My creative life really began as a musician. Raised by my father who played Bassoon professionally, as well as conducted/taught at Whitman College in Washington State; my Dad began a career as a librarian soon after I was born.
So, surrounded by books, and the music my father would always have in our home, I developed a missionary’s drive to play the oboe through my school years. Invited to participate in the music department at Centralia College, I got an apartment and a need for a part-time job, one I could do and still make my classes. After a stint as dishwasher at Dave’s Depot Diner in Chehalis, WA, I became aware of a glass blowing studio in Centralia, ten minutes away from school. My friend Deston Denniston www.abundancepermaculture.com/got me a chance to interview with Hank Claycamp , the owner of The Original Mt. St. Helen’s Ash Glassworks. I hired on with a job description that entailed sweeping the floors, emptying buckets, feeding glass cullet into the tank furnaces Hank had built by hand, and grinding and polishing any piece created in the hot shop needing that kind of finishing. Naturally, as I began to watch the team working hot, It occurred to me that it would be cool if I were to be given the chance to do THAT! Hank promptly informed me that no one is needed in the team but what is needed is for me to get back to grinding and polishing for we had orders to pack. With some persistence, it took a year, Hank gave me a chance at working with the glass hot an hour or two a day making egg paperweights, provided I still, swept the floors, empty buckets, fill glass cullet into the furnace, grind and polish the finish work and help out with the packing for our orders. Another year of that and I quit school and kept going to work in that studio. I progressed to doing preparation in the team making Christmas Ornaments, affectively beginning my apprenticeship. At Centralia College I stayed working in the jazz band (playing Tenor Sax ), jazz combo (Soprano Saxophone) and the County orchestra (oboe); but no longer for credit. I even found myself hanging out with the theatre department and participated as an actor in a few productions, where
my blowing schedule would allow.
I remember feeling as if the music that I was so drawn to, so committed to making, could be expressed in the dynamics of sweat and fire and the mysterious molten combination of silica sand, soda ash, and lime. Adding natural trace elements and metal oxides provided color to this music,
and was applied with the rhythm of a team of dedicated artisans/hooligan cowboys of whom some were serious in their pursuit of the skill, and some were just bugf%#k crazy, and some were a combination of both (myself included).
These years for me held creative potential, and served in an awakening of an understanding of myself that has grown more committed as each year passes. What I found difficult and frustrating early on has now become an unconscious, deeply traveled vocabulary to coax from glass in a variety of styles what my imagination will play into the form I most want to create.
I worked with my friend Patrick Kolten http://verredemer.com in two different studios over the years and wished him success as he traveled to Bermuda to take a job in the glassblowing studio there. A year later, I was told by Patrick that there was another job opening available in Bermuda if I were interested. Needless to say, I set up that interview and began preparing my application for a work permit as an expatriate American Citizen working outside the U.S. by the good graces of Bermuda immigration. I really count living and working in Bermuda as the crucible from which I grew as a person and a professional glass artist. In the first year, I was part of a team with members who were Bermudian, French, Brazilian, Swedish , English and American. I learned styles and techniques that had been protected for centuries by the Italian Maestros and only now are being shared with those dedicated few who are willing to push past previous boundaries and work with great grace as HOT as possible. It is thrilling to feel something so alive and intense take form, and when cool to the touch, still holds the music the making of it required.
All my energy has been devoted to expanding my skill, pursuing excellence, and an exuberant spirit in execution and presentation.
Along the way I learned methods I was not previously exposed to like Soda Glass Lampwork
I welcome you, visitors, friends, cohorts , and fellow glass enthusiasts. I invite you all to explore my work, the work in the history of this industry , and the work of your own imagination if it is inspired to be truly creative in whatever medium you choose
