Belfast Maine, Arts in the Park

July 11 10am-5pm and July 12, 10am-4pm Belfast Maine CRAFT SHOW!! :)
We are going to be at Arts in the Park craft show this week-end. Come visit us we are set up by the big red barn!
"ARTS IN THE PARK is one of most respected fine arts and crafts festivals in Midcoast Maine. The variety of artwork and crafts is outstanding, and continuous live music and the smells of freshly grilled food add to the festival atmosphere. The venue can't be improved upon - set on the water's edge downtown on Belfast's harbor with tugboats, sailboats, and dinghies moored a few feet away."

Happy Anniversary

We are celebrating our first year of blogging today! Thanks for paying attention to any part of it. We have had e-visitors from Singapore to Somerville and have enjoyed sharing our adventures with everyone and their grandparents. It has been a joy to share our glass making with the public in our studio as well as over the internet.Today being a special day I took some random photos around the shop to mark the occasion. Ken blew glass today. We had a great crew on board with newby, Emily Lyons one of Ellsworth's very own darling daughters.
Katie Dube was in the studio clearly a vital helper
....whose motto is better late than never.
We even had the ethereal Martin Brief in the shop, he is responsible for our great web site yippee. But as usual all the rainy day visitors enjoyed seeing Serafina the wonder dog (and door bell) as much as as they did the hot glass.
Cheers!

Tough Stuff

Check out this article on architectural glass. Great reading as Ken and I weld up some glass and steel, sculptural pieces this week. Sparkling, beautiful and enduring.

As Unbreakable as ... Glass?

Sally Ryan for The New York Times

A CLEAR VIEW A project lets visitors see all angles from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Builders are experimenting with new materials and methods to expand the use of glass in construction.

Growing gills, in search of sunshine.

I always say that the only people happy with the cool grey weather in the summer are the glass blowers, it makes dealing with the heat so much easier. BUT,
22 days of solid rain in June, and "Summah" enthusiasm has shifted to salty walks through fog, and my flip flops are more like squish flops...
I can only assume all this rain is what has inspired the glass I am blowing these days---up from the depths comes the notion of creatures who are comfortable with so much WATER.
Mer people!
It's fun to think that something so fiery hot can evoke something so cool and watery, but in the melting pot of my life it's the only way to do it! --and really rather than trying to figure out where this handsome devil came from I am just enjoying his visit, and happy he swam out of my furnace.

Summah !!

Summer is here, it really feels like it. The sound of road work stimulates the air and infuriates travelers. Greens have become deeper, richer in the filled out trees brimming with birdsong. Ahhh, and walking around barefoot or in flip flops is second nature again. Sigh
The Studio, ahhh the studio , all the windows are open all day long, from the earliest mornings starting at 6am until twilight when we visit with friendly neighbors passing by for one reason or another. The gallery is filled with pedestals of the latest blown glass work. Shimmering and telling the story of our lives. Since the move from Hulls Cove, the palette of our work has changed. The ocean inspired glass remains but now garden colors have appeared. I don't always realize why I make something until after it appears, how it is a reflection of my life, of it's beauty.
And the visitors to our gallery have cheerfully returned, with encouragement beyond what ever the latest dismal news may be. The appreciation for our work and the purchases that prove it are really uplifting. One woman filled two big bags with glass, saying she was buying all her Christmas presents with us. Whoa..but let's not get ahead of ourselves, it is Summah and I want it to last...
Photos to come...we have been blowing lots of our own work after the stimulating joy of teaching and will catch you all up on that front anon.

Transparency-COA-Glass Exhibit

Final Project Review

At the end of the introduction to glass blowing class taught in our studio through the College of the Atlantic, the final sculpture projects were due. The creative process had run it's course and the assignments to incorporate a large orb, or what is termed a glass blank into an expressive glass sculpture were handed in. During the term I emphasized glass art history, glassblowing technique (through rigorous glassblowing exercises making basic shapes) and individual expression. For the final sculptures, we explored the skills the students already had and tried to incorporate and combine them with new glass working techniques, both cold and hot, into the pieces you will see below. Emphasizing the importance of documenting one's art work we took "professional" photos of the work in the class room as the pieces were being introduced by the students and critiqued by their peers. AND finally the fulfillment of the creative process was an exhibit of the work at the Great Hall of Turrets on commencement day at the end of the spring term. Please enjoy the following as you would a catalogue from any fine art exhibit as the work of the students of AD4391, COA's Introduction to Glassblowing with Linda Perrin is truly of the highest caliber.

Cosmic Broccoli
Jacob Weisberg

Sol
Andrew Curtis

Fiber Glass
Rebecah Wartell

Lotus Lines
Kelly Enberg

Catch of the Day
Alex Carpenter

Clava Thessara Infinitas
William Eckley

Fountain
Stephen Byrne

These artists made their parents, the college and me very proud.
colleges in maine, glass blowing art

Glass Exhibit, Maine, College of the Atlantic

(a sneak peek at Kelly Enberg's sculptural glass)

The new glass makers of College of the Atlantic will be showing their work at the Great Hall in Turrets building June 6th from 10am to 6pm. A reception of coffee and light deserts at 4:30 will include an opportunity to meet the sculptors and the beginning glassblowing instructor, Linda Perrin. Ken Perrin who has been a technical adviser on many of the final projects will also be on hand. Prince Rupert's drops an ancient party favor of glass blowers, illuminations and artistic ruminations are promised features of the reception as well.
"Transparency" a glass sculpture exhibit at Turrets, June 6th 10am-6pm
Ten brave students have been expanding their minds and gathers of molten glass in the Introduction to Glassblowing class new to the course line up this term. . Don't miss the opportunity to see the sparkles in person on June 6th from 10 am to 6pm in the Great Hall of Turrets. A reception at 4:30 will allow the new glass makers of AD4391 to illuminate your understanding of the mystifying process of shaping molten glass. Really don't blow it and miss this unique opportunity to see some evocative glass sculpture made by people just like you.

Glass Flowers

Everyone I know is in the garden these days. Sweet heat wafting through still springy breezes, lawn mowers roaring constantly, and color popping out of the recently thawed ground. In my yard grass grows tall and I ponder the untamed look to the grounds. If only I knew how to make blooms happen. My garden remains a wild child. The above blooms are made of glass, they are the impressionistic flowers of my imagination. I play with color, and love the bold brush stroke like shapes.

Outside the Bubble

In the glass world the near endless pursuit of the mastery of technique can entrance one in the challenging meditation on the nature of a molten glass bubble. For over 5000 years glass has been flowing through the history of mankind, from the earliest beads made in early Egypt to the opulent sculptures bedecking alters of leisure. What will happen next?

In the introduction to glass blowing we have begun the meditation on the bubble.
Om...It rests molten hot in the 2100 degree furnace, begins to flow as we gather it up, we repeatedly heat it and bend it to our whims, it expands as the breath of life is blown into it through long steel pipes constantly spinning in fumbling, yet competent hands, it is caught up in wooden blocks and squeezed with the birdlike beak of the jacks, relying on partnership for support, we break it free of it's origins, and we discard the pipe complete with moil cracking off like firecrackers that we no longer even notice, the bubble is brought to a fire polish through another extended exposure to the heat, and we diligently open the rim into the defining shape of the vessel. Do we recognize that we are a vessel? The vessel of creativity? Do we witness a harmony of self and purpose in this process? Do we have something to say with this unique opportunity and material? These are the next questions that the students of "AD4391" are facing.
At the beginning of the course each student was presented with a large bubble shaped blank, the assignment; to include it in a larger sculptural expression. Here are a few photos and a movie of the new makers de-constructing, exploring, recreating and embellishing their bubble as they reach outside the meditation of glassblowing, and begin to see their own reflection as creative individuals. Andy blasts through (with a sand blaster), Becky cuts (with a wet band saw), and Kelly reflects on her progress.
Stay tuned for info on when and where these final sculptural pieces will be shown on campus!

We're Open and we got The Blues

But in a good way. In the spirit of COA-eco awareness, we have been recycling glass and creating a delightful blue color to work with. It has been super fun, and the students seem to like it as well.
Most important in this posting I want to thank everyone who helped make our season opening such a huge success!! It was a sell out day, a day to connect with our community and spread the word about Ellsworth Arts, and the great energy we have percolating here at Atlantic Art Glass.
Thank you to the mandolin and guitar players, the cookie maker, Julie Greenberg, and the cookie eaters who managed to devour dozens of chocolate, white chocolate chunk, hazelnut yummers, thank you to our glass divas, Jodie Perry and Katie Dube, who packed tons of glass into recycled bags for the multitude of customers who made off with some real treasures. Thank you to the parents of our students who came to encourage the creativity and daring of their glass blowing children in my charge during this beginning glassblowing class, and thank you to the glass gods who shine down upon us as we share what we love with those who are interested. I am sorry to say we have no pictures of the sunny event since we were having too much darn fun to stop and think about it, guess you just needed to be there, maybe next time....

Season Opening-Annual Seconds Sale-May 9th

May 9th-Seconds Sale-Blown Glass
25 Pine street, Ellsworth
10am-5pm

To benefit Ellsworth Arts, public arts projects/
Ellsworth Under the Stars, a summer film program, info all day.

We have a sea of sparkles that have been accumulating here in our studio. Lot's of new designs being worked out, teaching, demonstrations, and left over abandoned (student) orphan glass that needs to be cleared out before we clean ourselves up for the season. So come on by to visit, and perchance find a piece of glass that only a mother could love, (just in time for Mother's Day), or a pick me up for yourself.

You deserve it after this harsh winter!

This is an annual event, the spring seconds sale so if you know the drill come on down for the usual fun, refreshments, glass blowing demonstrations and deals and if your a new comer, come on down to meet your local glass blowers cuz, like we say,

"Don't blow it"
Big Sale
This is a rare opportunity to get your hands on some of the good stuff.

A Blast

Sandblasted designs by Jo(left) and Alex (right)
This Saturday's class was a real blast, sand blast that is. While some of us were blowing glass, some of us were blasting glass. Check out the latest skills introduced to the College of the Atlantic, Intro to Glassblowing class taught by Linda Perrin.

Sand blasted bottles by Stephen (left) and Andy (right)

Whirly Glass and Whirly Bugs

Teaching the students this term at COA is drumming up all sorts of fond memories of what it was like when I first discovered hot glass. Alex said this weekend after making a chubby, light bending, little glass vessel, "This is so much fun". And well you can't put it any better than that. But you can ask why? Why is it so much fun? Is it all the primitive basic forces we wrangle with, fire, gravity, and fluidity that fill a modern void? Or is it the place that our brain goes to, or leaves behind, when we are totally focused on the harmonious movements required from our body as we glide through the hot shop balancing a hot sparkling blob out on the end of a blow pipe. In any case I truly believe that we did have great fun this week-end.
Because the fabulous Earth Day celebration at the College took place on Saturday, we had to change the glassblowing lab to Sunday. This shift changed the vibe in the studio and a lazy late starting Sunday feeling permeated the shop. Folks played the guitar in the corner as they waited patiently for their turn to try the first puntied off bubble. And as the day unfolded each person attacked the exercise with their own style.
Willy deserves a prize for being the "sacrificial first person" in line to blow it. But he came back strong with a great save on a bubble that took an adventurous tour of the cullet tray. Andy wowed the crowd with dexterity to burn , Kelly made a glass dough-nut for breakfast and picked up pizza for lunch. Emily and Linda came to class and fell ahead instead of behind.
Becky used precise heat to make two very good little cups, Jake a master of the wind blew the glass with cool aplomb, and Steven "the natural" surprised no-one if not himself for being a creative person, and Jo (aside from blowing glass) found a whirly bug lying high and dry on the pavement in the parking lot, and my heart was once again warmed by the incredibly kind nature of this pack of HE's, as she gave him a long drink and in true nature lovin' style explained his swimming and diving techniques.My most favorite thing ever is to check the annealer the morning after blowing glass. Here are our very first baby bubbles from the introduction to glassblowing at the College of the Atlantic AD4391...wooohooo!

Spring Flingin floppin and rollin...

Here's something just for fun. Even glass blowers need to take a little time off to relax. Here's us on a cold spring day on the crest of a small hill absorbing some solar gain. (Now that we have the video feed worked out look for some hot new scenes of molten goo in the near future.)

We Got Glass

Right, so today the COA students got their hands on some glass, well not hands exactly, but we gathered and gathered and gathered and made some.....well what were those things? raisin shaped scribbles,... yeah sculptural little single gather forms.
But more important than the glass we ended up with, it's the experience we gathered into the student body. The moves and the views. One of the hardest things in the beginning of working with glass is recognizing anything, everything is so foreign, the heat, the optics, the new tools and all those sparkles!!!... it can be a bit confusing. But for the most part everyone kept their cool and made small glass, but big gains.
What Fun!!
Today each student got four chances to gather
up the glass, form it with gravity, blocks, our jacks

and finally the tweezers. Each trip to the furnace and the rate of evolution was astounding. It was a blast to introduce everyone to the hot gooey glass, to watch the red skin and wide eyes fade with repetition, and hear the enthusiasm through out the day.

The Human Ecologists Cometh

Today ten lovely young people arrived at the studio. They are an intelligent bunch of college students from the national jewel of contemporary education, The College of the Atlantic. I have been invited to be a visiting instructor this term and I have the distinct honor to share our studio with these wisdom seekers for the next ten weeks. I look forward to sharing what I know about the magical experience of wrangling hot glass, cold glass, and our creative spirits.
Today we focused on an orientation to the the hot shop, the place where we blow glass. Inside it is filled with equipment that Ken has built and rebuilt over the years. We make lots of pretty sparkly glass but in my heart of hearts I often marvel at the wondrous equipment that make it all possible. Well today we gave it it's props and discussed how the equipment functions and how to use it all safely.

Thought for the day, courtesy of
Emile Zola:
"There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman."

Turrets at COA

Isn't this a fantastic building! Imagine my feeling as I approached it for the first gathering of the students at the College of the Atlantic who are courageous enough to try their hand at molten glass. Our introduction to glass blowing course has begun and this week-end the students will see our studio. I hope they approach it with the same level of wonder I had when I saw the gorgeous old magical building above. I am so happy to foster the alliance between the College of the Atlantic and our studio, Atlantic Art Glass as I teach this course. The philosophy and culture of the college perfectly matches the ideals Ken and I have tried to employ in our humble lives as local artisans. "Think Globally and Act Locally" has been a mantra for a long time around these parts. Enjoy the upcoming posts documenting our progress over the next ten weeks.

OMG

Omg, we have so much going on here at Atlantic Art Glass!
MORE INFO ON EACH OF THE ITEMS BELOW COMING SOON...

1, We are offering a course in glassblowing at the College of the Atlantic for the upcoming spring session. VERY COOL!
2. We started an online shop where our work is available for sale with a secure pay pal service.
3. A new 5 week beginning glass blowing class will begin April 19th sign up now!
4. We are starting a Glass Club for all our past students! This is going to be Fun.
5. We are gettin ready for the The Maine Arts Commission--LINC program show and Kelly, (picture above) is psyched to show her master piece, (only we got our first glass burn yesterday, which put a wrench in the days production. Oh well at least she can call herself a real glass blower now!)

FRESHGLASS

We have launched a new site to feature our latest blown glass. Ken Perrin and Linda Perrin blow glass in series. We do bodies of work that change and evolve, much of our work is one of a kind. In an attempt to give you a "blow by blow" of what is going into and coming out of the annealers, we invite you to visit this site for the uncut view. Go to FreshGlass to see what's just come out of the oven! ....and let us know if you get hungry for some of our tasty sparkles.

Great Class

Well the first five weeks of the winter glass blowing session has whooshed by. This group has been fantastic! So much fun! The skills came easy to most, we spent Valentine's day together, and we rocked and (cinnamon) rolled each week. Above is a collage that Ken made of our dear beginning glassies. And they are not beginners anymore! Check out a few more photos below of the SKILLS!
NEXT CLASS TO BEGIN APRIL!! CALL OR E-MAIL FOR MORE INFO.

Maine art glass-BEGINNERS

Well we've really started something here. The ice is inches deep outside and the temperature just keeps plummeting, but in the hot shop at 25 Pine we are toasty warm. In this "bohemian vacation" we focus on all the information one needs to override the primitive response that happens when we get hit by 2000 degrees of hot glass (namely running away--willy-nilly). The 2009 winter glass blowing class has begun and it is off to a good start. Ken and I taught the dance steps one needs to gather glass effectively out of the said, 2150 degree furnace, get it to the work bench, and begin to use the ancient tools (some that have'nt changed since 50 BC) to fashion this gooey dangerous stuff into the sparkles we desire. Congratulations to our very full class!!! No one got hurt, and we have laid a good foundation on which to begin our glass journey. A point I always like to make, is how lucky we are to be able to dive right into the glass here in this class. For centuries in so many places, like Venice and the Czech Republic, places with long glass blowing histories, a glass worker would have to sweep the floors and assist a master for years and years before actually getting to make anything themselves. Yeah American Art Glass Movement!! We are free! and Yes we can>
ooops that's from something else...

Glass blowing classes, winter 2009

The 2009 winter glass blowing classes will begin January 24th!
Classes for beginners and advanced students.
Enrollment is limited so sign up now before we fill up!
A portion of the brochure is listed below, and in full at our website.

Beginning Glass Blowing
This course is designed for beginners. Emphasis is placed on learning the basic skills necessary to complete simple blown vessels. Class time is divided between demonstrations and supervised work time, with individual attention for each student. No glass working experience is required. Tuition: $375.00
This is a five-week course meeting once each week for four hours. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis, as class sizes are limited. Full payment must be made by first class


Continued Glass Blowing
This class will build upon the skills acquired in previous glass blowing classes. It is also a prerequisite to studio rental. The class will explore the use of color and bit applications. The course structure will include demonstrations to suit the individual interests of participants. Schedule is determined by the instructor and the students. Class size is limited to four students. Tuition: $375.00 Dates: Send us an email for current dates -20 hour course. Registration is first- come, first-served, as class sizes are limited. Full payment must be made by first class.

Glass Blowing Demonstration for the Farnsworth Museum Shop

We just sent out a batch of our special ornaments to the Farnsworth Museum Shop!
To see how Ken and Linda Perrin blow cheerful ornaments click on the video clip below!!! Happy holidays to the crew at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockport, Maine Thank you for showing and selling our work!

Shop for Atlantic Art Glass Nov. 29 & 30

We're Old Fashioned around here, even if we are cool glass blowers. In keeping with this, we will begin our Christmas shows/exhibits after Thanksgiving...
After the big feast, come on out and find our sparkley, charming glass gift creations. We'll be at TWO craft fairs on Saturday. Ken Perrin will be going solo Saturday in Cambridge, MA at the Harvard Square Holiday Craft Fair. Saturday,November 29, 10am -7pm and Sunday, November 30, 12-6pm. And I, Linda Perrin, will be in Portsmouth, NH at the Designing Women Show Saturday the 29th, 9am-4pm. We are looking forward to both shows, just like the song make new friends and keep the old, I hope that one is silver and the other gold....PLUS We have been making some truly heart felt work for you to find and give to whom ever needs a pick me up this winter. We have traditional Christmas ornaments made only the way we do, ...oil lamps to warm and lighten your heart/home, tumblers you can fill to the brim with holiday cheer...
and some special vases I made this week while musing about Florence Italy, Ah, Firenze a place where I first indulged my artistic tendencies, the aesthetics of which ring so purely in my heart that all aspirations, I think, when made Florentine can even enhance things like.... eggs. so imagine what I can do with GLASS. here's a sneak peek at what I'm talkin' about....."bella", no?

Exciting Ellsworth Arts Scene / Glass Etc.

Spirits Lifting! What a wonderful Holiday Season we can have this year. Values are shifting and priorities are coming into focus. As this cultural shift begins to take shape in this extraordinary new era, I am finding that the artisan is regaining importance in our lives. The local glass blower, fiber artist, bread baker, farmer, woodworker etc... are beginning to be the "go to" person for our special needs. as in people who have special occasions and loved ones in their life.
When you have a big birthday for a best friend, or the wedding of folks for whom you are hoping the best, or an anniversary of your own beloved but sometimes hard fought union. What special heirloom quality gift do you want to present? I am finding that people are beginning to feel embarrassed about buying something made in china or elsewhere for these occasions or for their own home and needs. And this all spells out a time of appreciation for the local artisan, and American made products. So as spirits begin to lift out of the overconsumption of crap made cheaply, remember to look for the perseverant artist and artisan who has been a beacon of belief in the higher order of things and has been asking for change long before it became fashionable...
OPPORTUNITIES TO FIND SUCH WORK ABOUND
•Atlantic Art Glass, 25 Pine St., Ellsworth: Glassblowing Demonstrations, Open Studio + refreshments, Saturdays , 10am to 2pm•
SevenArts Gallery,
"Responses to Maine" November, 2008
Beth Lambert / Landscape Paintings
& Jan Whalen / Handknits
Harlow Gallery, Maine Grind Building 192 Main Street, Ellsworth
Grand Opening, November

HUZZAH!!

Boo

My nose is cold, yep pretty consistently now, my nose is cold...that is at least it's cold when I am not blowing glass. This small change creates a fierce primal shift in my outlook on life. OCTOBER, the fear season, spooky long shadows appear, and the possessed street light down the street gets to me again. When the evenings are filled with light as they are on so many summer evenings I don't even think about the weird alley, one street over, the one that has a street light that tries to do Morse code.
But on a chilly evening such as this one, as the pumpkins come out to stand gaurd. I remember how on one night while walking Serafina, the light went out as I stepped directly under it. Hmmmm a short in some wiring perhaps, or a timer? I wondered to myself as chills ran up my spine. Later that week we took another jaunt down the alley, a seemingly good place to poop my pooch out, gravel lined, un-trafficked, weed rimmed...But this time Serafina seemed reluctant, something she never is when pulling me along. However we ventured down again, and I began a dialog in my head aimed at the light, vaguely wondering about coincidence or spooks, this time it came ON as I passed under it. My shadow appeared short and disfigured in old mud ruts.....Okay, send good vibes....I turned around and faced it, thinking if there was something ghosty to this thing it could answer me ...I begged the question if it could signal to me, that it was trying to reach out, it went out as fast as my silly question ill formed in my mind....That was last October, I don't go down there any more, the house on the corner of this alley is perpetually for sale, the name of the street is Shady Lane, and it just plain gives me the Willy's. My nose is cold, and the scarcity of planetary petroleum products is not the only thing to be afraid of these days....wooooo

Little Roady Trip

Hey guys, we are back from Providence. What a trip, met some real talent from all across New England and was happy to be among a large group of Maine-iacs, making up almost 10% of the show! Lot's of Maine Crafts Guild members as well as some indie artisans from our great state. The best part about the week-end was reconnecting with the Hawkes, dear friends. We reminisced that the last time we were in Providence was at their wedding and now there darling daughter* is almost 15. Thanks for the great hospitality! What fun to be in a compact deeply diverse city, we had vegan food at the Garden Grille, Haute Cuisine at Chez Pascal, got inspired to be funky at Oop Gallery (glad they are selling our work!) and great coffee at Tazza. True inspiration came from a trip to the Chace Center at RISD, where a new exhibit of Chihuly work has opened the newly built space. I was happy to see some brand new pieces, most of the botanical shows I have seen recently featured work more than 15 or years old. The show featured work of some of the early students of Dale's and I loved the idea of their mutual exploration in glass. One of the first things Dale made his students do according to Michael Glancy was buy a good quality camera....good reminder how important documentation is! Clearly Dale has always been an excellent promoter of glass art. Another show at the RISD art museum was an installation by Beth Lipman.

Beth Lipman
Still Life with Pearls, Antler, and Oysters, 2006
Strange to say but I felt the show was put together especially for me. After You are Gone is the name of the installation, as a glass bubble blower who has made 1000s of decorative blown glass objects I found this commentary on the decorative arts very provocative.....
As a parting note, remember that one's self is one of the most fundamental of all canvases.... Kudos to *Angela for her daring to push the pink loving limits with her new Mohawk!!!

Fine Furnishing Show in Providence Rhode Island

inspires

We are getting ready for the Providence Fine Furnishing and Fine Crafts show.

"Find it. Love it. Buy it at the Fine Furnishings & Fine Craft Shows
- Providence on October 24 – 26 at the Rhode Island Convention Center"

I can't help it but we have been having so much fun getting ready. We plan to show our distinctive blown glass jewelry, but many beautiful individually crafted blown glass pieces showing our range of sculptural and functional work as well.

Autumn's influence has inspired blown glass pumpkins,

churning surf vases, and blazing blown glass tree vases. Living on the coast of Maine we find that we just look outside and the strong influence of mother nature fills us up. I find myself sitting at my glass blowing bench spinning pipe and, boom I see firey trees bubbling forth. Yesterday we spotted our friends Obediah and Kate, of Sullivan, Maine gathering seaweed for their garden. And I am reminded of Ken's life filled tide pool glass sculptures, another little piece of the coast we plan to show this week-end. I hope you'll come to the show to see what we mean.

Blown Glass Beads, Bead Museum

My Papa's Rose Garden, a collection of beads by Linda Perrin recently reviewed by the Bead Museum in Washington, DC

This summer I answered a call from the American Craft Council web site regarding the Bead Museum requesting a review of the work of contemporary bead artists. We sent in images of our beads. And have been honored to be considered one of the top ten artists making handmade beads from hundreds of applicants in 33 states and 14 countries. Our work was featured at a show this last month. You can read about this in an article in our local paper, the Ellsworth American.
Chosen as one of the top ten by the Bead Museum in Washington,DC.

Reminder,
Come See us this week-end at the Camden, Fall Harbor arts and Crafts Fair Oct 4th and 5th!!

Eastport Retreat!

So many craft fairs have we been doing! So recently on one of our few week-ends off we decided to take a road trip! We just needed a little head space. So for the first time in my dozen or so years of living up here in Maine, Ken and I traveled up up up north or what folks around here call "Downeast". We let the car take us where it went. So with not much between here and there, it's no wonder that we ended up in Eastport.
Eastport is pretty much the edge of the United States and when you look out at the great blue yonder here, you see --Oh Canada!
We had a blast. We stayed with Ruth McInnes
in her "one of the oldest houses in the port"
a delightful B&B now.
And walked back and forth to the little artist run strip of a down town. Even found some treasures to bring back home.
In any case I just thought I would let you all know what we have been up to these days. And to urge you to stay tuned cuz there is some interesting news coming out of the hot shop....regarding international competitions, trips to Penland School of Crafts, special work being created for the Fine Furnishing Show in Providence, RI and even a story about lovers being reunited....Autumn is one of our favorite times, very colorful already.
PS
Do you see the resemblance?

Fair Weather

Well, after complaining about the rain in the last post my prayers have been answered, and the sun has finally arrived up here in Downeast Maine. There is a certain feeling in the soft summer-like air up here that all the world comes to discover. We who live here have been appreciating the recent sunshine so much! Since absence makes the heart grow fonder, we have been praising the sun everyday it dries up this year's often misty skies.
Ken and I show at some of the best craft-fairs that pepper New England.
The following is our autumn schedule, so please come see us at one of the following shows. We would just love to show you our latest sparkles....
Designing Women Craft Show in Bar Harbor, ME August 23, 9am-4pm at the Atlantic Oaks Convention Center, Bar Harbor, ME
Laudholm Nature Crafts Festival Sept, 6 and 7, 10am -4pm, Wells, ME
Common Ground Fair, Sept 19, 20 and 21. MOFGA Fair Grounds, Unity, ME
Harbor Arts Juried Arts and Crafts Show, Oct 4 and 5th, Camden ME
Providence Fine Furnishing and Fine Crafts Show, October 24-26, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI
Check our Web Site for a preview of glass!!

Dog Days

Hey I was just wondering why we call the "dog days" the "dog days". I'd like to think we've had some, but it just hasn't been hot enough to growl about. I feel a bit guilty being so happy with the cool gray days, but the hot shop has been cozy during the many rain storms of late. In any case today is the official end of the "dog days", so let's at least say hooray for the dogs we know, Grover the goofy golden who accompanies Nate to glass blowing sessions and our little friend Serafina the official hot shop dog and "door bell" who heralds visitors arrivals when we might be too busy to notice....

DOG DAYS: In the summer, Sirius, the dog star rises and sets with the sun. During late July Sirius is in conjunction with the sun, and the ancients believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction to 20 days after, "dog days" after the dog star.

The conjunction of Sirius with the sun varies somewhat with latitude. And the precession of the equinoxes (a gradual drifting of the constellations over time) means that the constellations today are not in exactly the same place in the sky as they were in ancient Rome. Today, dog days occur during the period between July 3 and August 11. Although it is certainly the warmest period of the summer, the heat is not due to the added radiation from a far-away star, regardless of its brightness. No, the heat of summer is a direct result of the earth's tilt.

Time lapse video of Linda Perrin and Nate Parker

Today Nate helped me work on some "dancing" vases. These pieces are rose colored in honor of the color of summer sunsets, regosa roses and watermelon flesh. We are having a harmonious summer... Living every day to the fullest.
Watch for cameo appearances by Grover (Nate's Golden retriever), Serafina (my little dog), and Ken as he checks to makes sure we are working hard enough!

Glass Gallery Visitors

The following photos document a few of the good times in the last month. We have had so much fun sharing this 1st month of blogging. We hope you have enjoyed visiting.

This is Chelsea, I have known her since she was knee high to a grasshopper. She did her MDI senior project with me a couple of years ago. Now she is heading into her sophomore year at the university of Maine-Orono. She informs me she made the deans list last year. I am so proud of her. She is quite a special young lady independent and determined, just my kind of gal! Say hi to your dear grandparents, Ann and Everett!!

This is Joe, he is my next-door neighbor. Recently Joe needed something special for his parents anniversary, we hunted about, and found a very nice oil lamp. In exchange Joe bartered his services and watered the farthest reaches of my garden during the driest days this summer. Then before he took off to see some family in Illinois for a 3 week summer vacation. He and I made a paperweight! I guess he'll have some stories for his older cousin now...

Cherie Magnello is one of my heroes I always wanted to grow up to be like her, ever beautiful and very talented. She has made a number of visits to the studio so far this summer to wipe out my inventory and take our unique blown glass beaded jewelry to Island Artisan's where it has been selling like mad.

And finally our favorite people in the whole world, David and Suzie. These guys have been collecting our glass since before we even had our own glass blowing studio. They are a wonderfully loving couple. They make a mean mac and cheese and always tell great stories....rarely repeating themselves. We love you!

Black Out!

Thursday got off to a rocky start when at 7:50 AM power went out all over eastern Maine. As some of you may know we have had some tremendous lightning storms in the last week and that is what caused the outage.
A power outage presents some serious challenges to a glass blower. We were lucky that the annealors were not cycling and so we had no finished pieces at risk of cracking due to the sudden drop in temperature.
The top priority for us was the furnace. If the furnace is low or empty then there is really no reason to worry. But if the furnace is full as ours was, then emptying out the glass must be done within 30-45 minutes. If the glass cools inside the crucible it can damage the crucible and the refractory materials that the furnace is made of.
So, after waiting for about 40 minutes, we gathered all the glass out of the furnace in order to protect our precious machine! The good news is that we can simply shovel the glass back in at another time. So all we really lost was a day of production.

Camden Summer Craft Show

umbrella/parasol
parapluie/parasol
ombrello/parasole
schirm/sonnenschirm


Here are some pictures from our weekend. Can you say Umbrella!?
Well above are a few ways one could say umbrella, and I like the “pluie” part of the French version. Sounds like how you feel when it’s raining. I don’t just love the new umbrella because of how it sheltered us from the rain but I love it because of how it sheltered us from the sun as well.
Because this week-end we had it all!
Thunderstorms, scorching sun, wind, rumors of hail, and finally more soaking rain on Sunday

But despite all this we had a wonderful weekend, filled with nice people, and abundant sales. In fact some of those biggish vases I had so much fun using my duck billed shears on, were sold to good homes all over the country(NY, West Virginia, and Florida to name a few places).

Plus we got to see our musician friends

Maggi and Pierce of MPE and Hymn for Her They have quite a few gigs planned for the summer including a couple in Europe this August. We started talking about them playing a block party at our place this fall. Stay tuned for that one!

Kindle

Another Summer's cool student...
We came to know Kindle through the LINC program. In April Linda was asked to mentor Kindle through the fundamentals of glass blowing and what it means to be a full time artist. We found her to be an enthusiastic student. She is a recent graduate of George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill Maine and has decided to attend the University of Vermont in Burlington this fall. I often think of Kindle as a” fire sprite” with her red hair, warm demeanor, and inherent understanding of molten glass... She also has a way of kindling our own joy as we remember what it was like to meet hot glass for the first time many years ago.

Adding color to a gather ... a true sign of progress

Adding bits, another way to decorate the glass...

Camden!!!

Hey everyone, if you would like to see us this week-end July 19 and 20, we will be at the "Harbor Arts Fair" in beautiful Downtown Camden.
Saturday and Sunday from 9am-5pm.
Vivian and Nate will be running things in the shop in Ellsworth.
Looking forward to the sun, the harbor breeze and seeing you.

Hot Shop Time Lapse

Nate made this time lapse sequence with his camera the other night. More to come!

Something Special

Yesterday was Elaine's birthday, (she turned seventy). She always wanted to see a piece of glass be blown especially for her. Ken obliged in his chivalrous manner and despite the heat she and her family happily watched Ken and Katie make a beautiful Seafoam Bowl.
.

Vivi!

This is Vivian. (She is reading the blog, and sitting on the cool loading dock).
She has just finished her first year at Marlboro college. She came to be a part of the studio last Summer. She courageously brought in a resume even before she graduated from High School. I think she said she wanted to find a position in a "real" art studio, at which point I looked over my shoulder,
"Oh you mean here..." I said.
I remember we needed to e-mail back and forth a couple of times to work out the details. She was very cheerful and I think she used a number of exclamation points. Her e-mail address had something to do with "curly fries". During her first summer, where she swam instead of sank, we began calling her Vivi, and are pretty sure that with a name like Vivi Rae she'll have it made in the art world. (plus
you should see her portfolio)...
Currently she is a part of this summer's beginning glass blowing class. All the watching she has been doing while helping many hours a week in other parts of the studio have paid off and Vivi has the tempo and grace well suited to glass blowing. In these pictures we marvel at the teeny tiny first jacking of a first gather. Brava!
In the background you see Kindle the fire sprite...you'll meet her next.

Summer's cool!

This week produced the kind of non stop activity we associate with Summer. I began teaching four young people how to blow glass. Each one has a different level of experience, but all can benefit from a brief review of the basics. Each student will be introduced with a description of their aims as well as their experience to date as this summers'cool unfolds.
Sadly we said good-bye to Andrew Palmer a brilliant man that for some reason (perhaps being bitten by the glass bug) graces us with his company and allows us to share insights about how heat, gravity and will can shape a glass bubble. Ken and Andrew had a particualarly good time together making handles on small pitchers. Andrew returns to Singapore, leaving his residence in Deer Isle, ME. until next summer perhaps.

AND I put the new glass to good use. I had a blissful evening on Thursday blowing biggish garden colored vases.
The evening was a tiny bit cooler, my strength was fair and I got to use some new duck billed shears that made cutting the lip of the urn shapes easy as pie
.
Then Thursday night while I was beginning to scrub the salt off, I got a call that Katherine Dube was downstairs and wanted to show her friends around. Katie (left) was an intern with us nearly ten years ago while she was a student at College of the Atlantic. Since that time she has traveled to Japan, earned her Masters Degree in Eastern Classics, and is now a teacher of Buddhist studies at College of the Atlantic. Here she was just another summer lovin goddess out with her best buddies, "Big Head" (middle) and Amanda Witherell, a journalist at the SF Bay Guardian. Katie wanted to show her friends around because she has been working all year with Ken assisting him in his "Sea foam" line of decorative blown glass. And recently she began setting up her painting studio in the back section of our building, the area we affectionately call, Narnia...

Photo credit

We can't go on much further with this blog with out saying something about the inviting photo that greets you at the top of the page. It was created by the multi talented, Nathan Parker. Showing the entrance of our building and studio, the photo was created from a total of 81 photos, which were then digitally stitched together thereby showing you the full view of one of our favorite hanging out spots, the loading dock. This panorama bends the perspective a bit and makes the façade look curvy, …kind of like a reflection in glass. So thanks to Nate who besides taking photos like the one described here is able to leap tall bubbles in a single bound and is part of our team of glass blowers, ....next post, we'll see you inside.

Our crops are saved!

The BIG NEWS here at 25 Pine today is the much anticipated arrival of our glass shipment. It's hard to blow glass if you ain't got none and we were down to our last dregs. But today that's all a distant memory as 1000 pounds of Spectrum System 96 nuggets arrived.

These nuggets are made of glass with a Coefficient of Expansion/(COE ) of 96. We are able to fill our furnace up each night with these fabulous little chunks where we cook them into clear glass crystal. Because of the COE we are able to combine the clear glass with our expansive color palette and blow beautiful bubbles or sculpt the glass into sparkling solid forms.

It's like a new lease on life to look at this pile of raw material lying on our loading dock. We should put it away,... however, it seems to be good bait for the muse, so I think we'll leave it out there to trip over for just a little bit longer....