Liam Carey - Merlin Glass

 

Liam Carey at Work

 

Q So who is Liam Carey?

A quiet, introvert, eccentric artisan. Non competitive, always liked taking things to pieces to see how it works. Dreamy, passionate and loving!

 

Q Where in the world are you?

Located at my glassworks in Liskeard, Cornwall, England

 

Glass Blowing in the Studio

 

Q When did you decide to become a maker?

At the age of 16, I went to Liskeard Glass and within a week fell in love with the craft and art of glass making. At the age of 21, I took the opportunity to take over the glassworks and renamed it Merlin Glass.

 

Love Handles 

 

Q What made you choose the materials that you work with?

Glass is a fascinating material and difficult to learn, which I was attracted to.

 

Q What other materials would you like to work in?

I work with other materials namely Metal and Wood; I would like to do more with other metals including Silver.

 

The Furnace known as The Glory Hole – temperatures can reach up to 1100°C

 

Q Where do you get your inspiration from?

My designs are made from inspiration, form and nature. Living in Cornwall it is surrounded by rugged coastline which has stimulated my thought provoking process.

 

Scent Bottles with Stoppers

 

Q What motivates you?

I like design evolution and the evolution of the making process, assessing it, looking at it and improving it, seeing what evolves and what is not obviously there before you get there.

 

Chequerboard Door Knobs – Frosted and Clear Glass

 

Q Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?

My glassworks is located behind my house, so a big building in the yard!

 

The Glassworks

 

Q Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?

The internet has the opportunity to reach out and connect with people in a way which has never been seen before. This could provide more opportunities to engage the crafts directly with customers.

 

Pears

 

Q How do you sell and promote your work?

When I started off the glassworks was open to the public where visitors would come and watch me make and have the opportunity to buy from my shop. When I started making the glass door knobs I closed the public access to the glassworks.

Now I sell my work through our shop, internet www.merlinglass.co.uk, architectural ironmongers, exhibitions and marketing. I have advertised through many different sources and more recently we have become involved in social media and often get asked for editorials. Word of mouth and reputation also has lead to a lot of sales and interest in my work including commissions.

 

Individually handmade Edwardian style solid glass cupboard knobs.

 

Q What is your typical working day look like?

If the furnace is on my whole lifestyle revolves around the furnace. I like to make at night, I find it quiet, trancelike and enjoy the flow.

 

Apple Green

 

Q What is your working style?

I like to listen to music and then my work time kind of flows. I plan what I am going make and work through, after making so many I have a break and then get back to it.

 

Millefiore – Decorated with Glass Beads From Murano in Italy

 

Q 3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...

Believe in yourself, open your eyes and mind to imagine what is not there, don’t be afraid to experiment.

 

Glass Donut Pendants for Jewellery Making

 

Q Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?

Picasso and Mary Martin a local landscape artist.

 

Daisy Door Knobs

 

Q What music do you listen to?

Boards of Canada, Tinariwen, loved listening to John Peel - RIP, Gotan Project, Air, The Fall, Mazzy Star, PJ Harvey, Nirvana, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, lots and lots more.....

 

Decorative Glass Flowers

 

Q  likes and dislikes?

Likes - Cycling, the weather, mountains, hand painted old cars.

Dislikes – dog poo in the street, aggressive driving, cheap sausages! Horrid plastic windows in beautiful houses.

 

Flower Vase – Combining Opaque and Transparent Glass

 

Q What do you do to relax?

A going to the beach, spending time with Darcie rose, swimming, cycling, walking,

 

Wave –Blown Glass Vase – 10cm high

Martin Janecky

 

Q. So who is Martin Janecky?

He is 31 years old glassblower/sculptor/teacher who lives in Prague, Czech Republic, working and part living in Fairbanks, Alaska, traveling and teaching all over the world :) Loving his craft.

 

 

Q. Where in the world are you from?

I’m from Czech Republic, growing up in different part’s of Czech, while we were moving from place to place with parents for they job’s in Different Glass Factories.  

 

 

Q. When did you decide to become a maker?

I don’t think I ever decided to become a maker, I just did it.  Working in Glass and making things became my life at an early age, and my unwavering desire to master the material kept me engaged in the process until it was my way of life.

Q. What made you choose the materials that you work with?

I start blowing glass in my father’s factory, I was 13 years old,.   I was never pushed into to glass, but it was always around me. When I was 13, I spent every day in his factory. As a kid,  I was most interested in hanging out there because it was like to be an member of big family.  I never questioned why glass,  once i start, i never stopped. 

 

Q. What other materials would you like to work in?

I must say i never have worked seriously with any other material other  that glass but I last 3 years i start to paint just for fun and relaxation also  photography; it allows me to capture small moments around me that might otherwise go unnoticed.

 

Q. Where do you get your inspiration from?

As you can see in my work, I loved the circus and circus theme.  It continually inspires me.  I enjoy trying to capture the movement and expression in glass; a material that is constantly moving, and can imitate a living thing.  Conversely, if there is a form that I am uninspired by, I lose interest in the material and it becomes very difficult to work on.

 

Q. Can you tell us a bit about your working process?

  I use a technique of glass sculpting that was developed maybe 15 - 20 years ago that combines traditional glass working techniques with contemporary tools and methods that allow me to sculpt the inside of the bubble as well as the outside. After I'm done with a rough shape of the piece i open one side of the bubble and using torches to preheat parts of the piece i start going inside the bubble and sculpt what ever I'm working on. I work from the inside as as well as on the outside. pushing and pulling the material where ever i want it to go. 

 

 

 

Q. What motivates you?

Just being able to do what i do better. Every time i work on some series i find new things, little techniques, Little tricks, that i trying to apply to the next thing i do and pushing the idea to reality. 

 

Q. Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?

I currently make work out of a studio in Fairbanks AK, and while gaff or teaching workshops at various schools such as Penland School of Craft, Corning Museum of Glass and Pilchuck Glass School.  During the time that I am not working I  spend time at home in Prague.

 

Q. How do you sell and promote your work?

I am fortunate enough to be represented by Habatat Gallery in Michigan, so within the US, they are responsible for scheduling shows and selling my work. 

Q. What does your typical working day look like?

I wake up at 5.30am and get started.  I consider this the beginning of my workday because although I am not in the studio yet, I am thinking about the work I will make. Once I get to the studio, it takes about an hour for all the equipment to get hot, during that time I set up the torches and prepare for the day.  Once I gather my first bit of glass, I spend the next 4 to 5 hours making parts.  I may make the arms and head of a figure, or other smaller adornments that will complete the final sculpture.  After lunch, I blow and sculpt the main figure and attach all the components, which usually takes me another 3 to 4 hours.   After that I clean up the studio and go get some dinner. 

Q. 3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...

Follow Your Passion; only make things that you are passionate about, if you compromise your creativity for financial gain, or anything else, the work loses integrity.  At that point the work is nothing more than a job; difficult, non expressive, and bland. 

 

 

Q. Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?

there is so many but I admire the work of Frantisek Tichy (1896 - 1961), a Czech painter and printmaker.  From the artists today is sculptor Tony Cragg, painters Petr Nikl, Michal Ozibko, in glass Preston Singletary, Ivan Mares, Martin Blank.

 

Q. 3 likes and dislikes?

1.Art in general in any form,  good friends, life

Dislikes:

Lazy people, long flights and bad drivers.

 

Q. What do you do to relax?

When I'm at work i work all the time or i travel to teach or visit different schools and glass museums. i try to schedule my year so can spend time at home in Prague, that's where i relax, i hang out with friends, seeing music and theatre and drinking beer at the pub  "U Parlamentu” :-)

Thoryn Ziemba

Self Portrait – Thoryn Ziemba

 

Q So who is Thoryn Ziemba?

I am a 33-year-old artist living in Santa Fe, New Mexico; who works primarily in glass. I recently moved to the high desert from Tennessee, where I finished a B.F.A. in glass at The Appalachian Center for Craft. Upon graduation I received a Windgate Fellowship.

 

Vacant 1

 

Q When did you decide to become a maker?

I can’t remember ever making a conscious decision. Though I can remember my mother turning off the television and telling my siblings and I to, ”do something creative”. Being a “maker” has always been a part of the way I think of and identify myself.

 

Anima (vacant)

 

Q What made you choose the materials that you work with?

One of my best friends, Joseph Hobbs, helped to start a non-profit art center in Pensacola, FL and was in charge of the glass shop. Because hot glass is usually a team sport he asked if I would be interested in helping him and learning to work with hot glass. I was very interested. I started the next day and was really caught by glass’s natural abilities as a sculptural material. After touching hot glass, the rest of the world had the volume turned down a little bit.

 

Parallax View

 

Q What other materials would you like to work in?

I can’t think of a material that I wouldn’t like to learn or use. Though I think you might see me venture into bronze casting in the future.

 

Q Where do you get your inspiration from?

Mostly I am influenced and inspired by the human condition, but I owe a ton of credit to authors like Phillip K. Dick, Neal Stevenson, and Jack Kerouac for helping me to think outside of my box. I would be leaving a significant part out if I did not mention music. Music has always played a tremendous roll in my life.

 

The Ghost Recants

 

Q What motivates you?

The work is first; it is where I get my batteries and what recharges them.

People like Curtiss Brock, He is an amazing artist, professor, dog trainer, mentor, and hard labourer. He is the kind of person that wakes up at 5am and goes to bed at 12:30am. He is an inspiration and an example of what an artist should be.

 

Q Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?

Both. I have a few different spaces in my home that I work in: drawing, painting, and making maquettes. Although the majority of my work is done in the studio; making blanks in the hot shop and cutting them up in the cold shop.

 

Tiger Blues

 

Q Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?

To me craft is fundamental, but I find that labels like art and craft are not very useful to me. They seem to be parts for building boxes.

 

Q How do you sell and promote your work?

Mostly it is all self-promotion through my website and blog (thorynziemba.com and thorynisaround.blogspot.com). I also have a circle of collectors and patrons that have become good friends. I am currently in discussion with a few galleries, but I love working with Glassworks in Louisville, KY.

 

Another Modern

 

Q What does your typical working day look like?

Part of thing I love most about being a working artist, is that there is no such thing as a typical day. As an example; yesterday, I worked for a few hours in the morning building equipment, then worked in the hot shop making pieces for a project, took a lunch break at my favorite taco stand, and then finished my day doing a demo at an opening. Everyday is a new challenge, and for me that is ideal.

 

Q What is your working style?

When making my own work it is very trance like and thusly kind of hard for me to describe. I spend a lot of time drawing but don’t bring drawings or models into the studio with me. It draws rolled eyes from academic art circles but the truth is I work very intuitively.

 

Armor(ed) Orison

 

Q 3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...

Perspective is reality.

 

Q Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?

Livio Seguso, Swoon, Ray Caesar, Silvia Ji, Elizabeth Turk, Paul Marioni, Caravaggio, Cai Guo-Qiang, Richard Tuttle, Richard Serra, Richard Deacon, Jun Kaneko, The London Police, Paul Desomma, Marsha Blaker and a whole lot more.

 

Perspective Deviation – Drawing

 

Q What music do you listen to?

I think the list might be shorter if I named music I do not listen to. I carry a ticket from the first Bob Dylan concert I went to in my wallet. Right now my most listened to artists are: Charles Mingus, Spoon, Jason Isbell, Theolonius Monk, Count Basie, Lykke Li, Grizzly Bear, Beck, Mos Def, Bon Iver, David Bowie, The Flaming Lips, Flying Lotus, The Knife, The Rolling Stones... You get the idea.

 

Female Form Study – Drawing

 

Q 3 likes and dislikes?

Likes: travelling, art that changes my worldview, and the love of my friends and family.

Dislikes: the idea that there is one truth or one way, delays (I am slightly impatient), and

modern society’s lack of value in culture.

 

Q What do you do to relax?

My main day wind down is standard family time stuff. My wife and I cook dinner together and discuss our day. On the extraordinary, I love to hang with my friends and cut loose. I call it, “pushing the reset button”.

 

 

Split Your Cloud