Watching the entire process of Jason creating a single seed takes a good 30 – 45 minutes. Many steps are involved in the making of each individual seed. Good timing and control of the glass is essential. ..
Blown Glass Sunflower Seed (large)
Tag: California glass
#2 from the day of working with Alex Abajian and Ivan Mora
(written from the perspective of a glass-layperson)
This was one of the most exciting projects that I have been able to witness at the Glass Studio so far. The teamwork among these glassmakers is really great, there is a huge amount of competency coupled with fantastic working atmosphere. The day is spent working incredibly hard with serious concentration and yet there is always a surprise moment when Alex’s intelligent sense of humour gives occasion for laughter and short refreshing relief. I have rarely seen people work so incredibly well together as here at Glow Glass Studio in Oakland.
Witnessing this process and the attitudes the makers and artists here have with each other has done a lot for my appreciation of the craft and technical skills-manship but also is taking dusting influence over both Jason and my (Birgit’s) future choices of places to live and creative paths to pursue.
Having this opportunity to be here is incredible. Seeing all this hard work affects hugely how I, as an artist and glass-layperson, am able to appreciate this material and the possible forms of expression. Coming from a conceptual arts background it is refreshing to be surrounded by the down to earth labour these creatives are bringing to the table each day.
After witnessing just how much dedication and years of skill are required to excel in this field, seeing the amount of dedication as well as equipment required to build a smooth running glassblowing workshop changed my perception a lot. The value of glass in our society is huge, this is an age old but simultaneously incredibly fresh and contemporary medium that can teach us something about the value of an object that a China or Mexico produced (knocked out) mass ware item will never be able to.
When you see or hold handblown glass there is a connection that you will not experience with mass market products. In theory wine, juice or water should taste the same out of every drinking glass for example, however in practice: if you have any sensibility at all then the experience of drinking from a handmade vessel will be far superior and infinitely more pleasurable than from a throwaway valued glass or paper cup..
Alex Abajian holding the blowpipe with the large body cast glass (project for Ivan Mora)Don’t let the price fool you: you will receive what you pay for. A lifelong heirloom treasure or an anonymous object that is the same the world over…
Back to Ivan Mora: look him up! He is a really successful artist making his way in the world; quite literally globally! And all the while he is also a real pleasure to speak with. This is the best combination in an artist isn’t it? Talent, success and absence of attitude. Brilliant stuff!
Making large cast glass work to commission for Ivan : at Glow Glass Studio – teamwork
Watching the casting process for a large glass art piece for Ivan Mora, another inspired and talented glass artist who works internationally! Today we had the opportunity to catch up with him a bit and I learnt that he was artist in residence for an extended period of time at the glass studio Berengo in Murano, Venice, Italy.
In Spring – summer 2013 Jason spent some time at Berengo Glass Studio before moving on to getting more hands on involved at Zanetti (practically around the corner from Berengo).
These are some of the world’s utmost renowned glassmakers and it was really exciting to hear personal stories of Ivan’s time there as well as to get to know him a bit better over a cup of coffee.
Happening in the Glass Studio the other day
So many amazing new projects starting to come into shape for the Autumn and Winter Season…
Jason is working overtime and then some more, we are pulling out all the stops that we can to create an amazing line of projects which are covering :
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* seasonal objects
** the continuation of the nuts and seeds in glass;
*** 1 each of basic and an exclusive home ware line;
**** and the beautiful objects of Art, the first of which we are introducing in this post.
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Sometimes it takes this much dedication, a leap of faith, compromises, and the sacrifice of movie nights to make a dream career take off! We are not flying yet but we believe the chances are strong.. What do you think?
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Introducing the first Lidded Jar that will contribute towards an Art Installation in late 2016 (more on that later).
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Decorative and functional jar that can serve as a flower vase, as a jar for treats or let your imagination run free.
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Jason is making a line of these bulbous, voluptuous, ornate yet contour line, luxurious vessels for our homeware collection. (& art project, too…)
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The making of one of these jars requires an above intermediate level of glassmaking skills and sincere dedication to the process. This is not something that a glassmaker can learn in a short timespan but instead takes years of professional engagement with the medium to build the technical ability as well as confidence and understanding that working with hot glass requires to shape it into such a controlled and elegant form.
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This line of jars is part of a larger project of Art Objects that will culminate in an Art installation in the future.
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We look forward to sharing these projects with you. Please make sure to sign up to our mailing list, which you can do by texting Jason your email address and we will manually add you until our contact forms work across our online platforms. As a member of our mailing list you will be the first to know when Jason when new projects become available for purchase.
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Jason Stropko Glass 