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” :-)

Matthew Cummings

Q So who is Matthew Cummings?
I am a sculptor, painter, and video artist, currently in my last year of graduate school for glass sculpture at Illinois State University (one of the oldest glass programs in the US). My undergraduate education was at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky majoring in painting and glass. After college, I attended the Appalachian Center for Craft and then travelled throughout the eastern half of the United States studying under various glass blowers.  

 Matthew Cummings Sculpting a Figurative Form in the Hotshop at Flame Run Studios

Q When did you decide to become a maker?
I guess that I was always a maker, but I decided to pursue art as a career during the summer of my junior year of college. I had cut down on my obligations in order to start focusing more on art classes. I spent the summer in Italy (Firenze and Roma) studying sculpture firsthand. The rich cultural heritage was invigorating, the art was inspiring, and I decided then to dedicate my life to art-making. That decision is simultaneously exciting and terrifying to anyone who gives it serious thought. There is no certainty in your future other than the knowledge that you will enjoy what you are doing. I considered becoming an architect as I did well in math, enjoyed being creative, and this seemed a more “respectable” career choice at the time. But my love/compulsion to make objects with my own two hands made the decision to become a sculptor inevitable.
  On Perception – 9 Units, 2010 (Solid-Sculpted and Coldworked Glass,13" x 10" x 3")

 

Q What made you choose the materials that you work with?
I discovered Glass in college, we have a great program at Centre (headed by Stephen Rolfe Powell), and I just happened upon it there. I initially went to Centre to play basketball so the physicality of glass instantly drew me in. It almost seemed like I had been training my entire life to work this material. It is very physical, requiring a great amount of teamwork, focus, and coordination.

For the latest series that I am working on, the On Perception series, glass is an ideal medium. The work is about the frailty of cognition, and the primary sense that we use to approach cognition is vision (think of Plato’s Cave, and the Cartesian Theatre). So I make objects that manipulate the perception of graphics in order to invite the viewer into a contemplative state which hopefully becomes a metaphorical experience. Lenses, facets, and frosted sections in the glass manipulate vision in an analogous manner to the way that point of view, social surrounding, and state of mind affect your decisions.

As for painting and video, I enjoy translating my glass sculptures into another material and seeing what occurs. For example, in video I can enhance the ephemeral or atmospheric qualities of the glass pieces through the video’s temporal nature and manipulation of light on a large scale.
 

On Perception – Form Theory, 2010 (Solid-Sculpted and Coldworked Glass  14" x 12" x 8")

 

Q What other materials would you like to work in?
I would love to work with stone, and there are some new resins and plastics that have really exciting and intriguing qualities. I have seen some Resin Castings that are almost as clear as glass. But for now, the qualities and processes of working with glass fit my vision, and my temperament.

Q Where do you get your inspiration from?
Philosophy, Particle Physics, Microscopy, Literature, Astronomy, Music, other Artists. Two books I have been reading lately that really influence the work are James Elkins - Six Stories for the End of Representation, and Daniel Dennett’s  - Consciousness Explained. Images of CERN experiments and images from Bubble Chambers are both extremely beautiful aesthetically.
 

Philosopher (Black Void), 2010 (Blown Glass with Filigrana, 28" x 14" x 14")

 

Q What motivates you?
Art and Craft! Other artists, designers, and craftsmen absolutely motivate me. On the rare day when I have free time at home, I love watching art documentaries and sketching, working on new designs or ideas. If I ever have “writers block”, I read an art book or watch a show about an artist, and that does the trick, even though that tends to send me in another direction entirely. Art 21 is a staple, and the new Basquiat documentary Radiant Child is fantastic, as well as, Exit through the Gift Shop by Banksy.

Q Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?
Glass is strictly studio based, the equipment I use is just too big, messy, and loud. The paintings and videos vary depending on size and complexity. I really like to paint at home, because I can watch cheesy old horror movies while I wait for the paint to dry. It has nothing to do with the work, just a personal preference. I especially like Killer Clowns from Outer Space.
  

 Working Process - On Perception: Interrupted ( Coldworking)

 

Q Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?
This is such a wonderfully messy subject! With the advent of Design Art, the line between Art and Craft has become so indistinct. In this technological age, the handmade is becoming essential again, not for practical means, but for natural needs. When something is made by hand, it has character and a warmth that is rarely felt in machine made objects. We respond and need this at a very basic level. We will always have crafts, we need it.

Q How do you sell and promote your work?
I sell my work exclusively through galleries, both glass and fine arts galleries. One of the main considerations for galleries that I choose to work with is the level that they promote their artists. It isn’t always that you sell a piece, but where you sell the piece and to whom. That is one of the reasons that I don’t sell work out of my studio. But when I do a show with a gallery, I am very involved (probably more that the gallery would like!). I prefer to set the show up myself (I consider every exhibition an installation in its own right), and I participate in any PR event they set up, be it interviews, demonstrations, or lectures.

I regularly show with Morgan Glass Gallery in Pittsburgh, Chapman Friedman Gallery in Louisville, Marta Hewett Gallery in Cincinnati, Prism Contemporary in Chicago, Vespermann-Cooper Gallery in Atlanta and Fusion Glass Gallery in Florida. I also have a Facebook Artist Page under Matthew Cummings Sculptor that I use as an informal blog with lots of images of new work and the processes behind making the various pieces, and all my finished pieces can be found at matthewlcummings.com.
  

On Perception – Interrupted (Solid-sculpted and Coldworked Glass, 2010 30" x 7" x 7")

  Q What is your typical working day look like?
For one, I cannot multi-task. I hate it. I prefer to devote a full day to the hotshop, coldshop, painting, or video. So I go through periods where I only sculpt glass in the hotshop (where glass is sculpted in its molten state), only grind glass in the coldshop (where glass is cut and polished at room temperature), or metal work the stands for the glass. In the spring and fall, I prefer to coldwork, summertime is for painting and video, and winter is best for the hotshop.

On an average day, I sleep in til 9 or so (definitely a night owl) go straight to the glass studio, not big on breakfast. Drink a lot of coffee, and try not to break anything in the two hours it takes me to really wake up. If I am lucky, I will spend the rest of the day listening to music and working on a single project.

 Gestural Pair (Teal and White), 2008 (Blown Glass with Murrini, 36" x 25" x 14")

Q What is your working style?
I am a perfectionist, but I try to remember that something handmade is indeed handmade and not mechanically perfect. Those slight deviations in each mark or cut gives the piece its soul or unique character.

Q 3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...
I couldn’t narrow it down to three, so here are four and a half “words”.
1) Be Persistent; in making work and in applying for exhibitions.
2) If you do not respect your own work, no one else will.
3) Schedule shows as a young artist, even if it is at the local community art center or the coffee house. It makes you produce work, and helps to build your portfolio.
4) Take good photographs, they are not just crucial, they are your future! And here is a freebee... hot glass burns!  

Glass Structure featured in Search Installation, 2010.

Q Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?
Lino Tagliapietra, Tobias Mohl, Daniel Clayman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Takashi Murakami, Terry Winters, and Julie Mehretu.

Q What music do you listen to?
Well, it is probably easier to say what I don’t listen to, Country and R&B. I listen to everything else though. Mostly Indie Rock, Pop, Electronic, but also a lot of older Funk, Folk, and Rock, and then some Hip/Hop and Rap to even it out.

This is what is getting the most play on my iPod right now: Kid Cudi, Menomena, Phantogram, Sleigh Bells, Muddy Waters, Peter, Bjorn, and John, Lykke Li, TV on the Radio, Big Boi, The XX, Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, and Beastie Boys The In Sound from the Way Out.
  

 Photograph Still of a digital projection shown through the glass structure, 2010.

Q 3 likes and dislikes?
Likes - Cooking. Hanging out with my wife. Having a pint with friends and arguing about the state of glass.
Dislike - Waking up in the morning (doesn't matter the time, it is always too early). Having to deal with rude people. The television show Jersey Shore.

Q What do you do to relax?
Watch the dumb box (TV shows). After a day of thinking about what I am working on, working on it, planning the next day, dealing with the business side of making work, I need some time to turn the brain off. When I actually have more than an hour to relax, I go see my better half, Stephanie. I am living in a different city than my wife right now, so I drive to where she is, work on a painting during the day, then we cook dinner together and drink some wine.

Philosopher (Red), 2010 (Blown Glass with Zanfirco, 32" x 10" x 4)