Mags Bonham

Glass nail files

Robert Burch

Robert has been working in blown glass for over 20 years, while maintaining a broad production line he is Increasing his focus on one-of-a-kind and commission work. His glasswork consists of vases, perfume bottles, paperweights and sculptural pieces, with his current specialty being works that incorporate veiled silver glass with delicate bubble patterns. Since 1977 Robert's works have been shown in numerous shows across the country. Says Robert, "Most of my inspiration comes from my natural surroundings, and is further enhanced by the beauty of the glass in its molten state. I am fortunate to have found work that I love and that allows me to be creative." "I don't know if I chose glass, or it chose me," Robert Burch muses. The two met dramatically in the late 1960's when glassblowing was still new as a re-emerging craft. While visiting at Penland School of Arts and Crafts, Burch ventured out for an evening walk in the surrounding North Carolina woods. "I came upon a little cabin with a roar coming out of it and a strange glow in its windows," he almost whispers, remembering. "I looked in the door, and there was this guy blowing glass. I was stunned! The magic, the sensuality, the energy of that moving, molten glass! From that moment on, my purpose was to get as close to glass as I could." And so he has. A chance opportunity to simultaneously learn and teach glassblowing at Goddard College led the former production potter from clay to glass. By 1978, Burch had moved his first glassblowing studio in Plainfield, Vermont to its current home in a 200-year-old Putney barn. Brandywine Glassworks now supplies over 200 shops and galleries nationwide with exquisite vases, perfume bottles, paperweights, and sculptures, each handblown by Burch. Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Neiman-Marcus have been among his clients. Watching Burch in action explains his conscious choice not to further expand his thriving business. Clearly it's a venture or perhaps a dance in which Burch and glass are the closest of partners. His every muscle keeps pace with the fiery substance he cajoles into shape. A twist here, a light touch there, a breath, a moment's rest. A master is at work here, following the lead offered by glass heated to over 2,000 degrees. Occasionally, the roles are reversed. "Sometimes I feel like a tool the glass is using," he exclaims between precise puffs on his long pipe. So intimate is his relationship with each piece, that Burch claims he can easily identify his work from years past. In his first five years as a professional, he produced over 10,000 items. "If you lose contact with the glass, you lose your potential for creative growth," he adds emphatically. This is not the voice of a potential paperpusher. To separate Burch from glass and the process he so obviously loves would be a tragedy. In this case, small is indeed very beautiful.

Nick Kekic

"Glass is a fascinating and compelling material to work with. When super hot it can be poured and cast in a fluid state, or blown and sculptured hot in a semi-molten state.When solid at room temperature it can be cut, faceted and polished to a fine brilliance. Tooled for thousands of years glass is the most precious when worked to capture this unique relationship with light. Glass, technically speaking, is neither a solid nor a liquid. It can be better described as a 'super cooled liquid' having no crystalline structure at all. hence it breaks randomly jagged and dangerously sharp. I try to think of glass as a liquid that's frozen to room temperature in a controlled and sometimes precarious balancing act of heat, gravity, timing and human intervention in these processes. The compelling and fascinating challenge for me now is trying to work with glass in such a way that concentrates on and expresses this fluidity as a material and its relationship with light. Many of my current designs are an effort to capture both this frozen gesture in form while also playing with the richness in color and light that glass generates. Most of my work is functional as I've often felt most satisfyied making things that are both beautiful and useful. But I'm trying not to limit myself to this aesthetic and have begun to develop some new sculptural ideas recently." Nicholas Kekic was given the rare gift of being born into a glass making family. His grandfather worked in an industrial glass making facility at General Electric for forty two years. This wealth of technical knowledge and years of expereince was gifted to Nick's father, Thomas Kekic, an artist, craftsman and teacherwho put it to use helping start the glass program at Rochester Institute of Technology in the early studio art glass movement in America. Growing up in this enviroment Nick was surrounded by hand-made objects and people who took care and effort in the creative process, people who found value in these things and the life of ideas and creativity they can generate. It is this tradition he believes that making and using these objects brings a richness to our lives that is both unique and precious. These objects have a great value not only in how they are appreciated but in the process of their creation as well. Nick has been working in glass on his own now with his wife, Tamasin Ballou, a potter and has most recently settled in Chester, Vermont where they built a home and studios. Nickolas Kekic's Glass has been shown in Galleries and private collections throughout the U.S.

Andrew Weill

Brilliant with the intensity of molten jewels defines the work of Andrew Weill of Manchester, VT. His mouth-blown glass is created at his Manchester studio. "I blow glass simply because I love it." Weill started working with glass at 17. "Right from the start I learned a great lesson in humility. Glass is an amazing material; it can be hot and malleable and cold and delicate all at the same time. Needless to say it is a very humbling expereince to watch as your work hits the floor or cracks in the process of being made." After receiving a BFA in glass form Franklin Pierce College, Weill entered the world of production glass. In 1998, Weill was offered a job at a small shop in Sweden. "What a feeling to stand in a glass shop whose furnace has been roaring since before America was discovered." Much of Andrew's inspiration comes from Italian and Swedish Techniques. "I enjoy the heavy durability of Swedish glass and the bold colors and striping of Italian glass." Andrew's work incorporates all that he loves; bold colors, beauty and function, in other words, art that is easy to live with.