When the school year ended I was glad to get out of the hotshop for a little R&R.  Summer in the glass shop gets pretty hot so John and I stuck it out until late June and it’s been since then that I made any glass.  But the early days of summer were super productive and I had just enough inventory to make it through the handful of summer art shows that I usually do.

I thought I’d start the summer with a light workout by making a little patio in the back yard.  I know, it’s easier to hire a guy with a bobcat, write a decent check and enjoy your new patio two days later.  I never have been able to outsource large amounts of misery when I can beat through them myself.  It’s a huge and unyielding character flaw.

In my experience, projects like these can run long, and over budget.  In order to keep things on target I decided to tackle this project a week or so before the graduation party for Alex we had in our backyard.  I think I was cutting the last bricks on the morning of the party.  Some people call it the last minute, I call it right on time.

At about his time another huge event took place signifying a huge shift in our family life and that was the opening of my wife Brett’s new shop!  Check it out people Mighty Aphrodite Maternity Consignment!  It’s been a huge endeavor and my dear wife has done a fantastic job and I couldn’t be more proud of her!  Tell your preggo friends and everyone else you know to check out www.mightyaphroditematernity.com

And believe it or not, that only brings us into the first week of june.  I know, what does all of this have to do with Marblehead Glassworks?  well, I already told you I haven’t made glass since june.  I’ve got to justify my existence somehow!

Spring is here in full and a few weekends ago I spent the first night in the tent. Sounds burley, right?  It wasn’t a man against the elements type thing, it was a good friends 40th birthday and the party was in an apple orchard / sculpture garden up in Maine.  Sure the elements of barley and hops conspired to bring me down, but the highlight of the night was the bonfire. It was almost reckless, or at least seemed that way to my suburban sensibilities.  The pile was almost 10 feet tall before it was torched!  Apparently this is a commonplace in rural Maine.  Especially after clearing the deadfall and brush of a working orchard.

The visual stuck with me and has been percolating through my brain-pan and out of my hands in this latest series of of vases.  I do like a bonfire!

We had a special guest in the studio this week.  Josh Simpson, world renowned glass artist, fellow paperweight and marble maker, and all around good guy!  Josh came to the Salem State College glassworks studio where I work on Monday and gave a slide presentation followed by a public demonstration and then another demo for the students.

His lecture is definitely worth seeing if you ever come across the opportunity.  Not so much a glass makers how to, as a retrospective on a notable career, life and approach to interacting with the world.  He’s really a funny guy and keeps the audience engaged with pictures of his past, his family, inspirations and loads of photos of his work and the natural environment.

The demonstrations were another treat.  He kept saying that watching him blow glass was about as interesting as watching someone park cars.  I found the demo’s to be really fun, not in the least because I got to be the assistant!  Anyway, he made a couple of super fine and thin goblets putting to rest the notion that a paperweight maker doesn’t have legit glassblowing chops.  Also a couple of interesting platters.  The best part, was also the worst, in that he can really only produce the work that we are all familiar with in his own shop where he can melt specific glasses in color furnaces to get the myriad of colors and effects that define his work.  So out of that element he was free to experiment and do some out of the norm and fun things.  I would have loved to see a big New Mexico Red platter being spun out, or the alchemy that is the megaworlds and such, but I guess that requires a field trip to Shelburne falls.  Instead we got a charming and humble guy taking suggestions from the crowd.

A lot of fun from one of the fields top guys!  Check out his website www.megaplanet.com

and get a hold of some of his work!  We’ve got  bunches of it down at the Salem State shop if you want to come in and pick something up!