KPLU Local News
(2009-12-23)
Listen Now:
null
"Shark Attack," a glass sculpture based on the drawing by Erica Hankins, age 8.
Photo by Russell Johnson
"This is the pizza cat here and it has mushrooms and pepperoni and broccoli all over the surface. And the ears are shaped like slices of pizza, which is great," he says.
He continues: "If you look at some of the pieces they're pretty funny. Very extinct rainbow catcher." He laughs. "Oh, this guy here. Oh, it's Jolt. His feet are surge protectors and his arms and hands are electrical cords."
Miller is known in the glass world for making giant-sized objects like glass keys, wine goblets and hamburgers. He fancies the whimsical. So he's practically punchy touring the Kids Design Glass show with its fantastical creatures: A turtle cloaked in flowers; a coyote dressed in rainbow socks.
"Look at these things they're so explosive and so imaginative, you know? You'll leave here extremely happy and moved."
It's impossible not to smile when viewing Toothy Turkey or Horsie Ham or any of the 52 inspired creations on show. It's a first-of-its kind show for the Museum of Glass. The show's genesis actually began with a much more serious exhibit.
Five years ago, the museum hosted a show of very famous Murano Glass. That exhibit highlighted the relationship between the designer -- who births a piece of art -- and the glassblower -- who sculpts it to life. So the museum got an idea: It asked children to draw something its own professional glassblowers could then make.
Children like 11-year-old Zach Thompson who explains his drawing and the idea behind it. "It's like a snake on a pole. And then a couple of branches sticking out. I don't think anyone has done a snake before so, why don't I just do a snake?Then the pole came into my mind and I added some branches and leaves.
Zach is in the museum's glassblowing studio known as the Hot Shop. It looks like the inside of a space ship, with a huge cone-shaped ceiling. A wall of furnaces glows bright orange.
Each month the Hot Shop team picks their favorite kid's drawing to sculpt. Then the winner gets invited to watch their drawing take shape.
As the designer it's the kid who wields the power.
"This color green? What do you think?"
Glassblower Gabe Feenan consults with Zach.
Feenan: "Is that going to look right? Is that too bright?"
Zach: "That looks pretty cool."
Feenan: "Good. And that's yellow and black? Is this kind of his rattle almost?"
Zach: "Yeah, and there's a black tip on the end."
Feenan: "OK."
It takes an entire team of glassblowers, loads of careful planning and up to three hours of physical, delicate labor to create one piece. Each winning designer gets a sculpture to take home. The museum also makes and keeps a duplicate.
Ask a kid to design something and the work is outside-the-lines wild.
But it's not always something easily interpreted in glass.
Gabe Feenan: "Making all the little parts is fun and great. But when it starts going together it really takes all your focus. You're trying to shape something and you got the kid over there watching you. And you don't want to let them down. It's a lot of pressure. "
"So this is so much harder than anything Dale Chihuly produces?" Feenan's asked.
"Sorry Dale," Feenan says. "I think he would agree."
The glassblowers say producing kid designs has loosened them up as artists and made them stronger at their craft. But even Feenan admits glass can't always outshine what a kid can do with markers.
"Shark attack is basically, you're looking down the throat of a massive shark with huge teeth, a big red tongue," Feenan says. "It's just an interesting perspective. I think we captured it as best we could but I still think the drawing could stand alone.
Eight-year-old Erica Hankins drew Shark Attack and her artistic description is two words: "It's Scary!" You can see Shark Attack alongside Super Pickle and a Venus Flytrap with a Light Saber at the Museum of Glass through February 2011.
Florangela Davila, KPLU News, Tacoma
Museum of Glass website
Live stream of the museum's Hot Shop © Copyright 2012, KPLU
