Bob Kliss, a former Fresno City College student and local glass artist, has converted the F.C.C. Art Space Gallery into a jungle not of trees or shrubbery, but rather what Kliss likes to refer to as ‘Bobtanicals’.

The entire color spectrum decorates the gallery. Bob and Laurie Kliss, his wife and partner in glass blowing, wrote, “We consider ourselves colorists first and foremost, and are endlessly intrigued by the ability of glass to convey pure colors.”

Orfelina Valdovinos, a first-year business and accounting major, enjoyed the glass art. “It’s beautiful, I love all the colors. It reminds me of Dr. Seuss,” she said.

Kliss’ vibrantly colored, hand-blown glass vases all bear some resemblance to a flower bulb. Some are big, some little, some are not vases at all but teapots.

But regardless of the particular piece, a viewer can look upon any work and see leaves sprouting out from the base of a stem, all sitting atop a bulbous vessel.

It almost functions as a second signature, in conjunction with the dated signature Kliss brands each of his pieces with the second they are cool enough.

Kliss operates the only glass-blowing studio in the Fresno area with the exception of California State University, Fresno, where Kliss produced his first professional piece of blown glass. “I just want to get the word out; let students know there’s a studio in town,” said Kliss.

Kliss opened the studio in 1993, Kliszewski Glass, with help from his glass instructor at Fresno State, Larry Anderson.

It was in Anderson’s class that Kliss decided blowing glass was his calling.

“I just picked it up and knew that’s what I wanted to do,” said Kliss.

His work has since been featured in numerous glass exhibits. In 1994, one of his shard vessels won Best of Show for the entire Big Fresno Fair fine-arts show.

The collection is on display in the Art Space Gallery until December 7.