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A Pursuit of Perfection: Jack Storms’ Cold-Fusion Glass Sculptures

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Release Date: 11/10/2023

David Graeber: Preserving Nature for Eternity in a Paperweight show art David Graeber: Preserving Nature for Eternity in a Paperweight

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Early in his career, Paul Stankard used to trade paperweights for gasoline and car servicing with John Graeber. In 1989, through his uncle John, David Graeber wound up casually visiting Stankard’s studio and weeks later was invited to come and work with him. Young Graeber started learning about glass in the deep end of the pool. Thirty-five  years later, he continues to work with Stankard about a day a week.  Having mastered numerous glassmaking techniques and having developed his own working style and visual aesthetic, in 2009 Graeber started his own art glass...

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Morgan Peterson: Winner of Blown Away 4 show art Morgan Peterson: Winner of Blown Away 4

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Said Blown Away Season 4 winner, Morgan Peterson, “I’m not just the creepy weirdo lurking in the background anymore. I’m right up front.” As champion of Netflix’s 2024 glassblowing competition series, the Seattle-based artist received a whopping cash prize of $100,000, a paid residency in Venice, Italy, with glass legend Adriano Berengo, and a residency at the world-renowned Corning Museum of Glass. Growing up in Boston, MA, Peterson’s watched horror films and Unsolved Mysteries with her Godmother, introducing her to the unnerving  and creepy style so associated with her...

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Clifford Rainey: A Life's Travelogue in Cast Glass show art Clifford Rainey: A Life's Travelogue in Cast Glass

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Principally a sculptor who employs cast glass and drawing as primary methodologies, Clifford Rainey creates work that is interdisciplinary, incorporating a wide spectrum of materials and processes. A passionate traveler, his work is full of references to the things he has seen and experienced. Celtic mythologies, classical Greek architecture, the blue of the Turkish Aegean, globalization and the iconic American Coca-Cola bottle, the red of the African earth, and the human figure combine with cultural diversity to provide sculptural imagery charged with emotion.  A British artist...

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The State of Stained Glass show art The State of Stained Glass

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Enjoy this stained glass panel discussion with top industry professionals and educators Judith Schaechter, Stephen Hartley, Megan McElfresh, and Amy Valuck. Topics addressed include: what is needed in stained glass education; how the massive number of Instagrammers making suncatchers and trinkets affect stained glass; how to promote stained glass in a gallery setting; and how to stay relevant as stained glass artists. The panelists: By single-handedly revolutionizing the craft of stained glass through her unique aesthetic and inventive approach to materials, Judith...

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Kazuki Takizawa Uses Glass Art to Address Mental Health Issues show art Kazuki Takizawa Uses Glass Art to Address Mental Health Issues

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Kazuki Takizawa’s 2015 installation entitled Breaking the Silence represents the artist’s interpretation of a person’s breaking point and the juxtaposition of balancing inner struggles with oppressive external forces. The installation incorporated performance aspects and sound, where slanted vessels filled with water until submitting to the liquid’s weight, falling over onto a table. Takizawa’s work provided a new perspective for interacting with glass, going beyond form and technique to provoke a deeper level of engagement. Impressed by how humble and open Takizawa was...

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Jessica Loughlin’s Kiln Formed Glass: An Homage to the Observation of Light show art Jessica Loughlin’s Kiln Formed Glass: An Homage to the Observation of Light

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Jessica Loughlin’s work is characterized by a strict reductive sensibility and restricted use of color. Fusing kiln formed sheets of opaque and translucent glass together in flat panels or in thin, geometric compositions and vessels, she alludes to shadow, reflection and refraction. Loughlin’s work is influenced by the flat landscapes and salt lakes of South Australia, and the recurring motif of the mirage appears in much of her work. Each piece makes its own poetic statement.  “My work investigates space, seeing distance and understanding how wide-open spaces, particularly of the...

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The Glass Galaxies of Josh Simpson show art The Glass Galaxies of Josh Simpson

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Apollo 8, which launched on December 21, 1968, was the first mission to take humans to the moon and back. While the crew did not land on the moon’s surface, the flight was an important prelude to a lunar landing, testing the flight trajectory and operations getting there and back. Capt. James A Lovell, Apollo 8 astronaut, shared his memories of that historic mission: “Then, looking up I saw it, the Earth, a blue and white ball, just above the lunar horizon, 240,000 miles away…I put my thumb up to the window and completely hid the Earth. Just think, over five billion people,...

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Wesley Fleming: Flameworking the Realism of the Microcosmos show art Wesley Fleming: Flameworking the Realism of the Microcosmos

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Wesley Fleming brings the fantastic realism of the microcosmos to life in glass. An ambassador for smaller denizens of the earth, his passion for nature sparks awe and curiosity in others. Growing up in the countryside, his favorite pastime was exploring beneath logs and rocks in the woods or reading science fiction and comic books. Hence the natural world and his own imagination became his muse. Says Fleming: “I hope to rekindle awe and curiosity for nature with my fantastic realism. I’ve focused more than two decades honing my flameworking skills and trying to capture the essence of...

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Robin and Julia Rogers: A Collaboration Resulting in Provocative Glass Sculpture show art Robin and Julia Rogers: A Collaboration Resulting in Provocative Glass Sculpture

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Physically and metaphorically Robin and Julia Rogers put their minds, hearts and hands together to create sculptural works in glass – their chosen material because of its inherent qualities of luminosity, viscosity, and seductive flow. Their inspiration is drawn from the natural world, personal experience, family life, music, psychology, and science. Robin and Julia state: “Complex and mystifying, the human mind drives us, but the subtle inner workings remain, to certain extent, unknown. Delving into the psyche, our work explores the human mind to reveal a metaphorical interior of...

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Flameworking 2024: Perspectives show art Flameworking 2024: Perspectives

Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Talking Out Your Glass podcast kicks off 2024 with our first episode of Season 9! This  fascinating panel discussion on flameworking features four of the technique’s most well-known artists: Paul Stankard, Carmen Lozar, Dan Coyle aka coylecondenser and Trina Weintraub. At different points in their careers, these four artists compare and contrast their journeys and experiences working glass behind the torch.  Considered a living master in the art of the paperweight, Paul Stankard’s work is represented in more than 75 museums around the world. Over his 52-year...

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Each piece in Jack Storms’ newest line of sculptures begins with the artist’s unique and meticulously hand-crafted Infinity Core, boasting 30 times more intricacy and a mesmerizing sparkle that outshines anything you’ve seen before. Every facet reflects a world of colors, and each sculpture captures a symphony of light. 

Growing up in New Hampshire as a talented athlete and motivated student, Storms didn’t discover his passion for art until his twenties, at the end of which he earned his BA in art with a focus on studio production from Plymouth State University. During his junior year, the young artist began apprenticing at the studio of coldworking artist Toland Sand, who was combining lead crystal and dichroic glass via a cold-glass process. Eventually Storms became a strong enough sculptor to branch out on his own and in 2004 opened StormWorks Studio.

Storms’ unique cold-glass process can take up to 10 weeks. He begins at the heart of the design by creating a core of lead crystal which is cut, polished and laminated creating reflective mirrors. When wrapped in optical glass, the refraction of light as it passes through the glass art creates rainbows of hypnotic color. The process requires repetitive cutting, grinding and polishing, and relies upon Fibonacci’s theory of natural mathematics found in nature. 

States Storms: “Natural beauty is created, not manufactured. From the repetition of florets in a flower to the scales of a pineapple’s skin, Fibonacci numbers are found in the pattern of growth of every living thing in nature.” 

Both challenged and inspired by the notion that his artistic goals were impossible, early on Storms invented a cold-working lathe uniquely suited to his process. His invention offered the artist the ability to turn glass and sculpt shapes with curves and details like one would produce from a wooden medium. Early memories of studying his father’s craftsmanship on a wood lathe provided him with the blueprint for his vision. Pioneering new trails in the world of fine art has always motivated Storms. 

Seen by the world in multiple viral videos featuring his kaleidoscopic and prismatic cold-fusion glass sculptures, Storms’ pieces have also been featured in Marvel’s film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1, and the artist created a life-sized bat to commemorate Derek Jeter’s 3000th Hit. Storms’ laborious process of repetitive cutting, grinding and polishing requires intense passion and rigid self-discipline, resulting in his signature works of contemporary glass art.

Currently, Storms is developing new designs for wearable art. These wearable sculpture designs follow the same creative process and spirit as the artist’s larger, more dynamic sculptures. He says: “My design philosophy revolves around creating something that fosters a closer connection with people. I want people to have a personal item they can take with them and truly fall in love with.  I believe the future holds great promise for wearable art, and I anticipate seeing its prevalence grow in the coming years.”

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