The Art of Glass Blowing

Glass Blowing

I don’t know about you, but I have always found the art of glass blowing to be one of the most fascinating art forms. There is something so beautiful about seeing glass in its liquid form, and to watch the glass blowers work so calmly to create something that hardens into a masterpiece. It is said that the oldest pieces of glass that came from glass blowing that have been found to this day date back to the 16^th century BC, and were found in Mesopotamia. So, needless to say, this is a very very old art form. Glass blowing has become more and more popular over the centuries, especially with the progression of the technologies used to blow glass. Artists can now produce some mind-blowing pieces of art, and can do so easier and faster than ever.

Glass blowing is an art that can be just about as versatile as you make it. Glass blowers make everything from vases, to pipes, to tables, to chandeliers, to life-size modules of the human vascular system for science purposes. Although there is proof of glass blowing during the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and the Industrial Revolution glass blowing did not become popular as an art form until around 1962, when Harvey Littleton, a ceramics professor, chemist and engineer, put on a workshop at the Toledo Museum of Art, at which they started experimenting with small blown glass pieces as art. From then on, the glass blowing industry has quite literally “blown up”, as the tools to take part in it have become more readily available and affordable. It is has also become more common for institutions to provide glassmaking resources and training, at which you do not have to provide your own equipment!

Glass blowing is a fairly complicated art form to master, and it often takes years to do so. This being said, if you have the passion and dedication to devote to the art, there are plenty of options for schooling/training. Several of the students of Harvey Littleton went on to start up glass blowing programs at major universities, while others went on as artists themselves. Over the past half-century many more classes and even schools have become available for glass blowing. With a bit of time and commitment, you can become a master of glass blowing yourself!

There is a TON of information on the web about glass blowing techniques, terms, history, and training. If you are passionate about the beautiful art of glass blowing, we highly recommend doing some research and certainly watching some videos on the art. YouTube has thousands of videos on glass blowing, ranging from tutorials, to documentaries, to interviews. Netflix even has several documentaries that have to do with the art of blowing glass. As the technology and chemistry behind glass blowing continues to advance, so will the pieces that are created. Even if you are not interested in pursuing glass blowing yourself, it is a very fascinating industry to follow. Take a quick look around the web and you may be surprised at some of the things people have created by blowing glass!