Suzie HarrisonWho hasn’t dreamed of being an...

Suzie Harrison

Who hasn’t dreamed of being an artist at the Sawdust Art Festival?

Now there’s an opportunity to explore that desire with the Sawdust

Art Festival’s “Spring Into Art” weekend art workshops.

Starting March 12 and continuing March 13, 19 and 20, aspiring

artists can create in a variety of artistic media at the Sawdust with

the expert help of its professional exhibiting artists.

During the Sawdust’s summer and winter shows crowds gather at the

glass blowing demonstration booth, fascinated by the process and the

artwork produced by the glass artists.

To meet the demand of the growing interest in glass media, the

Sawdust is offering a glass blowing workshop taught by Loren Chapman,

as well as a glass sand casting and bead fabricating class taught by

Michele Taylor and Grace Barrack.

Chapman remembers when glass was a more obscure medium. A Sawdust

exhibitor since 1974, he built the first glass demo booth the

following year.

“I was exposed to glass and started blowing glass in ‘69,” Chapman

said. “I was studying abstract sculpture at the Brooks Institute.”

Chapman lights up when he talks about this medium and said it’s

infectious.

“Glass is a liquid solid; it never stops moving even when it’s

cool to the touch,” Chapman said. “When you look at the cathedrals in

Europe, the stained glass window is much thicker at the bottom than

the top because glass is constantly moving.”

Working with glass requires high temperatures, and Chapman said he

stresses safety. Chapman works with each student individually and

takes them through the process.

“I have them gather the glass with a solid rod,” Chapman said.

“And they go through different steps of gathering manipulated glass

on the marver and using the tools and the bench. You use the marver

to cool and shape the glass and center it on the blow pipe.”

Most importantly, Chapman said, is to have the students create

their own piece, with the exception of the transfer.

“Half way through once you blow the shape and make a bottom, you

have to transfer it,” Chapman said. “That’s where the solid rod comes

in. You gather a very little bit of glass on it and it’s stuck to the

bottom.”

Next it’s cracked off the pipe and the top is heated up and opened

up.

“The only thing I do is transfer the work from the blowpipe to the

pontil or transfer rod,” Chapman said.

Once everyone has gone through that process they start again and

get to do a second piece.

“The third thing I do is divide the class into groups of three,”

Chapman said. “One will start the blowing, gathering and shaping; the

other will take over after I transfer, open up and manipulate and

finish the piece. That gets everybody involved and people are

cheering each other on.”

Glass blowing isn’t the only kind of glass work that students can

learn.

Taylor and Barrak’s is more of a combination class. Taylor will

focus on glass sand casting, teaching how to make sand molds and form

works of art using molten glass, often with objects inside. Barrack

will teach glass bead making.

“I like to share this medium with people because with casting you

can take a sacred object that you have and create it into glass,”

Taylor said. “It becomes permanent.”

Taylor said solid glass under compression is one of the strongest

materials, unlike blown glass, which is fragile.

Taylor will provide an array of objects that the students can

cast.

“I encourage students to also bring sacred or interesting objects

that they may have at home,” Taylor said.

Taylor is a glass and multimedia artist who majored in art and

biology at UC Berkeley.

“Art is about investigation; there’s a lot of similarities between

art and science,” Taylor said.

Other class options include silk painting taught by Olivia

Batchelder; watercolor by Hedy Buzan-Williamson; impressional oil by

John Eagle; Chinese brush painting of flowers and landscapes by Karen

Mills; landscapes in oil by Susan Wade; clay work by Sherry Bullard;

printmaking by Melinda Jones; crocheting by Arlyth Atkinson; doll

workshop by Cherril Doty; vintage China mosaics by Ashley

Pigden-Hemsley and beading and wire wrapping by Roberta Goodman .

Workshops range from $100 to $250 for two days of instruction, all

materials, continental breakfast and catered lunch. Classes are from

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Class size

is limited to 10 students.

For information or reservations, call program coordinator Mollie

Bing at (949) 497-0520. The Sawdust Art Festival is at 935 Laguna

Canyon Road.