Glass Art Society Trip To Portland

June 2008
I have just returned from the Glass Art Society Conference in Portland Oregon and it was a great time – www.glassart.org I saw lots of old friends and I had a look at where the art glass industry is – I saw a few incredible demos – Lucio Bubbaco did an incredible flameworking demo and Karen Willenbrink did an unbelievable hot glass ( bench flamework ) demo only to mention a few – The demos were at Elements Glass Studio – www.elementsglass.com and boy what a studio – I thought we had a ( supershop ) but oh boyee – that studio is one of the most incredible public rental shops that I have seen – I was truly inspired by the sheer size of the interior – This place is huge and they have these incredible sub studios within the warehouse – check it out sometime when you are in Portland – the owner Ian is a very nice guy and very approachable – I have seen him make some huge work before – He is a master glass blower – no faking here ! –

While in Portland I visited the Mark Wooley Gallery - www.markwoolley.com They had a precarious art glass show going on – it was a sort of illegal utilitarian glass show – I question how they are legally able to have pipes and bongs displayed for sale – you may know that I was arrested in February of 2003 for making glass bongs – The Federal Government locked me up for making what they deem as “ drug Paraphernalia “ – I was part of a large bust called “ Operation Pipe Dream “ aimed at the paraphernalia industry – Today there is a thriving bong and pipe trade show in Las Vegas www.champslv.com – Ill keep you posted with more thoughts and issues about bongs –

I also got to see Saeed Mohtadi from the Eugene Glass School www.eugeneglassschool.org – they seem to be holding strong and running a tight ship – these guys are some of the friendliest in the business – the facility is incredible and they are offering lots of really neat classes so I recommend that you check their site and schedule – I also spent time with Howard Sandberg and team at CBS Dichroic www.cbs-dichroic.com – I made them a new infomercial that you can watch here on their site ! – I have been using their product for ions and highly recommend it – They have some of the greatest coating out there –