Penland School of Crafts Announces Hot Glass & Electric Light Workshop This Spring

For art students interested in ways to take glass sculpture a step further, Jen Elek and Jeremy Bart's spring concentration "Hot Glass and Electric Light" will be the ideal opportunity to do just that. During the eight-week workshop, which runs March 13-May 6 2016, Jen will lead students through a strong base of hot glass techniques and Jeremy will add instruction in the fundamentals of incorporating various forms of light into glass, from neon to LEDs.

The Penland glass studio will be all about exploring the possibilities and ideas that open when glass and light combine. It’s an area that collaborating artists Jen Elek and Jeremy Bart are already quite familiar with. In their recent exhibition Look! See? at The Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, the two created a dynamic and interactive landscape of forms, colors, reflections, and luminescence. Just as with a single light bulb, their pairing of glass and light combines to make more than the sum of its parts.

Jeremy Bart and Jen Elek's Installation "Look See?" at The Museum of Glass

"Believe" a part of the Look See? Instaqllaation

Jeremy Bert and Jen Elek — Most of us live within the glow of electric light, often protected or filtered by glass. This class will empower the nontechnically inclined artist to harness these omnipresent media by exploring the mechanics of glass and light while considering the potential for electric light in sculpture. Jen will teach the fundamentals of glass furnace work for the full eight weeks. Jeremy will teach for four weeks to cover the basic principles, vocabulary, and techniques of neon and other forms of electric light, including LED and incandescent. Artists ready to explore the combination of glass forming and electric light will find this workshop a great fit. All levels.  

Jen has been a member of glass artist Lino Tagliapietra’s team since 2002; Jeremy is a certified welder, crane operator, and sign electrician. The two have previously taught at Pilchuck (WA) and have exhibited their work at Museum of Glass (WA) and Pittsburgh Glass Center. 

Human Heads" Collaboration by Jeremy Bert and Jen Elek

Register HERE for Hot Glass & Electric Light to give your work a literal jolt of electricity, and discover the potential for striking, communicative, and even humorous sculpture that the combination offers.

The information and photos in this post were provided by The Penland Sketchbook.