The Telescope

Issue Date: 10/30/06

Glass blowing class fires up students

By Colleen Paroli

Media Credit: Megan Cassise Students Justin Reagle makes a glass flower with torch fire in Gary Cohen's advanced glassblowing class earlier this semester.

The Glassblowing-Offhand 1 Class at Palomar College teaches the process of forming glass into shapes while the glass is in a molten, semi-liquid state. The class has about 20 students of different age groups and art ideas.

Instructor Garry S. Cohen said he started glass blowing in his early 30s and has been teaching at Palomar for several years.

"I was originally a ceramics teacher, but I fell in love with glass blowing after a glass blowing instructor invited me to try it and I liked it," Cohen said. "Since I was a technique freak and liked discipline, I fell right into it."

Cohen said famous American glass artist Harvey Littleton inspired him, and that it takes concentration and focus to be an efficient glass blower, as well as good muscle coordination.

The studio is warm from the 2,000 degree heat of the ovens. Glass blowing involves three furnaces. The first, which contains a crucible of molten glass, is simply referred to as "the furnace." The second is called the "glory hole," and is used to reheat a piece in between steps of working with it. The final furnace is called the "lehr" or "annealer," and is used to slowly cool the glass over a period of a few hours for small pieces to a few days for larger pieces. This keeps the glass from cracking due to thermal stress.

Bernadette Reed is the instructional support technician for the glass blowing class. She has a degree in general arts from Cal State Long Beach. Reed said she has been working at Palomar for 10 years. She said she started working in ceramics but decided she liked working with glass instead. She helped build the 350-pound furnaces used in the glassblowing studio.

Student Acee Grupe said he has been interested in glass since he was 5-years-old when he saw a glass paperweight at his grandma's house that fascinated him.

"I would look at the glass paperweight and wonder how color and bubbles got in there," Grupe said. "Growing up, I always thought glass blowing was cool. I enrolled in the glass blowing class with Cohen and now I'm hooked for life."

He said he has been working with glass for the past eight months and said it's dangerous work because of the hot fires from the furnace and glory hole. He said he has been burnt, but said the thrill and dangerous process has kept him intrigued.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools