Joel Bloomberg has been designing and creating sculptural and functional artworks for galleries, designers and collectors since opening his studio in 1980. Largely self-taught in his glass designs, Bloomberg earned degrees from two of California's most respected glass schools : Palomar College (Associate Degree in Chemistry and Glass) and California State University, Chico (Bachelors Degree in Glass and Sculpture) . The many site-specific glass sculptures he has created by commission include those for the city of West Hollywood,CA; the Great American Bank, San Diego; the Gesim Corporation, Calabasas, CA , Coastal Flats Restaurant , McLean,VA , and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Oceanside,CA Joel Bloomberg's work has been shown at more than 100 galleries and museums in the United States and Canada , including the Downey Museum of Art , CA; the Los Angeles Museum of Art ; the Harvard University Museum of Natural History , and is part of the permanent collections of the White House , Washington , DC and the Corning Museum of Glass. His work is included in major collections throughout North America , Japan , and Europe . The Illuminated Jellyfish Series Joel Bloomberg's distinctively sculptural jellyfish lamps are part of an ongoing exploration of the vocabulary of glass; his object being to create designs and develop techniques which use the materials in new and unexpected ways . Each illuminated jellyfish is unique in color , shape , size , and appearance . Each requires a complex combination of blowing , coldworking , and lamination that Bloomberg has perfected over many years . "The interplay of glass and light " Bloomberg says , "is fundamental to the medium . Light can reveal the subtle qualities of glass ; glass reflects, transmits and transforms light . In many ways , glass work is ultimately about light ."