FireGathering

Happy Holidays everyone!!

What do you want for Christmas?

christmas fire party version 2010 from f/8nate (nate parker) on Vimeo.

Nate Parker made this video during our FireGathering holiday celebration at the studio. It was a day to warm our spirits around the fires that allow us to hand make gifts and such for the season. The artisans enjoyed working, as the community gathered around the fires that aid the joyous process- Glassblowing and Blacksmithing. Many participants were asked what they want for Christmas ... thanks to all who came!

Glass Blowing Classes/ Winter 2011

The 2011 winter glass blowing classes will begin January 8th!
Classes for beginners and advanced students.
Enrollment is limited so sign up now before we fill up!

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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 Saturdays at 10am -2pm). 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.

Private lessons, $75. hour.

4 or more students can schedule a group rate.

APPLICATION

Raking!

We are having the most beautiful fall! it is lasting forever- the golds, acid greens and vibrant reds are above and below!

I am feeling such harmony with the season, and the excited colorful leaves blowing around like party goers celebrating the cycle of life.

Well in the spirit of the season I did some raking-- but not leaves. I raked glass into pretty swirly feather patterned lines of "Linda" colors.

After a long spell of having the furnace off for a variety of reasons. including being a bit more environmental (lowering our carbon footprint) and a bit more economically efficient, we are blowing again. It just plain feels good to be back in the hot shop. It is nice though, how idealism and capitalism are no longer mutually exclusive!! I love all the talk and action about more sustainable business practices and folks understanding the importance of buying local, and even better looking for locally made.

Museum of Glass Red Hot Party!!

Recently my work was juried into a show/auction of work to benefit MOG in Tacoma. Although the honor included free tickets to the ~$300. dinner I was unable to attend. August & September are the months of the year for us. So many international visitors and opportunities to show our work. Nonetheless, I was so happy to be included with the likes of Richard Royal, Martin Blank, Davide Salvadore, Ed Schmid Preston Singletary, Dale Chihuy, and others in the auction catalogue and at the swanky event. Maybe another time I will be able to be one of the little black dress wearing attendees!! Before I sent the "one of a kind" necklace and earring set "Modern Primitive" of to Tacoma, WA I modeled the piece in my own grunge fashion!!

Photos of the party

and

Jennifer Kuhns by

Mahesh Thapa

So come and enlighten my gaze..

I've known a Heaven, like a Tent —
To wrap its shining Yards —
Pluck up its stakes, and disappear —
Without the sound of Boards
Or Rip of Nail — Or Carpenter —
But just the miles of Stare —
That signalize a Show's Retreat —
In North America —
No Trace — no Figment of the Thing
That dazzled, Yesterday,
No Ring — no Marvel —
Men, and Feats —
Dissolved as utterly —
As Bird's far Navigation
Discloses just a Hue —
A plash of Oars, a Gaiety —
Then swallowed up, of View.

Emily Dickinson

These ladies arrived at the Laudholm Nature Crafts Festival each wearing pieces of blown glass jewelry that I had made. Many necklaces or earrings were made many years ago. It was so encouraging and uplifting to see their smiling supportive faces on a late summer day. They were having fun together and included me in it. Happily they updated their collections by purchasing some of my newest pieces!!

I still smile to remember their support.

What a beauty no? This is Mary Jo Brink of the Hartstone Inn and Hideaway. A fantastic place just steps from downtown Camden. Her husband Micheal Salmon is an award winning chef who hosted the late Julia Childs no less. They are Venusians of the highest order (lovers and makers of Beauty) and we are always happy to get a little visit from them at the Harbor Arts Fine Craft show in Camden (coming up Oct. 2&3, 2010). Here Mary Jo models a piece she purchased form us this summer. It was a wonderful moment to see a favorite piece come to life on such a delightful person.

For an artist watching your work go out into the world, taking on a life of its own, this is the best!! It is created from my pallet of creative materials and becomes part of the pallet of the muse who now owns it. Now she can pull it out and use in when the moment arises to compliment her own creative flair and individual appearance. Joy!

At the Common Ground Country Fair artisans from the state show their work to over 40,000 people during the third weekend of September. On Fridays local school children are encouraged to interview us. Here Samantha and Cory ask probing questions about the inspiration for the work. They were a bright spot, during the fair. Although we work hard to sell our work at this fair, so much of what happens during this event has nothing to do with selling but rather connecting and exchanging energy with our community. :D

The Glass "Atelier" in Maine

Ken explains some fundamentals about hot glass to Alexander

My study of glass followed many methods of learning, graduate school, apprenticeships, workshops at national art centers and good old independent study. I remember studying art in Italy and coming to understand that in the past, children began learning their chosen or family craft at the early age of 14. I remember wishing we had a culture like that today. A culture that channeled all that youthful energy and seeking into a PRACTICAL pursuit an empowering pursuit and an example of living excellence rather than virtual excellence. In a great biography of Michelangelo,* his study of stone work began at that age and it is described with all the drama and glamor worthy of a young future master artist...For this reason when anyone asks me the minimum age requirement for studying glass I always answer 14 .
Well here in Maine where life IS as it should be, a small school in Blue Hill called the Bay School requires the 8th grade students to do an intensive independent study, their age , 14.

This year we had the distinct honor to give private lessons to one such student, Alexander. A VERY mild mannered, Quiet young man. instead of playing tennis this spring Alexander would come everyday after school (and mornings on Saturdays) to take lessons in hot glass work. His first gathers out of the furnace summoned courage I am not sure Alexander knew he had. Moving around the hot shop with flowing light filled molten glass and tooling it with increasing skill required more than concentration. During his training Alexander met his inner artist, his creative voice, he had to make split second decisions at the bench to coax a beautiful form from the hot hot goo, --no time to rethink or doubt! During this mentor ship Ken Perrin and he discovered a mutual love of basketball and daily reviewed the playoff progress of the Boston Celtics, Soon a shy young man became a gracefully confident sunglass wearing cool "guy". Alexander

The skills Alexander gained in the manipulation of hot glass will wow everyone for a long time, but the inner glow that jumped from the end of a heavy multi gathered gob of glass, to the core of this new human is one that will remain, no matter how he chooses to reach his potential. The Quatrocento Italians were right again, as usual, the Michelangello's of the future come from parental support and creative education as early as possible.

Alexander demonstrates his 8th grade project to the students, faculty, friends and family at the Bay School, Blue Hill, Maine

*The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone

Glass Blowing Demonstration

Check us out on You Tube. This is part of the Maine Crafts Guild library of Maine Artisans doing their thing. We make a pretty simple form in this demo but it makes for a good show. ENJOY!
Glass Blowing Demonstration/Linda Perrin

CMOG !!

We are so excited here at the glass studio. We just sent out our first order to the Corning Museum of Glass gift shop!! So if you are interested in finding innovative blown glass jewelry, go there and ask for work by Linda Perrin, of Atlantic Art Glass. My blown glass cane beads employ venetian technique with my own contemporary feminine spin. The glass colors of the work are cheerful, and the earrings, necklaces and bracelets are made with meticulous attention to detail. Bead lovers will recognize the contribution I am trying to make to the long history of hand made glass. Especially after they are able to see the first pieces of hand made glass lying quietly in a case inside the museum, glass made in 3500 cool huh-? The earliest hand made glass was made in the form of beads!!

College of the Atlantic Internship

For the last ten weeks or so we have had a new apprentice in glassblowing, she is from the College of the Atlantic. This cool eco school requires all it's graduates to get work experience in their field of study. Linda Grecco a maker, believes in the individuation of culture that comes from handmade objects versus the homogenization of industrial goods. She came to us an expert in macramé, making dream catchers and hippie hemp necklaces. How would the meditative process of tying knots and weaving hemp compare to the dynamic challenges of wrestling with hot glass. It was interesting to watch Linda's progress, at first a bit tentative Linda showed great promise, able to gather large dollops of light filled glass from the furnace right from the start. Eventually we found that if we played the right music (Reggae or old Stones) Linda would begin to dance with the beat and flow with the glass. As her skill level grew, she designed and made increasingly difficult shapes.
I find glass blowing to be very empowering for young women. During her tenure here she has helped repair equipment, she has worked in a production team on wholesale orders, she has worked on mailings and other marketing projects, and she has also assisted Ken Perrin with his one of a kind blown glass sculptural peices to name just a few of her experiences.
"Blown and Thrown" Linda's senior show will be up at Blum Gallery April 20 -31. An opening will take place Thursday April 20 from 4-6pm, Blum Gallery, College of the Atlantic Campus, Rte 3 Bar Harbor.

Santa Fe Glass

As Ken and I continue our vacation
here in Santa Fe, we find ourselves pulled back to the hot shop of friend Patrick Morrissey, Prairie Dog Glass. There we had the pleasure of meeting Ira Lujan (pictured to the right, his work to the left). His work stood out at the IAIA shop so it was great to meet him and see him in action in the hot shop one afternoon. As usual however the greatest fun was trying out the hot shop and making a little glass of our own. After bumping our heads on low hanging vents and offering up a couple of bubbles to the glass gods we got the hang of the new shop, had fun with the cool (hot) torches and even picked up some tips about how to spray titanium on the glass for a cool iridescent finish.

Linda Perrin and Patrick Morrissey

Vacation-Santa Fe

It's mud season in Maine, and the last little bit of winter we will have before we get super busy filling our 2010 wholesale orders to some great places including the Corning Museum of Glass and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. So we decided to skip out of town and chase a little sunshine. With out too much ado we picked Santa Fe, New Mexico.
remembered a couple of very talented glass artists ended up in Santa Fe after my grad-school days at Southern Illinois University. And as fate would have it this morning out of the blue I ran into one of them at a cute little breakfast joint called Counter Culture. Excuse me are is your name Lolly Goodwin, I asked the freckled familiar face. Wow. What a long time it has been! She explained that she has her own hot shop and Patrick Morrissey the other SIU alum had one as well--Prairie Dog Glass, right down the street at Jackalope. After coffee and spicy eggs (everything is spicy here) we cruised on over.
With true hot shop manners Patrick asked us if we wanted to make anything, but since I have been struggling with some altitude sickness I was unable, so lucky Ken took him up on it! It was so much fun to play and get a tour of the Hot Shop. Patrick has always been an equipment building savant, and sure enough all the kilns, and the continuous feed furnace were quite a marvel.

Philadelphia Buyers Market

We are at the Buyers Market of American craft, the show is going well for us. Orders from museum shops and great glass galleries including The Corning Museum of Glass. We are happy with the show so far.
On a side note about Snowmaggedon....I can't believe it is sunny and warm up in Maine this week end, while down here in "mild" Pennsylvania there are many inches of ice on the ground and snow piled up 3 to 4 feet!! Don't worry tho we haven't had any trouble getting around since we are taking public transportation. Two more days to go for the Market. So we'll be back at it tomorrow! Wish us luck.

Blowing Beer Bottles/Recycling!

This Sunday we filled the annealer with used bottles, beer, wine and the like. The theory is , if you heat some bottles up to 950 degrees or so and pick them up on the end of a blow pipe or punty rod you can alter it's shape to create a decorative or functional "new" piece of blown glass. Voila-recycling
! Ken Perrin pushing/ pulling the limits
Well as usual with theory and practice it is much harder than it seems. Harder being the operative word. See the bottle glass is formulated so it sets up instantly when blown (by a machine) into a metal mold. therefore the properties of the bottle glass are that it heats up quickly to a liquid state, and then hardens immediately when touched by the tools.
Alex Carpenter 2010 artist in residence.

Hmmmm who doesn't like a challenge?
Linda Grecco 2010 Intern from College of The Atlantic


I think this has been great fun but I don't think it will go into heavy production any time soon. Rest assured you may see a smattering off these pieces inthe gallery from time to time and we will ytry to have these for the commmon ground fair at harvest season, but--The glass we usually use is a lovely crystal, formulated to be soft and pliable to the hand work of a skilled artisan. When heated and brought to the glassblowers bench it can be worked with the tools for a lot longer than these brown bottles. SO although this has been fun, whats more, it has increased the appreciation for what we normally use every delicious molten day! Clear art glass crystal! mmmmm can't wait to get back to it...
! Linda Perrin

Apprenticeship in glass blowing

Great vibes this year! We finished last year on a real upswing largely due to the help and company of Emily Lyons (aka, big puff) a sculpture student doing an internship/apprenticeship with us for college credit from the University of Southern Maine, and Alex Carpenter a world traveler, COA student and all around earnest fellow who has begun a glass blowing residency/apprenticeship with us. Working in the hot shop in exchange for access to hot glass is a classic apprenticeship model. Since it was the holiday season we had a lot of work to do and they really helped increase the Christmas ornament production in this hot shop --all the way up to 100 ornaments in 1 day!! boy that felt good-when it was over :)

Emily has returned to Portland to finish up her art degree from U-Maine, and well, we miss her. Luckily she is an Ellsworth native and we have been assured she will be back!
Alex will continue his residency with us for a while longer, happily all the color techniques he has learned and his ability to plug into our glass blowing team will be put to good use as we prepare for the Buyers Market of American Crafts show.

Buyers Market of American Craft

Come see us! SOON
February 12-15, 2010
Jewelry Preview: February 11, 2010
Pennsylvania Convention Center
Philadelphia, PA
A wholesale show featuring the work of the finest national artisans selling to shops and galleries with artistic and cultural integrity.
We'll be there!

Glass Blowing Classes winter 2010

The 2010 winter glass blowing classes will begin January 16th!
Classes for beginners and advanced students.
Enrollment is limited so sign up now before we fill up!

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 -16 hour course. Registration is first- come, first-served, as class sizes are limited. Full payment must be made by first class.