In this 5 day Flame Shop Intensive, students will experiment with working many different kinds of glass in the flameshop: Boro, Effetre, Bullseye, 96COE Furnace Glass, and Glass Bottles. Using both glass chain making and small figurative sculpture as investigative tools, students will learn the eccentricities and commonalities of each type of glass. This will be a quick experiential survey of the various approaches to using common glasses in the flameshop. We’ll talk shop on all the annealing schedules involved as well as how to use single and 2-stage torches for each application.
Expect to start each day with a brief demo and show & tell, then get straight into experimenting. We will walk away with sculptural artifacts made of each kind of glass as well as a new understanding of how to approach any glass you find in front of you.
About the Artist:
River Valadez is a ceramicist and glassblower based in Brooklyn, NY. His work consists of playful ceramic furniture pieces utilizing pastels colors and cloud-like forms. As a glassblower he works on the torch to make tactile and functional vessels out of both soft and borosilicate glass. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair, House Beautiful, and Elle. His work has been exhibited in New York City, Paris, The Netherlands, and Mexico City.