I began glassblowing and sculpting in hot glass in 1990. Since then, I have studied and shown my work in New York and Seattle and I have taught glassblowing in New York. Compared to many other media, glass is very difficult to master. It requires years of practice and determination. The learning curve is steep and long. The techniques required to produce the simplest effects can be challenging. It is much easier to draw a circle than blow a perfect sphere. In glass art there are also typically no half measures – any number of single variables can result in not simply a poorly executed piece but in the destruction of the piece. Technique is extremely important.
It is also easy to become enraptured by the heat, light, fluidity and inner beauty of hot glass. There is something primitive and viscerally attractive about hot glass. There is also a Zen-like quality to the dance of the glassblower, something almost primordial in the act of creation of hot glass art: the way it responds to the human breath and touch, to gravity and centrifugal force. For these reasons, and others, many glass artists focus too much on the technique or the “glass” and not enough on the “art.” A simple mastery of the techniques of glassblowing will not make you a glass artist. Just as art divorced from life is not art at all.
Many of the studio arts are solitary pursuits, but glassblowing is unique among art forms in that it is a team effort. It is very difficult to complete a piece of art as an individual. Typically two artists, and sometimes more, must work together. Their movements must be coordinated and clearly communicated to each other. A false move by the glassblower or any one of his assistants may destroy the artwork. The social nature of glass art requires the artist to develop not just technical but also interpersonal and team skills.
