Trends in Hand Blown Glass

It's just a day away:2012. Today I'm pausing to note that the term "hand blown glass" finally has some meaning in America. When the Nourot Studio was formed years ago, the term was tagged onto anything that was hollow, almost. The actual hand blown part was faked. Sort of like the term "all natural" on a juice drink nowadays.
There just wasn't any real hand blown glass being made until the studio glass movement of the early 1970's in America. Steuben and Blenko did some, but mostly their glass was partly moulded. Maybe Blenko made some wholly hand blown vintage flask bottles and pitchers. And yes, the Wheaton New jersey works did make Early Colonial reproductions for the tourist trade. The point is there was no industry in hand blown glass then.
Today in late 2011, there is a really wide group of people making all kinds of blown works. You probably know that. But look at the ranking of the top ten cities.
Maybe it's time for a new contemporary glass gallery in each of these places.
Google trends tells us the top 10 cities that search for the term "hand blown glass" are:
Seattle
San Diego
Denver
Portland
St Louis
Philadelphia
Tampa
Orlando
Boston and...
San Francisco

Weekend Number One

We are thankful for all the visitors and helpers that participated in our first Holiday Weekend.
There was allot of activity in the blow shop and in the gallery. Thoren Hanks made  glass with both Nick and Micheal.
One of the big torchieres sold, the one with the three Cezanne shades.
We have many ornaments still left and the red glass we made in the last two days is being signed and put out.  A new order of bead jewelry by Marco Polo has arrived.  There are many little sparkly pendants in silver, white and gold.
The Nourot Studio Gallery will be open every day until 12/31 with the exception of the 25th!
Thanks to Leslie Hall for gathering menus and flyers of downtown's restaurants and attractions.  Our visitors now have a great selection of places to go and see after they visit us in the glass gallery.
Last night we took family to Buon Appettito for a great meal. Do you have a good suggestion for a holiday destination nearby us? Share it here or let us know when you come into the gallery.
Today's hours: 10AM--5PM at 675 East H Street, Benicia, CA94510.

Something fishy around here

You may have wondered why we have been out of touch so much this summer. There is one reason that stands out and this picture may give you a clue.

No, we aren't at work blowing glass fish. That's one of Michael Hopko's master pieces shown here, but we've been away on the trail of the wild California trout.

It's been mostly an impressive season. The hatches have been up to par with the best of other years. We have not been disappointed, well, not too often.

The studio, alas, has suffered. But now we have returned to fire up the furnaces--which we are doing today July 12th. Getting back to work will feel very good. Hope the cool San Francisco weather holds!

Come visit us glass making this week at 675 E "H" Street in old town Benicia, California. The center of town is just 6 1/2 blocks away and the waterfront is full of other things to do. You can walk from our shop to First Street by the marina and see all the sailboats and yachts! It's not too far to the Rellik Tavern, the tony new watering hole that is know equally for it's coffee and breakfast pastries as well as it chocolate martinis later in the day. It's located at the corner of "H" and First Street in Benicia.

Debra Maddox Hand Colored Giclee Prints

Printmaking has taken a front seat in artistic reproduction with the arrival of compact photographic presses that can duplicate original art works with precision. Debra Maddox's prints on canvas are further personalized by hand coloring (painting) on the printed surface. This gives the work more character and life. No two are ever alike and the whole work is glazed in such a way as to lift the background printed colors into the mix making the whole giclee (pronounced gee-clay) an original work of art to rival an original oil at a fraction of the price.

Debra Maddox of Mill Valley is an artist of considerable talents. She stops short of calling herself an impressionist. Rather she says: "I observe how shadow, light , texture and color transform shapes into compelling compositions."

Her treatments of the field around her subjects seems to suggest that she has a talent for lyrical color fields like the work of other artists in more transparent mediums, as in watercolors.

Her strong point is her treatment of water surfaces that give her work a sinuous and sensual appeal.

In the "Summer Breezes" show at the Nourot Glass Gallery, Ms Maddox is represented by quite a few works that deal with water, oceans and clear skies. The predominance of blues in her compositions, at least in these few works in the Nourot Gallery show, seem to suggest that cool tones of blues, lavenders and pinks are a favorite of her color palate. In contrast is the energetic work: "Tour de California", where a herd red and orange bicyclists hurtle down a road at the foot of a Northern California mountain which could be Tamalpias or Mt Diablo.

Looking at Debra Maddox's paintings one can see her gentle use of the brush, never heavy handed. Truly she succeeds in translating light and texture of liquid surfaces in her waters and skies. Even so, her clarity in relating the subject matter never varies and her works can stand next to more photo representational works on their own.

Squirrel in the bathroom!!

photo: www.allarsonphotography.com

A squirrel moved into our building a week or so ago. The abandoned lots across "H" Streets, owned by local Amports, have "naturalized " to the point where the wildlife there: cats, rats, squirrels, snakes, ducks, and raccoons now have more natural cover to expand their numbers and this "affordable" housing is impacting the surrounding neighborhood.
Amports is the local auto processing company responsible for off loading and parking the newly made cars that are brought into the port of Benicia. You can see their acres of sparkly new vehicles shining in the sun from the bridge ramps into Benicia. Their site says: AMPORTS USA has seven US port facilities, located in Jacksonville, Florida, Brunswick, Georgia, Benicia, California and four facilities in Baltimore, Maryland. AMPORTS Corporate Headquarters is located in Jacksonville, Florida at our Jacksonville port facility, with a Corporate Branch Office at our Atlantic port facility in Baltimore, Maryland.
Anyway, this squirrel must have thought our open door to the Nourot Glass Studio and Smyers Glass Studio's galleries was too good to pass up.
He or she bounded easily up onto the shelves loaded with our hand blown art glass items, sending pieces plummeting to the floor! There was an extended chase involving two glass makers with blow pipe and broom to encourage this little fellow to move on. It was all quite comical until we realized any delay in catching this critter would result in more broken pieces. The Smyers Glass Gallery sustained more of the damages. Upon the third or fourth go round-- one or another of the participants in the chase tired out intermittently--the squirrel was scooped into a box with some wooden salad tongs from one of the displays.
All in all a memorable time was had by all. Perhaps it is time to declare open season on critters along East H Street to lower the population of varmints adverse to commerce. How would that comply with the City of Benicia's push to go "green" we don't know. Or perhaps it is time to find a way to make it attractive for the owner of the vacant property to sell it or clean it up.