Eleven

Thank you Everyone for your incredible participation. The last several sessions have been diligent and prolific work sessions. I have felt such a strong sense of community working towards a common goal. It's in the spirit of this gathering that the walls of the glass house make themselves a home. Congratulations to Cora, her piece was highlighted in the last issue of real change. To read the article and view the picture visit realchangenewspaper.org and see issue 31 in archives. Big kudos to Shelby, Roseanne, and Q, all of your hard work is being realized in beautiful forms. A big hearty thank you to Jamie Irene for providing great inspiration, positivity, much needed materials and her own beautiful panel piece.

Week 10

Huge thank you to Joel Campese. This talented artist packs a hard hitting informational punch. Joel started by giving us a brief personal history and then some background information on venetian and Moreno glass blowing. A fascinating story of alchemical secrecy, familial monopolies, and royal supremacy. The story continues to this day, emerging from the refining fires of war, to current glass houses, manufacturing companies and contemporary artists like Joel Campese and the rest of our amazing presenters. Joel also lead us through some of the basic tools used in hot shop glass blowing and some of the terms involved in the making of glass vessels. What an incredible hands on demo. We are, of course, preparing for our studio visit to Viscosity Glass Studios in the next few weeks. I speak for all if us in saying... We are definitely fired up!!


Joel Campese

Week Nine

We had a productive work day today. Nancy Currant and Ted Jonnson set up the sand blaster and it worked great! Kate joined us too, and provided her keen eye for design and amazing talent.

It was incredible seeing the focus by all the Members. Cora really amazed me, with her ability to create her design, make appropriate changes through the process, and stay committed to the end. Thank you to Joscelyn Tarbox for her contributions and joining our team of exceptional photographic collaborators. And a special thanks to Andrew and Gary for showing consistancy and positivity!


Additional Photos by Joscelyn Tarbox

Week 8

We'd like to thank, Elisabeth Emmerson, the Hot Shop artists and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma for providing an insight into the glass making process through live demonstration and informative tour. Our day was highlighted by the works of many local and international artists.

Something Nancy Current had said about glass art really inspired me today. Something to the effect of "objects being beautiful, is simply not enough". The power of conceptual art, art brut, and outsider art to inspire are seemingly independent of stringent and traditional precepts of beauty, as well as effective reminders that communicating to ones intellect and, more humbly, ones spirit, is the ubiquitous
motivation of art.

I, personally, want to remind the members and myself, that this project has it's own intrinsic beauty, unfettered by expectations of skill. I am so proud of our progress, and so honored to be working in collaboration with all of you.

We will be postponing our class in honor of memorial day, next Monday the 25th and will reconvene Monday June 1st.

Drawing Process

Glass House Project, Drawing from Kevin Kauer on Vimeo.

Week Seven

Thank you Kate Jessup! Once again, the Recovery Cafe was transformed into a brilliant and reflective studio. We had an incredible array of materials, colors, and ideas. Thank you to Kate Jessup, Dick Weiss, Richard Messmer, Freemont Antique Glass, Cascade Glass, and others for providing, in part, the foundation from which to work from. We were so excited to learn about glass mosaic. We explored concepts of tessera, andamente, and opus. Kate demonstrated glass cutting, using the chipping tool, and how to use the edging machine. Everyone seemed comfortable and unusually proficient with these novel skills. We are beginning to see our plates take shape, in color and dimension. We welcomed new faces and were encouraged by a growing community of work.
Let's do it again next week!

Additional Photos by Mona Peck

Week Six

Great work everyone! Big thank you to Theo Jonsson, for showing us how to properly use a sandblaster to etch our glass plates. It was so exciting to see our images come alive through this process. Also, a special thanks to Q, Kavin, Connor, Jennifer and Shelby for working so hard on your panels, being consistent, attentive, and for sharing your enthusiasm as a team. We have already acquired some essential skills with good proficiency. We will begin to expand our working skills and technique more next week. We will be joined by Kate Jessup who will introduce us to her artwork and begin to explain the process of glass mosaic.

Artists will convene at 11:30 to go over materials, strategy, introduction, class demo, utilizing volunteers, and address any concerns.

Additional photos by Kevin Kauer