Blowing glass & inventing fantasy vessels

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Brooklyn's Urban Glass offers lower "experimental" rates in their hotshop...I signed up for a three-hour Sunday block and had a wonderful time with old friend/AMAZING glassblower Jon Wang, trying things out and attempting to aggravate some old, stiff muscle memory.

Urban shares the building with an arts center and a café, with a wonderful first-floor exhibition space....

Urban shares the building with an arts center and a café, with a wonderful first-floor exhibition space....

Today was, actually, my first personal blow time in about three years. I taught introductory glass in Texas, and earned a little gratis blowtime at another studio across town by volunteering some walk-in events, but never found (or made) time or the budget to book productive shop time for myself.

So, today, even though my stepped rondelle ended up looking more like a lumpy hat, and I constantly made clumsy mistakes (like slamming my piece into the gloryhole door), it felt so AWESOME to have this time for myself (plus a couple of breaks for Jon so he could switch from assisting me to practicing goblet-making)....

Here is the final count of finished pieces percolating in the annealer, a collection of milky/cummy-hued vessels and flats.

I love planning out elaborate pieces on gridded paper, some beyond my current skill level, some dead simple blanks for later kilnwork, and some simply nonsensical tableaux of glass vessels and invented equipment. Click to enlarge.

P.S., today is Father's Day...here is one of my favorite pictures of the pops, looking through a glass. He hates it, but I think it's wonderful, so...sorry, dad!

Inaugural visit to Urban Glass

By chance, I reconnected with an old friend from RISD who was enrolled in a graduate program when I was a sophomore way back when. I agreed to assist Susie (who now teaches at SVA) for a 3-hour 'practice' blow slot at Urban Glass just off Fulton Street in Brooklyn, NY.

Urban offers an experimental studio rate for non-commission, non-commercial pieces, which encourages exploratory work and makes the studio more accessible to a broader range of artists. (E-mail them for availabilities on both professional and experimental slots.)

The facilities are beautiful, and I was excited to get a tour from Susie, who had seen Urban both before and after its massive facelift. I booked myself some time this weekend, so getting in those three hours on Wednesday was a great introduction to the open-air layout and well-stocked educational locker.

Susie being fabulous, of course. We were practicing optic twist cups.

Susie being fabulous, of course. We were practicing optic twist cups.

Puff

The frit color test came out & will be good for reference down the line.

While gathering components for a glass firing later this month, I took a drawing break with only a pencil and some dimensional Sakura puff + glaze pens on trace vellum.

There are a couple more of these funny things in the New in June gallery.

Kiln color test & some fleshy knobs

Prepwork for some mini self-portraits dried while I was away....

Underpainting in acrylic-gouache; hastily scrawled kiln schedules in the background....

Underpainting in acrylic-gouache; hastily scrawled kiln schedules in the background....

Switched over to the "dirty side" of the room so I could break out the powdered glasses.

Testing seven Uroboros (System 96) powdered glasses and some homemade milled colorless frit, plus a 50/50 mixture to see how dilution works. Sandwiched between two pieces of hand-blown cylinder sheet glass.

The kiln is running overnight....

Stall, rest, heal

Late April and May have been physically challenging to say the least. Whirlwind of pain, medications, confusion, illness, lethargy, maybe even a spot of existential panic.

I've not been in studio often, and when I am, I am more drawn to looking at very old pieces of past projects, or raw components for making larger things, than I am to creating a new project.

Handmade sheet glass from pre-2010, filled with air pockets and imperfections.

Handmade sheet glass from pre-2010, filled with air pockets and imperfections.

With family on my mind, I came in one day, delirious & discouraged, and created a portrait for each of us. I never did like how they turned out, but I preserve them as-is, as a testament to how I felt about my kin, that afternoon, that week, that year.

Left & middle undecided which is Mother and which is Child; right is Father. To the right a small grease marker sketch.

Left & middle undecided which is Mother and which is Child; right is Father. To the right a small grease marker sketch.

Detail of Mother?, flat black gouache and Phano grease marker.

Detail of Mother?, flat black gouache and Phano grease marker.

Detail of Father, poured gouache and MSG solution, scratched with patterning.

Detail of Father, poured gouache and MSG solution, scratched with patterning.

Personal challenges abound this month, and yet symbolic objects, tiny projects, omen-like scribbles continue to emerge from my shop, egging me on, making me make.