After graduating from clown college, Bill Riker worked the rodeo circuit for over a decade, mostly in the dusty states, after which he came east to take over operating the family tidal mill on Fox Point in Providence. A master glass artist, Riker uses a variety of techniques and a schipperke to make blown, slumped, cast and fused glass. For items elegant to whimsical, from armchairs for iPods to graceful vases and stemware: