For the public

The Hot Glass Experience is open to the Public on Saturdays in April and May.

Watch this space for exact dates and make your own paper weight.

Fee $135

For More Information: Contact Glass by James Michael at glassman@wcoil.com or 937-567-9966

For schools

Running Hot for Schools

Dates to be announced.

Many Schools are Participating ~ Room for more!

See also ACE an outgrowth of the Hot Glass Experience for schools

For More Information: Contact Glass by James Michael at glassman@wcoil.com or 937-567-9966

How it came about...

One of the most exciting aspects of owning a hot glass studio is being able to share with others the magic of working with molten glass.

The Hot Glass Experience began as way to get some free press for my studio and thereby generate sales. I held an open house and invited each of the area newspapers and television stations to send a reporter to the event to make a paperweight for free. The response was good. A number of print reporters and one TV reporter came. No one was hurt, each made a paperweight, each loved the experience and each ran a story. Our sales picked up and all was well.

Then the experience grew...

One of the reporters asked if I would talk to a friend who was an art teacher and was interested in bringing her students to the studio on a field trip. I spoke with the teacher and soon we hosted our first high school group. An enthusiastic response from the first group led us to conduct an informal survey of about 50 area high school art teachers to gage their interest in a hands-on field trip to the studio.

The survey also identified several things they had in common:

  • None of the schools mentioned glass in their art program.
  • Most schools charged extra fees for art supplies.
  • Every teacher took money out-of-pocket to buy class supplies.
  • Most arts programs were on the top of the list for budget cuts and at the bottom the list for new funds.
  • Few of the schools offered students any opportunity to see a working studio and to talk with a full time professional artist.

Now the Hot Glass Experience for Schools...

is a one or two day program that gives students the opportunity to visit a working hot glass studio and to create a unique work of art from molten glass under the supervision of a master craftsman. Sessions begin with safety instruction and a general introduction to glass.

Subjects covered include:

  • the composition and properties of glass
  • the many uses of glass in our society and its effect on modern living
  • the glass making process in general and
  • an introduction to the studio equipment.

This general introduction is followed by a demonstration of basic paperweight making styles and techniques.
Each student is then guided through the hands-on process of making a paperweight.
The student starts with a glob of molten glass, chooses size, shape, style and colors and melds this into his or her own creation. After the paperweights are made and placed in the annealing oven, the making of a hand blown vessel of substantial size is demonstrated. Remaining time is then used as a question and answer session.

Students are encouraged to ask questions about the glass, about art as a livelihood, about marketing, or about any other subject related to the class, studio, or business of art.

After the annealing process is complete, the students return to the studio where each can then finish his or her paperweight by grinding, polishing and signing the creation.

How this program is financed...

The vessel that the class sees created as a demonstration is donated to the art teacher or group leader with the following stipulations:

  1. They must bring a class back the following year.
  2. All money raised from the sale or auction of the piece must be kept in his or her art department.

During an interview, I once said that if I could give all the glass I made away and still pay my bills, that’s what I‘d do. This program has become a way to do it. It is our hope that by donating a vessel to each teacher or group leader, they will be able to organize a successful raffle or auction that produces sufficient revenue to pay for the next class and have a significant surplus to be used for the purchase of art supplies.

With everyone doing their part, up to 50 schools a year can have 20 or more of their students participate in an experience that not only teaches them something about glass and the business of art, but also provides them with a unique, positive, confidence building experience.

To date, everyone who has participated in the Hot Glass Experience for Schools has successfully made a paperweight.

The program addresses all of the other issues discussed earlier:

  • It introduces glass into the arts curriculum.
  • It provides an opportunity for art students to visit a working studio and ask about the realities of making a living in the arts.
  • It provides a revenue stream to the arts department that is insulated from budget cuts.
  • It helps relieve some of the out-of-pocket spending by the teachers.
  • It allows me to give away my glass, share the magic and wonder of working with hot glass with a lot of people and I still get to pay my bills.
  • Everyone wins!

For More Information: Contact Glass by James Michael at glassman@wcoil.com or 937-567-9966

 

 

© Glass by James Michael 1996-2008