Born and raised in Oakland, California Strong earned his BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland in 1970 and did his graduate work in Japan on a scholarship at Osaka University of the Arts.

Strong is a modern day master of this ancient craft of hand blown glass.  His work is collected and displayed throughout the world in such places as the Louvre, The Osaka Museum of Art, The San Francisco Museum of Art, The John D. Rockefeller Collection and the IBM Collection.