William Joseph Bernstein

William “Billy” Bernstein, beloved husband, father, grandfather, artist, teacher, musician, food lover, and friend, passed away on August 16, 2026, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of creativity, generosity and love.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Billy discovered his passion for art early, graduating from Arts High School in Newark, the first arts-focused high school in the country. At the Philadelphia College of Art, he met Katherine “Katie” Bernstein, who would become his wife and lifelong creative partner. They married in 1968 and shared 57 years of marriage, artistic collaboration, and devotion to a life close to the land. Eager to leave the city, they came to the Blue Ridge Mountains as artists-in-residence at Penland School of Craft. Two years later, they settled in the Celo Community along the South Toe River, where they raised their sons, Josh and Alex, and transformed an old cow barn into the studio that became Bernstein Glass. Their simple log cabin and studio became gathering places for creativity, art, music, food, family, great parties and friendship.

Billy was a key figure in the birth of American studio glass. In 1971, he helped organize the first meeting of what became the Glass Art Society as one of the founding members of this still thriving organization. Billy developed a distinctive style of his own, influenced by Scandinavian and American colonial glass and was known for drawing directly onto hot glass with colored canes. His vessels and sculptural pieces were filled with color and imagery drawn from the people, animals and mountains around him.

Throughout his career, Billy was also known as a gifted and patient teacher. He taught at Pilchuck, Haystack, Penland, Bezalel and other schools, mentoring generations of artists. That mentorship often continued in Celo, where young artists would live in “the shack” near their home and work alongside him for months or even years. Many went on to become prominent and highly regarded glass artists in their own right, carrying Billy’s influence into the next generation of the studio glass movement. His career took him throughout the United States and abroad, including to Germany, Italy, and Israel. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in major museums and in both public and private collections throughout the world. Billy and his work have also been featured in books and periodicals chronicling the history of studio glass.

Glass was only one part of Billy’s endeavors as an artist. He drew and painted throughout his life and his paintings often reflected whatever was happening around him or occupying his thoughts. They could be colorful, playful, even silly and cartoon-like, but at other times dark, abstract and deeply felt. In 2022, his fifty-year retrospective, Life Art Life, brought together decades of his glass and paintings—a fitting title for someone for whom art and life were never really separate.

Beyond the artistry he expressed through glass, Billy shared his creativity with his family and friends through cooking and music. Living in a remote corner of the mountains with few restaurants nearby, Billy and Katie learned to recreate the foods they loved and had grown up appreciating. From his small rustic log cabin kitchen, outfitted with a slightly out of place Wolf stove, Billy rolled pasta, made Chinese steamed buns and prepared delicious meals for family, friends and whoever happened to stop by at dinnertime. Coming of age with the folk music of Bob Dylan and others of his generation, he loved to sing and strum his old, well-worn guitar, and for decades gathered with friends for informal jam sessions. Classical music, bluegrass or folk music wafted through the house, often through the slightly staticky local NPR station. And that music continued through the generations, as Billy played and sang for—and, as they grew older, with—his grandchildren, making music a part of their lives just as it had been a part of his.

Billy is survived by his wife and partner of 57 years, Katie; his sons, Josh and Alex; his daughters-in-law, Elizabeth and Jessica; his grandchildren, Anna, Jake, Benjamin and Max; and his beloved dog, Cleo. He also leaves behind a far-flung family of students, apprentices, friends, and neighbors whom he mentored, encouraged, and inspired.

Please consider making a donation to the William “Billy” Bernstein Memorial Glass Scholarship for Glass that we have established at the Penland School of Craft. This scholarship will allow for new voices to find their way in glass for years to come.

Here’s the Penland giving link: https://fundraise.givesmart.com/form/On4MXA?vid=1s2br3 or on the Penland website (www.penland.org in the Support Scholarship Funds section, noting the William Bernstein Scholarship for designation). Checks can be made to and sent to Penland School of Craft, PO Box 37, Penland, NC 28765, with the William Bernstein Scholarship in the memo line.