{"id":386600,"date":"2026-04-07T16:29:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/386600\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:29:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:29:27","slug":"workhouse-arts-center-is-adding-a-public-glassblowing-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/386600\/","title":{"rendered":"Workhouse Arts Center Is Adding a Public Glassblowing Studio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever\u00a0watched\u00a0an artist form a piece of molten glass into a beautiful sculpture? Soon,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0be able to do just that \u2014 and even make your own glass creations. Lorton\u2019s\u00a0Workhouse Arts Center<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0in the process of creating\u00a0a new public glassblowing studio called\u00a0the Hot Shop<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This new studio will transform Workhouse\u2019s Building W-7A into a space with specialized glass-working equipment and facilities. It will build on the art center<\/a>\u2019s existing glassblowing program to offer more classes, public demos, and studio access.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ian Schmidt<\/a>, the director of the glass and ceramics departments\u00a0and a professional glassblower, is leading the project. \u201cThe plan is to have this\u00a0seven-day-a-week public studio where glassblowing is happening and where the public can come see this amazing art form,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s\u00a0in Store\u00a0<\/p>\n

This will be the first public-facing glassblowing studio in the region. The new facility will allow guests to visit and watch glassblowers at work. Artists will\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0and explain the craft. Guests\u00a0will\u00a0sometimes even go home with small glass trinkets\u00a0that are\u00a0raffled off at the end of the demo.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they come to the campus, they\u2019re going to basically see 2,000-degrees molten glass being made into a sculpture \u2014 into a figure,\u00a0a bowl, into something huge or something small,\u201d\u00a0Schmidt says. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0going to\u00a0be a pretty dynamic, really captivating experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It will also\u00a0provide an opportunity for artists of all skill levels\u00a0to try out the art form through classes.\u00a0The studio will offer one-time classes, some multiple-week classes, and \u201cmaster classes\u201d with renowned international glassmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The facility will also be digitally integrated with cameras inside the furnaces so guests can see\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0going on inside a 2,000-degree piece of\u00a0equipment. It\u00a0will also give\u00a0visiting\u00a0artists the chance to\u00a0create content to promote their work.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to create a space where we can offer this to artists to come in to not only make their work, but create content from the making of the work, which sometimes is equally as valuable as the work itself,\u201d Schmidt says. \u201cWe want to be this place that captures that ability for an artist to display and talk about their work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WorkhouseRendering of Hot Shop (Courtesy Workhouse Arts Center)<\/p>\n

Creating the Hot Shop\u00a0<\/p>\n

This new facility will build upon Workhouse Arts Center\u2019s\u00a0existing\u00a0glass programs, which currently\u00a0hosts classes<\/a>\u00a0and runs mobile glassblowing demonstrations. Currently, the program can host about 2,000 students.\u00a0The Hot Shop<\/a>\u00a0could\u00a0increase that amount by\u00a0about\u00a030%, Schmidt says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The project will include two workstations with\u00a0furnaces, an electric pot-melting furnace, and annealers, which\u00a0help cool the glass.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the facility itself will undergo major changes, Schmidt says. \u201cThe whole facility is getting rebuilt, and it\u2019s going to have a lot of infrastructure to help keep it cool, make sure that there\u2019s a lot of airflow, and that people, when they work there, are\u00a0really\u00a0comfortable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This project has been in the works for a few years, Schmidt says. He\u2019s led similar hot shop openings around the country, and when he started in his role at Workhouse two years ago, he began thinking about how to get a hot shop up and running.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got here, I did a quick assessment, got a plan together, presented that to our board, then to Fairfax County, then kind of got a lot of support from\u00a0some of our board members,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Workhouse is currently working to fundraise $75,000 to complete the project. So far, about $30,000 has been raised. Construction will begin soon and run through the fall, and the facility should open in late 2026 or early 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Feature image of Ian Schmidt courtesy Workhouse Arts Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you ever\u00a0watched\u00a0an artist form a piece of molten glass into a beautiful sculpture? Soon,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0be able to do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-386600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}