The Glass Family

Immersed in art since childhood, gallerist Corey Hampson shapes the collection of St. Petersburg’s Imagine Museum

- By Thomas Connors

Some of us abandon our heritage. We look beyond legacy, determined to shape our lives independently of the fate family history would seem to have in store. But the world would be a poorer place if no one built on the traditions and values to which they were born. Think of the Brueghels and the Wyeths. Or Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Even when the family business is as much about sales as it is expressive sensibility, following in the footsteps of forebears can be not only personally satisfying, but a boon to artists and art lovers.

Corey Hampson has lived his life in the company of art. The son of Ferdinand Hampson—the studio glass enthusiast who founded Michigan’s Habatat Gallery in 1971—he recalls the Philip Pearlstein nude that hung in the dining room and “strange and unusual paint-covered people staying at our house on a monthly basis.” So it’s not surprising he envisioned an artistic career for himself. “I took my first glassblowing class at the age of 15. When I graduated high school, I decided I wanted to be an artist and told my father. He answered, ‘You can always create, but you are going to business school.’”