The Pilchuck Glass School has announced its next artistic director will be Portland, Oregon, native Michael Endo, a long-time curator for Bullseye Projects. In 1999, Endo co-founded the High Desert Observatory arts nonprofit in Yucca Valley, California, where he has been director while also running a fabrication business and continuing as a curatorial consultant to Bullseye. Endo will bring a wealth of international connections he helped develop while at Bullseye, as well as in his own artistic practice.
We couldn’t be more pleased that Michael has decided to join the Pilchuck family,” the Stanwood, Washington, glass school's executive director Christopher Taylor said in a prepared statement. “Michael has a proven track record of building partnerships, being a problem solver, and leading creative teams.”
Endo graduated with a BA from Portland State University in 2006, and earned his MFA at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2009. In 2015, he was an emerging artist-in-residence at the National Glass Centre through the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom.
Endo was selected by a Pilchuck search committee that included Katherine Gray, Steve Klein, Paula Stokes, Preston Singletary, and Nate Watson. In announcing the news, Pilchuck's Taylor acknowledged the contribution of Jen Elek, who served as interim artistic director when the previous artistic director Ben Wright stepped down in late 2022.
Endo is expected to begin in his new role working remotely in May, and plans to be on the Pilchuck campus in June, according to the Pilchuck announcement.