[PA-NJ Glassblowers] Article about UrbanGlass (Brooklyn NY) in New York Times

Tony Patti gaffer at glassblower.info
Sun Sep 11 11:06:48 EDT 2016


https://www.urbanglass.org/press/detail/for-the-sake-of-art-risk-and-reward-
at-2000-degrees 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/nyregion/urbanglass-in-fort-greene-brookly
n-glass-blowers-share-studio-space.html 

 



 

Inside UrbanGlass - Jamie Harris, left, Moshe Bursuker and Joshua Raiffe
worked on a project - The New York Times

 



 <https://www.urbanglass.org/press> Press Coverage


Published on September 4, 2016 by
<https://www.urbanglass.org/press/detail/for-the-sake-of-art-risk-and-reward
-at-2000-degrees?mc_cid=38a59127ef&mc_eid=e6a9bfe9e6> Gloria Dawson for The
New York Times -
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/nyregion/urbanglass-in-fort-greene-brookl
yn-glass-blowers-share-studio-space.html?partner=rss&> Link


For the Sake of Art: Risk and Reward at 2,000 Degrees


Even when temperatures reach 90 degrees, a certain type of New Yorker will
choose to stand next to a 2,000-degree furnace. This is a glass blower.
Since few of them are able to set up shop in their apartments, many head to
UrbanGlass, which started in 1977 as an artists' co-op in SoHo called the
New York Experimental Glass Workshop. Under its current name and at its
current location in Fort Greene, UrbanGlass gives glass artists, and those
who try to be, access to the expensive and enormous equipment they need.

"Studio space in New York is a nightmare," said Cybele Maylone, the
executive director of UrbanGlass. "If you add glass to that, it's
impossible."

But it is not just access to equipment that keeps artists coming here. Glass
blowing is often a collaborative art.

"Painters can be secluded for years - they don't need these facilities; they
don't need help," said Moshe Bursuker, who was at UrbanGlass on a recent
afternoon. "That's sort of what makes glass blowing so unique. We rely on
each other and the space. It's a very social environment."

Recently, Mr. Bursuker was collaborating on a commissioned project with
Joshua Raiffe, a "freelance glass blower for hire," who works at UrbanGlass
as many as five days a week.

Over the roar of the furnace and between frequent stops to gather more
molten glass, Mr. Raiffe explained the importance of trust in his
profession. "You've got a lot on the line at any moment," he said. "Even
when it's done, it can still break."

That afternoon, Mr. Bursuker sat spinning a blowpipe tipped with fiery glass
while Mr. Raiffe blew into the hollow pipe to expand the glass into the
vaselike sculptures they were creating.

"It's a high-risk, high-reward medium," Mr. Bursuker added.

New glass artists often need to overcome anxiety, said Suzanne Peck, an
artist and a teacher at UrbanGlass who was working nearby. She will be
teaching Introduction to Glassblowing and Body Mechanics, a class to help
students learn to move safely around the delicate, dangerous materials.

"I've been teaching for over a decade, and I think I've met two natural
glass blowers," Ms. Peck said. "It's a great neutralizer. The rest of us
have to learn by practice and paying attention."

While glass art is most often associated with large sculptures and vases
produced with the help of massive furnaces, the medium takes various forms,
all of them explored at UrbanGlass.

Barbra Frankel, a textile artist, had come to UrbanGlass for a stained-glass
course and was working on her project during studio hours. To create a
dragonfly, she had recently spent hours cutting various pieces of colored
glass. "Much easier said than done," she said. "I came looking for a
challenge, and I certainly got it."

Still, the experience had been rewarding. "It's very far out, very
meditative and very blissful," Ms. Frankel, 66, said. "You kind of find
yourself."

At the nearby flameworking shop, Roxann Slate used a blowtorch to coax thin
pipes of colorful glass into a bead shaped like a cat's face. Other works of
hers - a Buddha, a robot, an alien - were on the table next to her.

"UrbanGlass allows me to be a practicing glass artist in New York," said Ms.
Slate, 29, who has been making her living as an artist for the past two
years.

In addition to her bead creatures, she has a line of sophisticated
clear-glass jewelry. She sells her work online, at museums and in the store
on the first floor of UrbanGlass.

"I try to hit all the aesthetics, all the price points," she said. "I live
in Brooklyn. I've got to pay rent."

 

 



 

Mr. Harris wore a fireproof suit to check on a project in an annealer, which
cools glass very slowly to prevent imperfections. 

UrbanGlass gives glass artists, and aspiring glass artists, access to the
equipment they need.

 

https://www.urbanglass.org/visit

 



 

Enjoy,


Tony Patti
  
 <http://www.glassblower.info> www.glassblower.info
  
 <mailto:gaffer at glassblower.info> gaffer at glassblower.info

 <http://www.glassblower.info/qr-code.html> QR Code for Tony Patti -
www.glassblower.info

 

 

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