottish Gallery
Winter Exhibition, Cowdy Gallery, Gloucestershire
2006
Select, The Grace Barrand Design Centre, London.
My Collection, Contemporary Applied Arts, London.
Coburg Glass Prize Coburg, Germany.
Artists & Alchemists Colour & Chemistry, Sherborne House, Dorset
British Glass Biennale Ruskin Glass Centre
2005
Collect, London with Grace Barrand
Dan Klein @ The Daniel Katz Gallery, London
Collectable, The Grace Barrand Design Centre, Surrey
Flower Power, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Clear Vision, Gallery Top, Derbyshire
Design Collection, The Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
21st Anniversary Exhibition, Candover Gallery, Winchester
Winter Exhibition, Cowdy Glass Gallery, Gloucestershire
2004
Collect, London with CAA
Spring Glass, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Mark of the Maker, Eton Applied Arts, Eton
British Glass Biennale, Ruskin Glass Centre
2003
Nine Colourways, Blackwell, Cumbria.
SOFA, Chicago with CAA, USA
2002
9 x 9, Art Glass Gallery, London.
SOFA, New York, with CAA, New York, USA
The White Gallery, Brighton, East Sussex
In Search of Light, Cowdy Gallery, Gloucestershire
SOFA, Chicago with CAA, USA
All Set For Christmas, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2001
Home Sweet Home, Touring Exhibition with the British Council
Gallery Gronlund, Copenhagen, Denmark
SOFA, New York, with CAA, including demonstration at Urban Glass, New York, USA
Celebration of Glass, Cowdy Gallery, Gloucestershire
SOFA, Chicago, with CAA, USA.
Thirteen Hands, touring exhibition around the highlands of Scotland
2000
Contemporary Decorative Arts, Sothebys, London
Spring Fever, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
Master and Pupil Oxford Gallery, Oxford
SOFA, Contemporary Applied Arts, Chicago, USA
Commissions
2007
Design and produce a chandelier for Private Residence, London
Design and create a series of lighting for Private residence, London
2006
Design & produce five large scale pieces for Four Seasons Hotel Barabados
Design and create Fourteen Awards for Look Ahead Housing and Care
Design & create Three Large Installations for a Private residence in London
Design & create Six Large Installations for “Roast” Borough Market, London
2005
Design & make two large scale unique pieces for cruise liner P&O – Arcaidia
Design and create two installations for cruise liner – Saga Ruby
Design and produce Fourteen Awards for the Look Ahead Housing and Care
To create two large scale suspended pieces for the head office of Tempest Radford, London
Design and produce UK EU Presidency 2005 Gifts
2004
Design and produce a large-scale centre piece for the Marriott Hotel, West India Quays, London
Design & Produce a series of unique glasses for the Cotswold Hotel, Gloucestershire
2003
Produce a large scale unique piece for cruise liner Cunard – The Queen Victoria
Design and produce six large-scale pieces for Private residence in Jeddah
Two large scale unique pieces for the Four Season Hotel, Budapest
2002
Create a further large scale unique piece for Voyager IV, Navigator of the Seas
Collaboration with Bruce Oldfield on his new “House Couture” Collection
Design and create a series of Golf Trophies
2001
Create seven new large scale unique pieces for cruise liner Voyager III, Adventurer of the Seas
2000-02
Joint Commission with Stewart Hearn to produce a substantial range of production and unique pieces for the UK headquarters of Anglo American
Public Collections
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Crafts Council Collection, London
Fitzwilliam Collection, Cambridge
British Council Collection, London
Cowdy Gallery Contemporary Glass Collection, Gloucestershire
Standard Life (Art Collection) Edinburgh
Anglo American (Art Collection) London
The Sainsbury Collection. London
Anthony House Collection, Cornwall
Mobile Museum, Alabama, USA
Walker Museum, Liverpool
Manchester Metropolitan University, (Special Collections)
Coburg Museum, Germany
National Museums Of Scotland
Broadfield House Glass Museum, Stourbridge
Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge
