Interactive media sophomore Natalie Coon smiles during a glassblowing class Feb. 19 at the Studio Arts Center. Glassblowing is offered at beginner, intermediate and advanced course levels.
Shaping glass takes not only skill but heat — turning the usually fragile material molten. The glowing glass takes shape with each turn of a metal rod and with each breath of the artist.
Slowly, the glass cools, a ticking clock hurrying the artist. With grace under pressure, art begins to take shape.
UTA’s glassblowing class teaches not just the process of making glass sculptures but also the importance of teamwork, communication and time management.
Katerina Verguelis, glassblowing adjunct assistant professor, said she likes her students to be able to work with different peers and leave their comfort zones. Verguelis said glassblowing involves a vast amount of teamwork, as individuals may need assistance in handling the glass and keeping a safe environment.
“It’s important in the class when you can work with different people and develop your communication skills, learn different approaches of people working; it gives them more opportunities,” she said.
The glassblowing course has three levels: a beginning semester, an intermediate semester, which can be taken twice, and finally, an advanced semester. In the beginner class, students first get used to working in the heat, managing and maintaining the equipment and making different shapes.
Verguelis first learned the art form of glassblowing by accident. After being unable to get into a highly competitive graphic design program in Israel, she enrolled in a glassblowing course. Verguelis never looked back and decided to pursue her career in the United States. She arrived at UTA as a graduate student in 2016 and soon began teaching at the university.
Like Verguelis, many of the students taking this course come from different fields. Still, many end up with a newfound love for glassblowing, she said.
“We have a lot of students from outside of College of Liberal Arts,” Verguelis said. “I had biology major students, I had physics major students, I had engineering students, psychology students, from all disciplines.”
When walking into the studio, individuals can feel a distinct change in temperature. With furnaces set to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, heat can radiate in the room. However, UTA has one of the few air-conditioned glassblowing studios in the country.
Glassblowing students clean up during a glassblowing class Feb. 19 at the Studio Arts Center. Katerina Verguelis, glassblowing adjunct assistant instructor, encourages teamwork and communication in the course.
At the end of the semester, students are able to sell some of their work in a fundraiser for the program, with 50% going to the students and the rest to the studio.
Verguelis said that the fundraisers are a way for the department to showcase the students’ pieces and originality while raising money for the materials they use throughout the semester.
While enriching glassblowing and communication skills, the class has also fostered a sense of community between classmates.
Lo Merchant, visual communication design junior, said the class challenges students to learn the basic skills, such as shaping the glass and blowing glass bubbles, in a short time. Students have access to a hotshop and a coldshop where they learn to work with glass at two different temperatures, Merchant said.
“The professors give you a lot of guidance. The upper-level students give you a lot of guidance,” she said. “I’ve just been able to learn a lot of cool, different techniques really fast. That has definitely helped me.”
Despite her busy schedule, Merchant said, she coordinates with classmates and adjusts her schedule to work on her projects. The class requires a commitment of nine to 12 scheduled hours a week, she said.
“My Google Calendar is color coded, and she’s booked and busy,” Merchant said.
Art education junior Jennifer Williams said she came across the glassblowing course when her adviser suggested it. After her first semester, Williams decided to continue to build upon the skill.
She said after she got over her initial anxiety and frustration as a beginner and learned the safety precautions, she was able to trust the process.
A glass piece is held up during a glassblowing class Feb. 19 at the Studio Arts Center. Glassblowing students can sell their projects for profit and to raise funds for the studio.
Williams said an important part of her process is visualizing her project before she starts.
“You have to really think about what you’re doing beforehand, making your plan, setting those steps and what’s going to help you be successful and then also that communication piece,” she said.
The hardest skill to learn was blowing cylinders, Williams said. She practiced the skills over and over and used them to make her final project last semester.
“My piece was centered around nature and camping,” she said. “So I made a glass fire.”
Along with her glass fire, Williams brought multiple pieces from her glassblowing classes and hid them around the room for classmates to find — similar to geocaching.
“It’s like finding little treasures, and you sign the paper and then you put it back, ready for the next person to find,” Williams said. “And I did that here.”
Beyond technique, Verguelis said she hopes students leave with a sense of accomplishment of showcasing creativity into something that no one, not even artificial intelligence, can replace.
“We do something that is actual hands-on, and I hope they will love that,” Verguelis said, “and this appreciation of human touch and craft and repetition and then mastering some skill.”
@_xioany_ @kh.kennedyharvey