817
09-23-2011, 08:23 AM
Greetings. I'm new to this forum after searching for online resources on studio setup. I am posting to both introduce myself as well as see if there are any lampworkers in TN (specifically the Nashville area) that might be willing to meetup and talk and maybe let me watch them work?
Although I have literally zero hours on the torch, I have been blowing hot glass for almost a decade. My initial attraction to glass was back in my teenage years when I dreamed of making my own pipe. Once I discovered that my University had a glass program I was on the road to making my own collection...... or so I thought. 4 years later I was graduating with a BFA in glass sculpture and I was as far away from working a torch as someone could be. I was stuck up, snobby, and thought lampworking was a "lesser art". As many here might know, the hotshop can get very macho where bigger is better and huge teams are needed to make progressive work. I got stuck in the pattern of basically making craftwork for myself, and then gaffing/assisting more accomplished artists with their larger scale work and installations. After a few years of that type of work I gravitated away from the art world and was lured into the business world and started working full time.
A 3 year break from the hotshop when I moved to Nashville was recently broken when a brand new shop opened up about 20 minutes from here. I have been working glass again and loving it, but have realized that I want to work on a torch. I'm sick of making blown vessels, ornaments, and light fixtures. Im not looking to make production work, more of a weekend hobby type setup. I most likely will be making sculpture components and then attaching them cold to metal/wood/glass forms (think inlays like guitar fretboards but not flat shapes that could be fused).
Basically, I am looking for people with experience in any aspect of lampworking (beads, pipes, effetre sculpture, goblets, etc....) to chat with and maybe watch them work. I have contemporary lampworking and have been reading through, not too worried about gear advice or technical questions, but coming from a hotshop I want to watch and learn because that is how I pick stuff up.
Thanks- 817
Although I have literally zero hours on the torch, I have been blowing hot glass for almost a decade. My initial attraction to glass was back in my teenage years when I dreamed of making my own pipe. Once I discovered that my University had a glass program I was on the road to making my own collection...... or so I thought. 4 years later I was graduating with a BFA in glass sculpture and I was as far away from working a torch as someone could be. I was stuck up, snobby, and thought lampworking was a "lesser art". As many here might know, the hotshop can get very macho where bigger is better and huge teams are needed to make progressive work. I got stuck in the pattern of basically making craftwork for myself, and then gaffing/assisting more accomplished artists with their larger scale work and installations. After a few years of that type of work I gravitated away from the art world and was lured into the business world and started working full time.
A 3 year break from the hotshop when I moved to Nashville was recently broken when a brand new shop opened up about 20 minutes from here. I have been working glass again and loving it, but have realized that I want to work on a torch. I'm sick of making blown vessels, ornaments, and light fixtures. Im not looking to make production work, more of a weekend hobby type setup. I most likely will be making sculpture components and then attaching them cold to metal/wood/glass forms (think inlays like guitar fretboards but not flat shapes that could be fused).
Basically, I am looking for people with experience in any aspect of lampworking (beads, pipes, effetre sculpture, goblets, etc....) to chat with and maybe watch them work. I have contemporary lampworking and have been reading through, not too worried about gear advice or technical questions, but coming from a hotshop I want to watch and learn because that is how I pick stuff up.
Thanks- 817