Mark Zirpel retired from the University of Washington in June 2021. He was the first Dale Chihuly Endowed Chair in Glass.

Zirpel describes his work as multidisciplinary, driven by ideas and context. It is physical in its materiality and conceptually insistent. It is sculptural, installation-based, and kinetic. His work often explores a convergence between art and science. It is this quality of inquiry, a way of investigating the world that is at the heart of his studio methodology. Zirpel’s work crosses media boundaries in its determination to address meaning. His work has been featured at numerous galleries including William Traver Gallery in Seattle, WA; Bullseye Gallery in Portland, OR; Kinetica Art Fair in London, UK; and it has appeared in Glass Magazine. He was awarded the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship where he explored collections of scientific apparati related to observation and measurement, time keeping, terrestrial and celestial navigation, electricity and magnetism. In 3D4M: ceramics + glass + sculpture, Zirpel has and continues to develop university facilities to support glass and sculpture teaching along with his colleague Amie McNeel.