Hand-Made Glass Craft and Design
Last month, this Aviary piece was purchased as a gift to the wonderful Ralph and Dolores Barnett–two of the loveliest people who happen to have an amazing art collection. I am honored that one of my pieces now sits among works by Warhol, Miró and Vasarely to name a few! Special thanks to Tone Stockenstrom for the photography.
I am embarrassed at how long it has been since I regularly updated this site. In truth, it is reflective of the greater problem that it has been nearly as long since I have made my own work. In the last five years, since my return from Australia, I have spent less and less time each year making my own work.
Starting in 2013, working as a technician at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, I found myself working more as an instructor and assistant while spending my own sessions filling orders instead of prototyping new ideas. Following that year, I began splitting my time between working for artists down here in Texas, blowing glass for the Corning Museum of Glass on Celebrity Cruise lines and the occasional commission. In the whole of this period, despite substantial access to studios, my sketchbook overflowed with ideas while very few were ever realized.
Honestly, I have gained a lot while on this hiatus from this site. I’ve learned quite a bit about processes I never cared to explore for my own work, I’ve traveled the world meeting new people and finding inspiration at every turn and I have come to learn a great deal about myself.
The culmination of this journey will come to fruition later this year as I open my very own public access studio here in Austin, Texas! Ghost Pepper Glass will be a space for me to get back into creating the stuff of my sketch books as well as pursue new clients and commissions which will expand my repertoire. It will also be a place for others to create their own work, take classes, buy locally, handmade works and learn about glassmaking. I will do my very best to take all that I have learned–the good and the bad from each of the studios I have had the pleasure of working in–to create a haven for exploring creativity. And also, I will try to keep this site up to date with this new chapter.
Check out the progress of the new studio at www.ghostpepperglass.com. It is still pre-construction but there is much to come!
Thanks!
Katie
After, finally, getting all of my stuff back from Australia, I’ve got to ship two pieces back. Good news is that they are going back to be in the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize Exhibition! Hopefully, it’s a one-way trip….
These are the two pieces that I am sending.
Check out these sweet centerpieces we’re making out at Pilchuck! Designed by Lynn Everett Read and made by a team of nearly 30 glassblowers/coldworkers/packers/coordinators. Production is now in full swing but there’s still a ways to go before we can call it quits. The finished pieces will be up for auction in October through Pilchuck’s annual fundraiser.
I, finally, received my copy of Marmalade. I’ve got a page to myself in this first-ever edition of the now annual publication by JamFactory.
Next Friday, I head out to Pilchuck to help make over 110 centerpieces for their annual auction. All I know is they’re gonna look something like this but after nearly 3 months out of the studio, I’m itching to get back into it.
Pilchuck announced Lynn Everett Read as the designer for the 2013 Annual Auction Gala centerpiece. This is his sketch which will be the basis for the design. We will need to work out how to realize his vision in the context of a 20-30 person production team and then make over 100 0f them (as well as benefactor gifts) in the short span of two weeks.
Check out this awesome video of the amazing Tom Moore talking about his work for the JamFactory 40th Anniversary. Tom is a fantastic glassblower! He was one of my bosses at JamFactory and he continues to be a great mentor, role model and friend. Not to mention, I make a brief appearance in this video helping him make some cane!
I’ve added new images of herringbone inspired bottles as well as some more plaid inspired ones under Tessuti.
This recent creation is an extravagant key holder. Beebop is equipped with two standard issue robot claws for holding your most used key rings while his entire body is actually a vessel that can store the rest.
Here’s a video showing how we make one of the glass studio’s products. As you can see, we work on a five-person team in a production line fashion, breaking down the process to increase efficiency as well as to allow for more focused training on each step.
Katie Plunkard 