Glassware

I am, in no way, a formally trained glass blower, but over the last nearly 10 years, I have taken lessons, and do my studio work, at Hot Shop Glass in Racine. As is always the case with learning something new, I have had surges and lulls developing my skills, but I have reached the point that I am pretty happy with my progress so far. 

If you are looking for an absolutely perfect, highly controlled, piece of glass, this might not fit for you. I am a color junkie, and as such, many of my pieces are not highly refined, because the trade off for heavy color use, is distortion in shape. Just as a black roof absorbs heat, and a white roof reflects, the same is true with color in glass, different colors melting at different temperatures. If free-form is in the description, the color in glass is determining the shape and idiosyncrasies of the form. My job is to keep it roped in, as best I can, while helping the color find its path.

I rarely start out with a specific piece in mind.  Instead, I start out with a selection of colors and wait.  The glass eventually does something interesting, shows me something, and then, based on what I, and my teacher/partner in production, Dan Sviland, see, I make a decision about what most accentuates the thing we see, and make a shape or style that will support what we see throughout finishing the piece. My work tends to be heavy, another tool in working with great gobs of color, and some pieces are quite primative, but when the light hits them, they can make quite a splash.  All that glass makes for a pretty sturdy vase or pitcher.

I am open to talk about custom work, but making the same piece twice is taxing even for fully trained, seasoned glass artists.  I can make a similar shape, use the same colors, apply the same techniques, but a set of matching glassware would have to be a loose interpretation.  After all, the glass always has the final say.