Given that 2,000-degree furnaces are involved, glass art can be as dangerous as it is beautiful. That means the proper skills for this challenging form of expression aren’t just important — they’re essential. And one of the best places in Arizona to learn those skills is the Sonoran Glass School, a Tucson nonprofit that’s been sharing glass art techniques with the community for more than two decades.
The school started out as the dream of local artists Tom Philabaum and Dave Klein, who took inspiration from a glass school they’d visited in Japan and created the Sonoran Arts Foundation to spread their love of glass art. “The main inspiration was to share the creativity and joy with as many people as possible,” says Paul Anders-Stout (pictured), the school’s director of shops. Philabaum and Klein acquired a building that previously was a tire shop, then turned it into four studios where classes are held.
Today, the Sonoran Glass School welcomes students of all ages. Classes might be as simple as students picking a one-time project and being guided through the creation process, or they might be semester-long courses covering the ins and outs of a form.
And there are many forms of glass art. The Sonoran Glass School focuses on four: glass blowing, kiln fusing, torch working and cold working. “We start at the beginner level and then graduate to the novice and intermediate levels,” Anders-Stout says. “We also bring in professional artists at the top of their fields, who really appeal to more advanced artists.”
The three heat-based forms use furnaces and kilns, which instructors help students learn to use safely. In the cold shop, students use tools such as belt sanders and lathes to form glass into new shapes. Each studio is also available for rent by artists who want to use the tools and equipment without taking a formal class.
Evan Mendelson, the school’s interim executive director, says glass art is unique because it’s a blending of art and science. “Glass art can be as easy as placing colored glass pieces on a 4-by-4-inch square of glass and fusing it in a kiln, forming molten glass into a flower shape or designing a glass bead with a hand-held torch,” she says.
For Anders-Stout, who’s been involved with glass art since 1999, the medium is the perfect intersection of skills. “It’s complicated; it’s imaginative,” he says. “It’s one of the few crafts that require a really broad skill set. So, you have to have some understanding of physics and chemistry and light physical activity.”
The school also partners with local youth programs to provide art education to younger students. Along with teaching them artistic skills, Anders-Stout believes students learn the importance of working together — because glasswork, he notes, often is not a solo operation. “You need other people to make bigger pieces or more complicated pieces,” he says. “In order to be successful in glass, you’re really pushed in a lot of directions that you might not otherwise be pushed in.”
Currently, the school has seven artists who teach regular classes, as well as visiting artists who contribute to the curriculum. And while there are other glass art classes available in the area, Mendelson says the on-site equipment and tools make the school a one-stop shop for anyone interested in giving glasswork a try. “You can find pieces of what we offer at other places, but you can only experience the full measure of glass art making at Sonoran Glass School,” she says. “As the only public-access, full-service glass school in the desert Southwest, we nurture this glass art community.”
TUCSON Sonoran Glass School, 633 W. 18th Street, 520-884-7814, sonoranglass.org