ArtsXpose #2
Mar 28th, 2009 by erynp
Title of Event: SAGA
Date & Time: Sunday, January 25,2009 at 5:30-8:30pm
Location: The glassblowing room in the Art building
Type of Event: Art Club Meeting
1. The event started with a brief discussion of the type of shirt designs that would look best for the 2009 glass blowing club T-shirts that will be sold on campus to earn money. While club members made suggestions and gave their opinion on which designs were liked best, I made observations of the room. There were several examples of blown glass and fragile figurines molded out of glass placed all around the room. In an adjacent room the physical glass blowing takes place and after there was consensus on several T-shirt designs, I was allowed to observe the more experienced students as they worked with the glass. Music blasted while the students started to weave in and out among one another as they quickly formed hot glass into beautiful flowers. Because the glass has to go through a special cooling process to keep the pieces from cracking, I was given the job of opening and closing the door to the oven-like holding container used to slowly cool down the glass. I was also given the task of making sure all the colored glass used for the flowers remained separated in individual piles. Finally, after several flowers were made one of the students asked if anyone wanted to help make glass hearts using a metal heart shaped mold. I immediately raised my hand to volunteer. I felt the heat from the glass as we dropped gathers of glass into the molds and pressed them into the metal grooves. After making hearts and flowers for several hours everyone helped clean up and I was free to talk to the students about officially joining the club.
2. Although I was responsible for only a few minor jobs involving the glass, watching others work with the glass so fluidly was inspiring. I noticed that the beginning students seemed destined to make several attempts at forming flowers before finally succeeding to the point where blooms could be broken off of the rod and placed into the cooling chamber. However, one of the teachers seemed to have complete control over every twist and curve of his glass. The flowers he made clearly resembled specific types of flowers, unlike other students more generic attempts. I thoroughly enjoyed watching him work with the glass. Even though I am not planning on changing my major to glassblowing, I think I would like to take classes and perhaps get to the point where I can form something unique on my own.
3. What most impressed me was the manner in which students were able to work together, each taking a specific role in order to produce the greatest number of glass flowers in the short period of time we had. Some students gathered glass and twisted and pulled it into flowers while others handed the artists tools and used a torch to smooth out the flower stems once they were broken away from the rod. I also enjoyed the atmosphere. Everyone was friendly and helpful as they danced to the music blasting over a speaker system.
4. (10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 )
5. I would rate this event no more than a 7 because I felt that more time was spent deciding on what type of design would be best for their shirt than in actual glassblowing. Furthermore, It would have been more beneficial had students explained what they were doing as they were doing it. For example, they could have told us how one goes about gathering the glass and how they keep the glass from falling off the rod as they mold it into different shapes. The ability to take part in some of the tasks involved in glass blowing, however, did make the event worthwhile enough for me to return for another club meeting.