We're back from San Bird doo (San Bernadino) & our vacation! We had such a marvelous time!!
I pulled an Angel card before we left and it said "education"....boy was that the truth! I thought that I would share our time with you ;)
This is a "
glory hole" It's where off hand workers pick up and heat their glass while making...something wonderful...that
hopefully makes it into the annealer to cool. It's hot in there!!
Here's the "Motley Crew" watching the demos and as you can see having a great time in the sun.....see Michael in there!! See all the gray hair...these are all people that we/Michael has known for at least 30 years....before the gray came in!! How lovely to have this community of amazing glassworkers as friends.
This is
Fritz Dreisbach and two of his pieces of art that were on display in the museum at California State University San Bernadino.
This man is a
trip...to say the least! He made a red pick up truck for his demo....wish that I had a photo but it went into the annealer and takes about three days to "come down" to room temp....ah well such is life with
hot glass! At least it made it into the annealer!!
This is the amazing
Loren Stump....now you are in my territory.
Loren is a torch worker, as am I......
See FIRE!!Michael and I spent the good part of a day watching him make a very large garden paperweight.
Loren makes the most impressive murrini...which is a mosaic of very small stringers of glass put side by side to make a picture.
The picture on the top right is just a small piece of the larger murrini below it.....
AND the larger one is about 3 inches tall....see what I mean...impressive!! Even the
Madonna &
Son are pointing in admiration!
Here's the only good picture that I could get...and hey, it's not that great....of the paperweight that took him
5 hours to produce. It really was quite lovely and we learned a lot from spending the afternoon with Loren. He is a most gracious demonstrator and teacher. Normally a 5 day class with him costs $1,000.....I'm saving my pennys ;)
Another artist who has been in our glass world for as long as I can remember is
Dick Marquis. Here are some of his recent pieces. His teapots are all over the world. He made one at the show but unfortunately taking pictures of hot spinning glass is basically impossible...unless you like pictures that are out of focus. (The link I included will show you one, if you are interested). I think that his new work is amazing as well and it was a pleasure to watch him!
This is a piece by
Dante Marioni....
WOW is all that I can say about this gift from Italy. His family has been working glass for centuries and it certainly does show!! He has taken the best forms and techniques from his lineage and coupled it with the new things from America & is what I would consider a Master in his own right. Check out his link and see what I'm talking about.....
Not to mention....he's not bad on the eyes, if you know what I mean ;)
On the way home we stopped and visited with our good friends....
Will Carlton &
Chris Anderson. They are a husband and wife glassblowing team.
Michael use to blow glass with/for Will when we lived in San Luis Obispo. They have a beautiful home and studio in the Central California coastal hills.
They are now building a beautiful new home on their property...and are manifesting a new dream of having weddings in their garden. We really enjoyed our evening and morning with the two of them!!
We are home now....getting ready for the next show....in a week...Yikkes....it's the
Bead Work Expo in Oakland. I will be going by myself this time.
Michael is going to be working on stock for Maryland Sheep and Wool which we are doing in May. Life is busy and full....and even exciting!!