Fenton Craftsmen - Kelsey Murphy and Robert Bomkamp

Artists Kelsey Murphy and Robert Bomkamp call their southern West Virginia studio “Made in Heaven,” and the name is an apt one, indeed. Collectors and museums alike have come to regard Kelsey and Robert’s works as “heavenly!”

Kelsey and Robert specialize in glass cameo carving, an exacting art that demands both skill in design and great dexterity in execution. They have teamed with Fenton Art Glass to design and produce some remarkable limited edition pieces. Kelsey’s Dragonflies on Ebony Favrene was part of Fenton’s limited edition Horizons group in 2006, and her Gauley River Sunrise Vase (limited to 375) on Fenton’s Burmese glass was an instant hit with Fenton collectors when it debuted in late 2006. Likewise, Robert’s West Virginia Woodland lamp on Burmese sold out in record time.

Cameo carving is a a painstaking process. After the glass has been annealed, a special mask is taped to the surface of the glass. Using an advanced “vignetting” technique, each piece is carefully sandcarved, by hand, using aluminum oxide crystal under pressure to take away some of the surface. Great individual skill and experience are needed to control this operation, as many distinct stages of successive cameo carving are required to create the remarkable depth and the intricate details.

We at Fenton Art Glass look forward to working with Kelsey and Robert to develop additional examples of their distinctive art on Fenton glass.

There is a website for fans and collectors of Kelsey Murphy
and Robert Bomkamp's exquisite modern cameo glass.
Discussion of other modern cameo glass artists, as well as the history of cameo glass, and anything else relating to cameo glass, is permitted. Click the link below: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cameoglass

We also have one-of-a-kind Artist Proof (AP) and Developmental Proofs (AP) available. The glass for all of these pieces was handcrafted by the skilled artisans at Fenton in Williamstown, WV. The Artist Proof pieces have AP and the Made in Heaven logo stamped on the bottom. These pieces were masked and sandcarved by Kelsey and Robert at their southern WV studio. The Developmental Proofs (DP) have DP on the bottom and were sandcarved at Fenton. Click here to view items from the 2009 Cameo Gallery Collection brochure. Click here to view items from the 2010 Cameo Gallery Collection brochure. Shown above are two examples from our 2010 Cameo Gallery Collection. This 14-piece grouping is scheduled to be "in-stores" by early June.

Shown below are cameo carved pieces currently available to order online or you may check with your Fenton dealer.