Sometimes it seems you can hardly throw a rock in the Northwest without hitting a glass artist — not that you would want to — and there is a rumor that our verdant corner of the country contains more glass artists than the birthplace of glass artistry, Venice, Italy.

There could be some validity to that claim, as the glass-blowers’ island of Murano in Venice is quite small, and the influence of Northwest glass artist Dale Chihuly is quite large.

Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery is showcasing some of these artists, Chihuly influenced or not, through August in “Glorious Glass (Under $500!)”

The exhibit features a variety of glass art techniques, including lampwork, fused glass, sandcast and hot and cold glass work.

Artists in the show are Nick Ashman, Jeanne Brennan, Karen Buhler, Nancy Callan, Julie Hews-Everett, Meredith McLeod, Jeremy LePisto, Chelsea Noggle, James Minson, Merilee Moore, Greg Owen, Morgan Seeley and Jennifer Umphress.

Seeley and Hews-Everett are Bainbridge Island artists, while Umphress lives in Kingston.

Seeley has trained in glassblowing at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle as well as at Pilchuck Glass School and Haystack School of the Arts in Maine.

He creates his glasswork at Carberry Glassworks, a small studio in South Seattle which he runs with his wife, Anne Seeley.

Hews-Everett has been a working glass artist and instructor for more than 25 years. She has worked in many different styles and mediums including stained, fused, and mouth-blown glass. She teaches the art of stained glass and glass fusing at her studio on Bainbridge Island, as well as designing and building custom glass commissions and refurbishing and repairing stained glass pieces.

Umphress has studied in Murano with a master glassblower, and moved to Kingston in March after 15 years in Hawaii.

She specializes in lampwork, in which glass rods are melted and shaped over a torch flame.

“Once I discovered the rush of creating with constant motion and having no time to think but instead to feel my piece, I was completely captivated,” she said.

As the name implies, all glasswork will be priced under $500. In a play on that theme, the gallery will award two prizes of $499 each, one for unique sculpture and one for production work. The award is funded by local glass patron Anne Gould Hauberg.

“Glorious Glass (Under $500!)” runs Aug. 4-29 at the Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery, 151 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island.

There will be a reception for the artists during First Friday, 6-8 p.m. Aug. 4.