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By Aiya Kenny
Chapters:
The Other Side of the Looking Glass
A Glimpse of Joe Outside the Studio
Joe Miller, owner of M-Space Glassblowing Inc., is a hip cross between a punk rock front man and a hair model. In his mid thirties, he sports a sandy blonde phohawk with groomed sideburns and a goatee. His look is stylish: well worn jeans with intentional holes, a fitted tee, and fashionable brown sneaks. Though he owns and operates a glassblowing "hot shop," Joe doesn't consider himself a glassblower. Instead, with his beginnings as a sculptor, he prefers to think of himself as a "maker of stuff." He opened M-Space five years ago in the spirit of providing a place where he could be "surrounded by other artists."
Fresh out of college on the East Coast with a degree in sculpture, Joe returned home to the creative culture of Seattle. There, he began apprenticing with Fred Metz of Spiral Arts. For four years, he learned how to build glassblowing equipment with Metz, who he considers to be the world's best equipment maker. However, Metz realized that there wasn't enough money in it for him and so he closed his doors. Along with five others, Joe was out of a job.
To clear his head, Joe went backpacking in Europe and then returned to Tacoma because he and his wife wanted to live in a community that thrived on art. They moved everything they owned into a studio workshop. Joe used it to build equipment for the budding Tacoma Art Museum, but living among metal and wood shavings was not ideal for the couple.
Around that same time, Joe's mom was operating a glassblowing studio, otherwise known as a "hot shop," with equipment such as kilns and work benches that he had created. She decided that she didn't want to commit the necessary seven days a week to the studio. So Joe wrote a business plan, took over the equipment, and found a location. M-Space Inc. was conceived during a time in which Tacoma didn't have any rental space available for glassblowers.
Looking around M-Space Inc., you can see that Joe's true passion lies in the artists that rent his space and the equipment that lines his walls.
The Other Side of the Looking Glass
M-Space Inc. is nestled between many similar brick structures at the end of a narrow, dirty street, in the heart of the warehouse district of Tacoma. From the outside, it is indistinguishable from every other business around it. The brick facade of the building has been eroded by the salty bay air, and only a small sign announces the magic within. A garage style door stands open to the public and on especially cold days is usually at half-mast. Large barrel flower pots sit next to this door; their offerings are bright, green and tropical, inviting visitors to walk inside.
Inside the large door, the ceilings soar to at least 25 feet, decorated with a triangle of red Christmas lights. The space has a vast, open feeling with brick and painted cinder block walls, and a stained cement floor. Shelves and cases of blown glass art line the entryway. To one side, typical pieces like water and martini glasses, votive candle holders, and paperweights rest on wooden shelves. On the opposite wall is a glass enclosed case with an overflowing amount of eccentric art pieces in a rainbow of colors.
In front of the case, a folding table stands covered in white half globes, the shape of whole cloves of garlic. They are accented by a multitude of white striations that swirl and streak across them, a difficult technique that involves "cane," otherwise known as rolled glass. (From the end of May until the end of August, these globes were filled with water and hung from the ceiling in mobiles, as part of the exhibit "Sky Ponds" at the Wright Park conservatory.)
Further inside, the large room extends back in a long rectangle. The walls to the left and right are lined with a plethora of glassblowing equipment, all designed by Joe. This is where he showcases his equipment. He explains that there is more demand from talented glassblowers for his equipment than he is able or willing to make. He doesn't want to see this side of his business grow so large that he has to hire others to help build the equipment. If he were to do so, he is afraid that the "art would get lost" in the process.
Compared with the crisp morning air outside, this space feels like a cozy day by the fire. The heat comes from the ovens, generally referred to as kilns, which line the left wall. There are two types of kilns that are used by glassblowers. One contains what is called a crucible. The crucible resembles a large clay bowl and holds clear glass in its liquid state. The clear glass is the base used for all glass blown art. The other type of kiln is called a Glory Hole. The artists use them for heating and melting glass projects in progress. Both types of kilns maintain temperatures hovering around 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. A very different type of kiln called an annealer stands against the opposite wall. It is designed to hold finished pieces and bring their temperature down slowly from 900 degrees Fahrenheit to room temperature, so that the glass doesn't crack in the cooling process.
Invented by the Phoenicians somewhere around 50 B.C., glassblowing began with the rudimentary creation of blown glass tubes and small blown glass bottles closed at one end. The process has advanced greatly with the use of kilns, unadulterated glass, and the employment of teamwork.
Today, two teams of glassblowers work in separate stations. Traditionally, each team is made up of two people, a gaffer and his/her assistant, but this is not always the case. A team will always be led by one gaffer, but may have as many as 20 assistants all performing specific functions.
In the center of the room, many work tables and benches are paired with buckets of wooden tools resting in cool water. One team occupies a work bench, and when the hot glass of their project meets the cool wood of the tools, otherwise known as wooden blocks, sparks fly and fragrant wood smoke drifts in a cloud to hover below the high ceiling.
At the very back of the long room, an open door leads to Joe's workspace and staff offices. Above this door hangs a whimsical dancing cupcake with skinny legs and chunky red high heels. This one piece of art perfectly defines the feel of the work space; it invites creativity and playfulness with soft voices and serious artists.
A Glimpse of Joe Outside of the Studio
Though quiet about his art, there are a couple of locations around town where you can view Joe's mastery of glass. Fulcrum Gallery has a small exhibit of "speech bubbles" that he created. But for a more permanent installation, check out the terazzo floor at the Tacoma Convention Center. Along with artist Yuki Nakamura, Joe transformed a concrete slab from a dull gray wasteland into a vibrant forest floor. In the cement, they placed emerald glass pine needles and shimmering glass puddles.
Joe says, "Most of my artwork is environmental. It's not in-your-face political, but it is meant to get people thinking in that direction."
Joe's philosophy: Once you learn the basics, the sky is the limit in glassblowing.
Today, Joe is teaching a private lesson. The students are a local photographer for the News Tribune and his attentive 12-year-old son. The goal of the lesson is to create handmade mother's day gifts for the woman in their life.
Joe takes the lead in the beginning, gathering molten clear glass from the crucible onto a blowpipe that has been resting in a warming oven. He then dunks the red-hot end into a bucket of water and repeats the process twice more the globe of molten glass growing with each submersion into the crucible. The third time, instead of cooling the glass, Joe rolls it in chips of color that are scattered across a work bench. Once he and his students are satisfied with the colors attached to the glass, he moves over to the Glory Hole and places the end of the blowpipe inside, resting the center of the pipe on a v-shaped prop called a yoke. The yoke assists him in easily rotating the glass. When he removes the pipe from the heat, the colors have melted together and they glow a deep red. Once more, he rolls the end in colored glass chunks and puts it back into the heat. It is then drawn out and cooled slightly so that it can be placed back in the clear molten glass.
Joe gives the direction to blow gently on the cool end of the blowpipe. The dad sits down on a stool in front of the workbench and jokes, "You can't be a good glassblower unless you like to blow!" When his son hears this, he visibly reddens and then hides behind the video camera he has brought to record the experience. The dad blows on the end of the pipe while Joe rolls it along the rails of the work bench to keep the piece from drooping. It begins to elongate and is placed back into the Glory Hole to be brought back up to a workable temperature. Once out, Joe rolls the piece, while the dad uses tongs to gently pinch the end of the glass closest to the pipe. The process of heating, blowing, and pinching is repeated many times and the glass eventually extends to a cylinder nearly 12 inches long.
After nearly 30 minutes of working together, the two have created a crimson vase in the shape of a calla lily. Their conversation was minimal and calm, but fun and joking. There are high fives all around.
"That was awesome!" remarks the son.
Joe later discloses that the lesson was a "weird experience" because he doesn't consider himself a glassblower. But watching his fluid movements and easy grace with the equipment and his clients, you would never know it.
The ease with which Joe approaches lessons may be attributed to the time he spent teaching at the Tacoma School of the Arts High School. He really enjoyed the experience and looks forward to teaching for them again, once they find a space for him that's "not gonna catch on fire."
A unique aspect of Tacoma is that the community takes a strong interest in the success of its students. The Tacoma School of the Arts High School is a privately funded branch of a regular high school where students are given the opportunity to take a more artistic approach to education. In this case, it's a scholarship based program where students' grades range heartily because admission is dependant upon individual portfolios.
Jason Lee Middle School in Tacoma offers a different kind of incentive for kids to stay in school. There, under the supervision of instructor Greg Piercy, kids have the opportunity to participate in the kind of activity that most adults can't afford. With donations and sale proceeds in excess of $500,000 annually, Hilltop Artists in Residence is a unique school art program. Any student ranging in age from 12 to 19 may sign up for this specialized art submersion class, where they learn glassblowing, fusion, and bead making. A sale of the students' work is held twice a year to raise money for the program. As in traditional school sports, students are required to maintain their GPA in order to participate in this special class. One of very few programs of its kind, Hilltop Artists in Residence offers students an opportunity to create glass art as well as experience glass art in the community.
During one field trip to the Tacoma Glass Museum, a student approached a chaperone and asked when the class would be returning to school.
"Why, are you bored?" she asked.
"No, I wanna go back and blow glass!" he replied.
This unique program keeps kids in school and off the streets. Many graduated students even return to teach the younger students.
Getting involved with glassblowing is a time consuming and expensive endeavor, but there are many beginner classes offered at M-Space Inc. for anyone 13 and up. A group lesson is only $45, and that includes all of the materials you may need plus the use of all the equipment. If you love it, try out a private lesson or a workshop. Once you know your way around the studio, you are welcome to rent the space and create your own art.
In a community that breeds such amazing art, it is nearly impossible to stay on the sidelines. Whether you choose to visit the local museums such as the Tacoma Glass Museum, submerse yourself in a class with the enthusiastic crew of M-Space Inc., or participate in the artistic education of our youth at Jason Lee Middle School, there is an artistic endeavor available to everyone in Tacoma.