A LOOK INTO THE FUNCTIONAL GLASS ART MOVEMENT
~Spie 2019
In this age of the Internet, as the world becomes more interconnected in sharing culture and ideas, new art forms emerge. Many prolific modern art forms, such as graffiti and hip hop, started off as underground movements that were either illegal or held in contempt by conventional society before breaking through, becoming mainstream, and branding popular culture. The “functional glass art movement” (sculptural artisanal pipes) is one such art form.
This type of functional glass art was shunned by the contemporary studio glass art movement, and society as a whole. However, due to its huge following, the quality of the artists work, an avid collector base and countless exhibits in galleries across the country, it has emerged as a movement worthy of respect. This billion-dollar industry is a continuation of the studio glass art movement. From its small beginnings in hippie festival parking lots, despite legal troubles and disdain, the movement continued to grow and evolve. It is now beginning to be contextualized within American studio glass as a whole and the artists who pioneered the movement, and what they have to say, is being heard.
Early History of the Studio Glass Movement
As studio ceramics gained popularity throughout the 1950’s, artists looked for ways to utilize other mediums in similar fashion. In 1958, Harvey Littleton, a ceramics teacher at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, began experimenting with glass at his home studio. After traveling to Murano, Italy and observing the longstanding tradition of Italian glass makers first hand, Littleton came home eager to bring what he had seen abroad back to America. Along with the help of a glass research scientist named Dominic Labino, Littleton developed a relatively inexpensive small furnace. This new furnace allowed glassmakers to work in independent studios, as opposed to large factory/warehouses, which had been the norm in American glass production prior to this innovation.
In the spring of 1962, Littleton organized two glassblowing workshop classes at the Toledo Museum of Art. These classes marked the beginning of the American studio glass art movement. Littleton went on to develop a glass program in the ceramics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His early students included Dale Chihuly, Friz Dreisbach, and Marvin Lipofsky, who are well known for their roles as pioneers in the American studio glass art movement. As Littleton’s students began to explore the possibilities of this new medium, they moved away from the utilitarian aspects of glass and focused purely on its formal aspects. Soon, more artists began to work in the medium of glass; they experimented, shared notes and techniques, and subsequently the movement and its innovations expanded exponentially.
Dale Chihuly
Dale Chihuly, who had a background in weaving, joined Littleton’s program in 1966 as a graduate student. In 1968, Chihuly traveled to Murano on a grant to study for nine months at the Venini factory. During his time in Murano, Chihuly learned the value of teamwork in the hot shop. He remarked how in the Italian tradition, men began working in the factories at a young age as apprentices, learning the craft as it was passed down from their forefathers. In America, however, the glassblowers took a different approach. Unlike the Murano glassworkers who were born into the tradition, the American glassworkers chose it out of interest. Many of the American glassworkers also held degrees in fine art, something the Murano factory workers did not have. The adaptation of the Italian methods by American artists opened the gates for a new perspective on glass making to emerge. According to Chihuly and Littleton, in those early years, the American glassworkers didn’t really know what they were doing. Yet as time went on they brought back knowledge from the highly skilled Italian craftsmen, and as the artists acquired a better understanding of glass, the American glass art became established.
Dale Chihuly went on to found Pilchuck Glass School, which was America’s first art/craft school dedicated solely to glass, and is located outside of Seattle, Washington. He continued working and teaching until several accidents impaired first his vision and then his ability to hold heavy objects. As a result, Chihuly decided to take a step back from blowing glass himself, and he took on more of a director’s role. Along with a team of seven and fifteen people, Chihuly produces incredibly large works of glass sculpture that are highly prized by art collectors and museums all over the world. His installations and exhibitions have appeared in all manner of places from the canals of Venice to the Citadel in Jerusalem and botanical gardens throughout America. In fact, Chihuly has gained such notoriety from his larger-than-life sculptures that his work has become ingrained into our awareness and is a subject of common knowledge. Many Americans who are not involved in the field of glass, when asked of their knowledge of glass art reply, “Oh, like Chihuly?”
Development of the Studio Glass Movement
Although glass is now established as a fine art medium, it was not always that way. During the beginning of the studio glass art movement, there was some resistance from the Fine Art’s establishment, and disagreement over what constitutes fine art, and what should be considered craft. This dispute is summed up nicely by the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, Susie Silbert, in a lecture she gave at the Bard Graduate Center:
“..one pitfall of this approach was advocating for glass to be accepted as “art” rather than on its own merits, and this push to be accepted as “art, was often without reference or knowledge of the products of the art world itself. It was a case of outsiders pushing in, of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. As a result it is no surprise that some of these efforts fell flat, and that, as they did, many glass aficionados felt like they were second class citizens, like the objects they knew and loved were not good enough for the mainstream. But who can blame the contemporary art world? The glass advocates were speaking a different language, one bound up in technical proficiency, and decorative arts and line-forms such as the vessel, and the contemporary art world was hard pressed to understand. Perhaps, if there was a fault, it was one of failed communication rather than lack of appreciation.”
As Silbert describes, the early glass artists were inspired by their love of the medium first, and, in large part, the art came second. As time went on and the studio glass art movement expanded, traditional artists began to take note. Some established “blue chip artists” such as Fred Wilson, Olafur Eliasson, and Christopher Wilmarth saw the opportunities offered by glass. Although they did not personally have experience working in the medium, these artists did have the means to hire skilled glassworkers to carry out their artistic visions in glass. In this way, these contemporary studio artists took on a drastically different approach than the traditional American glass artists, one that was unconstrained by preconceptions of working with glass. As Silbert puts it, these artists “…deploy the material with a sensitivity to the meanings that can be evoked through glass’s phenomenology and the historical associations of the glass objects in the history of decorative arts.” However, Silbert clarifies that “There’s a difference between hiring hands to use a material because it is the best vehicle for the idea and developing concepts in glass by working the material oneself.” As she sees it, from her perch as the curator for the Corning Museum of Glass (the largest glass museum in the United States), two trends are emerging in the world of contemporary glass. The first trend is the artists visiting the media as a vehicle to transport their vision, and the second is those that live and play in the world of glass, and thus find inspiration through working the material. The latter phenomenon has developed into a large and colorful underground art craze, the movement of glass pipe art.
Early History of the Pipe Art Movement
The contemporary glass pipemaking movement has followed in the path of the traditional studio glass art movement. The momentum of this movement seems to surpass even that of studio glass; however, it has not yet been fully recognized by the institutions of fine art. In this fascinating counter cultural art movement there is a great deal of potential for shaping the future of glass art, and possibly the art world at large. It all began in the early 90’s with a man named Bob Snodgrass.
Bob Snodgrass
In 1971, Bob Snodgrass saw a glass pipe in a smoke shop. After inquiring about the piece, he met the glassmaker who made it. Subsequently Snodgrass, who had been working in a machine shop by day and making candles with his wife by night, became infatuated with glass. It wasn’t until ten years later however, in 1981, that he traded his “wood working tools for glassblowing tools” and began to work glass full time.
In 1987, Snodgrass attended a Grateful Dead concert in Irvine Meadows, CA, where he recognized the “tribal energy” at the gathering and wanted to be a part of it. It wasn’t long before Snodgrass hit the road, following the Grateful Dead and bringing his unique glass pipes with him. In this way Snodgrass was able to distribute his wares all over the country. Through word of mouth alone, his pipes reached such notoriety that, for a while, all glass pipes were referred to as “Snodgrass pipe pieces” (similar to how tissues today are often referred to by the name Kleenex, regardless of their brand). In 1990, after following the Grateful Dead for several years, Snodgrass decided to settle in Eugene, Oregon, where he would set up a permanent glass blowing studio with his apprentice Hugh. Here he had the intention of creating a learning environment and he invited eager kids from all over to come learn from him. This mentality was different from the private nature of the underground craft at the time, when techniques were highly guarded and kept secret. Snodgrass took a different approach; he realized that he had stumbled upon something truly revolutionary and wanted to share what he had learned with, in his words, “as many glassblowers as I could meet.”
Gaining Momentum
In 1994 the pipe movement started to gain momentum as more and more people saw what was going on and became interested in glassblowing. As Snodgrass’s influence and knowledge spread, innovators and artists began to take his teachings in new directions. In Corvallis, Oregon, only one hour outside of Eugene, a new movement was formed. A group of pipe makers that had been inspired by Snodgrass, but didn’t have direct access to watching him work, began developing new approaches and a unique aesthetic. The glass coming out of Corvallis was notably different than the glass pipes from Eugene. The friendly atmosphere of competition in Corvallis facilitated new techniques to be developed at a rapid pace. It was also around this time that new color companies started to emerge, expanding the Borosilicate color palette for pipemakers. It seemed that this newfound medium presented limitless potential, something that led to, as artist Clinton Roman describes it, a “stewpot of creativity.” As the movement expanded and young eager boroworkers flocked to Oregon, many of the seasoned Corvallis artists moved up to Seattle (already known as a mecca of fine art glass, thanks to Dale Chihuly and his contemporaries) to set up shop and get serious. The documentary Degenerate Art filmed the period when things really began to escalate. A craft whose first market place was at Phish show parking lots, began to emerge as a multi-million dollar industry. The success of this industry was largely facilitated by the recent advent of the World Wide Web. With new opportunities to set up retail stores online, savvy young entrepreneurs used this network to their advantage as another avenue for mass distribution.
Operation Pipe Dreams
On February 24th, 2003 federal agents raided hundreds of homes and businesses across America. At 5:00 AM, pipe artists and business owners from California to Pennsylvania were awoken and dragged out of bed by DEA SWAT agents, brandishing machine guns. Fifty-five individuals were detained and charged on three counts: conspiracy to manufacture and distribute drug paraphernalia, intent to manufacture and distribute drug paraphernalia and manufacturing and distributing drug paraphernalia. If convicted, each of these charges carried a five-year prison sentence. This federal operation was known by the code name “Operation Pipe Dreams.”
At that time, there was a tense political climate throughout the United States. Just over a year after the deadly terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, a wave of patriotism swept over the country and the government was intent on taking action against crime. Operation Pipe Dreams was very much a display of such action. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who announced the operation to the public, was quoted as saying “Today we took down 50 organizations that support terrorism.” Ashcroft was alluding to the drug trade, an underground black market that deals and trades in psychoactive substances as a result of high demand and government prohibition. As these networks are often operated by violent gangs, it was easy for Ashcroft to draw the connection between glass pipes and the war on terror. Or perhaps these artisans and entrepreneurs, attempting to operate legitimate businesses were easy targets to be made example of.
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan "Those who sell drug paraphernalia are not only violating federal law, they are supporting a culture of illegal drug use.” John Brown, the Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, proclaimed "People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no different than drug dealers” and “These criminals operate a multimillion-dollar enterprise, selling their paraphernalia in headshops, distributing out of huge warehouses, and using the worldwide web as a worldwide paraphernalia market. With Operations Pipe Dreams and Headhunter these criminals are out of business, and 11 illicit dot.coms are dot.gone.”
People have theorized that perhaps the busts were not as much about glass pipes as they were about the government struggling to maintain control over the Internet. No matter what the motivation, Operation Pipe Dreams, which ended up costing the federal government a total of 12 million dollars, did not seem to make much difference as far as drug consumers having access to smoking devices. For one thing, smaller businesses were not targeted and continued operating as usual. Not to mention that makeshift pipes for smoking cannabis can be easily made out of household items if conventional pipes or rolling papers are not available. This crackdown did, however, create a scare in the glass pipe art community, forcing pipemakers even further underground. Many pipers looked for other avenues in glass that could be financially sustaining. Some explored artistic sculpture, jewelry, or even sex toys, although usually these endeavors were mostly just a front to hide their true passion of pipemaking. It was during this time that many pipe makers adopted aliases to protect their identities for fear of prosecution. Stores were reluctant to invest money in elaborate “headies,” fearing an unstable market. Yet as time went on and the industry began to reemerge, a starving market for these high-end pieces opened up.
In the years following Operation Pipe Dreams, the movement slowly crept back to where it had once been. Along with greater acceptance of cannabis in popular culture, the marijuana movement gained momentum. With the increasing legalization of medical and recreational cannabis in some states, the industry opened up creating thousands of new businesses capitalizing on the huge cash crop. This helped significantly with the progression of glass pipe art. In the words of the pipe artist Banjo:
“The more that Marijuana is appreciated for its qualities, the more acceptable it becomes publicly, then the more acceptable our art becomes.”
As the business boomed and money flowed, the world of glass pipe art reaped the benefits. Members of the community often invested their newfound cash (which was tied up in a legal grey area) into this new functional art form. This influx of money, along with greater public acceptance allowed the market to blossom and boom as pipemakers from far and wide began to emerge with new styles and techniques that had not yet been seen in the medium of borosilicate. Many of these techniques have been used in glass since ancient times, but when applied to this new medium they take on new life and meaning. These new ornate headpieces complimented the counterculture and were embraced by the weed connoisseur like vinyl by the music savant. As glass pipes became more openly welcomed by the culture, glass blowers began converging. By sharing ideas and collaborating with each other, they worked to progress the movement into a new era.
Competitions, Trade Shows, and Galleries
In the wake of this newfound movement, a slew of events began popping up. These ranged from gallery showings at mostly underground locations to huge trade shows in Las Vegas and flame off competitions across the country. These events bring artists, collectors and fanboys together in a melting pot, and here at these events, the full momentum of the movement can be felt. One event that I find to be particularly interesting is the Pipe Classic.
Pipe Classic
The annual Pipe Classic, which began in 2006, just three years after Operation Pipe Dreams, was the first pipe-off competition. Each year the Bern Gallery in Burlington VT, invites twelve of the leading artists in the movement to come together for a competition that is open to the public, to see who can make the most impressive pipe. This format of event turns pipemaking into a competitive sport, encouraging artists to display what they do best and push it to the next level. Now the competition is in its 12th year and many other similar competitions have arisen, but Pipe Classic still holds a unique energy. These three quotes from people involved in the Classic, illustrate what the Pipe Classic represents to the artists and everyone involved.
“Pipe Classic, being the original pipe contest has kind of a true feeling. A lot of contests are going from a lot of different angles. What I get out of pipe classic is it’s intimate and it’s small, it’s homey and it’s humbling. It’s one of the best exercises the artist could do for themselves to come and push themselves in the timeframe. I think Pipe Classic is a lot more organized than a lot of the contests, and I think the overall feeling is welcoming. It’s a chance for us to share our ideas, it’s a chance for us to share our actual personalities. When you get a chance to hang out with the artists and really see who they are, it gives you opportunities to respect their vision and understand their visions a little bit more in depth for yourself. The classic, to me, its more of a family affair. It’s the original.”
-Merc Stanley (Competitor)
“The event is truly fair, and the only way to do that, I think, is to keep the rules really, really simple. The piece has to be made in the Bern Gallery, or the Bern Gallery venues. It has to be a pipe, functional. It has to be made in 12 hours, and that’s really firm, you go over by 2 seconds and whatever you are touching, you can’t use. And the piece has to be made from scratch, that is absolutely key, you can’t bring any premade sections, or premade anything, or else it becomes like a weld-off, and that’s not what we had in mind. That’s why we give 12 full hours. I feel like 12 hours is enough time to really showcase somebody’s work and what they can do. Maybe they won’t be able to do everything they can do, but they can give a really good representation of their work.”
-Tito Bern (owner of Bern Gallery)
“Even though we have to start from scratch, I still can get ten times more done than any other flame off. Most flame offs are like two to three hours. So far pipe classic is holding it down as the fairest, longest time that you can have to make a pipe in a competition.”
-Eusheen Goines (Competitor)
The Pipe Classic, and other such gatherings, showcase a great example of what is going on in the world of glass pipes. These events bring the top minds of the movement together to interact, compete and ultimately auction off their pieces. During this time the artists can also get to know their fans and collectors, and just have a good time in general (lots of partying usually takes place). It is events like this that keep the movement alive, exciting and full of positive energy.
As the pipe art world diversifies, artists are taking the form of the pipe in different directions. Some focus on producing simple, clean, neat forms, while others like to go big and sculptural. As a versatile medium, glass can take on the form of anything that one has the creativity to conceive and the hand skills to create. However in this industry, which is growing larger by the day, only a handful of artists are really innovating and broadening our understanding of what can be done with borosilicate glass. One such artist is known by his alias “Banjo.”
Banjo
Glass artist Banjo, who has been working with glass for 19 years, had no intention of making “art” when he began blowing glass. He had been traveling around the country attending hippie festivals when he discovered that he had a child on the way and needed to find a steady income. That was when he found the medium of glass and the rest is history. Banjo is renowned throughout the pipe art community as being on the top tier of the industry. You would be hard pressed to find a pipe artist who does not look up to Banjo. At one time, he studied for a bachelor’s of fine art, but never fully assimilated to the customs of the art world (for example having to define the meaning of his work). That was one of the things that drew him into the pipe world. In an interview with Modern Art Blitz, Banjo describes:
“It doesn’t need to be justified, you don’t have to have it critiqued, you don’t have to defend it, or any of that. It just sells because it is a utilitarian object.”
Banjo is known for many things, but his large sculptural pipes, adorned with intricate technicolored pattern work as well as faceted glass crystals, gears and other accents that support the piece but also protrude outwards from it at all angles with explosive gesture, have a presence of their own. Even those with no knowledge of the pipe world are typically blown away by the level of detail and mastery of the medium that Banjo’s work displays. He is known for his attention to detail and symmetry and for taking his time with his work, often spending several weeks on a single piece. Banjo has been known for many years as being a stand out in the pipe world, and his collaborative efforts have yielded some of the largest, most highly adorned glass pipes ever created. It is only recently, however, that Banjo has focused on his artistic vision and what messages he wishes to convey with his work. To quote Banjo:
“I’m very fresh in trying to use my platform to bring up conversation in things that are, I feel, useful for humanity and for people who are trying to grow and become better people.”
This new introspection is a change from the punk-rock attitude of his youth. Several years ago, in a film documenting a collaboration between himself and fellow pipe artist Darby Holmes, Banjo, was asked about the meaning of the work they made, to which he had this to say:
“What does this piece mean? What do these pieces mean? It means that I got to come up and hang out with Darby and his family for a couple days, and have fun and make something that we think is beautiful, and badass. I had three and a half years in towards a bachelor’s of fine arts in sculpture and photography once upon a time. When it came to writing artist statements and describing what my work meant, I never really got good at that part. And one thing I can say about being a glass pipemaker, and a maker of glass pipe art, you don’t have to explain what you’re doing, and come up with some fancy “Here’s what it is I’m trying to do with my work.” Personally I just want to make badass shit. That’s what it means.”
Now it seems Banjo has found new meaning in his work and has spent much time contemplating what it is he would like to say with his platform. This transformation can be seen in his explanation of one of his newer pieces titled Isis Inanna Ina May as presented during his interview with Modern Art Blitz.
She’s basically the modern personification of the mother energy, the mother spirit, the mother earth Gaia. Originally in our first culture, we had the Sumerians, their goddess was Inanna, and by the time that culture moved into Egypt a few thousand years later, that same archetypical energy was referred to as Isis and we see the depictions and in that case its got the big wings. Now, I see Ina May Gaskin, who, I’m not sure if a lot of people know who she is, but she’s the modern mother of midwifery. I have six kids, I’ve had them all at home. Ina May was basically a hippie in the 70’s, was very do it yourself and really pioneered the modern movement of taking birth back from the hospitals and western science, back into the home and putting the power back into the parents and into the human you know, faith in the human process. This piece here was my attempt to bring awareness of her and her work to people who might not otherwise know. Its funny her name is Ina, which is so close to Inanna, she embodies that now. I think we need a new mythos in these times, she is who we should be looking to if we need to look to somebody to embody these kinds of things.
This new contemplative attitude of sacred intention carries boldly throughout his work. It is interesting, however, to see that even the artists who are pioneering this movement are sometimes unsure of where their work fits in to the world of fine art. As time moves forward pipemakers are growing up and reconsidering the intentions behind their inventions. Banjo has recently been focused on, in his words, “trying to compress some of the aesthetics that I’ve been working on at a large scale, down into a smaller package.” His new work has been very well received; often selling in the high five figures almost as soon as it hits the market. In this age of social media, Banjo has tapped into and harnessed the energy of the movement and says:
“Right now, a lot of the people who are supporting this art are in their early 20’s, some of them don’t even have cars or houses yet, but they will spend 20 or 30 thousand dollars on one of these, and they’ll carry it around in a gun case, and bring it to their friends houses and sesh it and share them! This art thing is crazy! I mean how much art do you see that gets handled and passed around the room in a ceremony?”
Even with his huge success, and underground celebrity status, his modest, humble attitude has gained him much deserved respect throughout the scene. Banjo has been pioneering the movement for years, showing the glass kids what is possible, and inspiring them to reach beyond.
Slow Recognition of Pipe Art by the Glass Art Establishment
As the prohibition of drugs and the demonization of drug culture proliferated in the United States, it kept the pipe art movement underground. Now, however, as the movement is growing into its late 20s the artists and craftsmen possess the skills to make very impressive work that carries meaning. Although this work was shunned for many years by the contemporary glass movement, it is beginning to emerge there as a subject of interest. The scene has grown so large and gained such attention that it is hardly deniable anymore. Even those who are still fervently dismissive can’t deny the momentum of the movement. The money being made by pipe makers also seems to attract people’s respect.
One pipe maker who has worked tirelessly to connect the glass pipe world to the fine art world is Micah Evans. Evans has always approached his work from two sides, his design/craft side and his fine art side. Just like his functional work, his non-functional work was made out of a necessity to create. He discovered that by broadcasting his fine art to one community and his pipe art to another he could protect his identity as a pipemaker from the mainstream until the world was ready for it.
Micah Evans at Penland
In the summer of 2011, Micah Evans worked as a teacher’s assistant for fine art flameworker Carmen Lozar at the Penland School of Crafts (a craft school in North Carolina that offers adult classes in traditional craft media such as metals, wood, fiber, glass etc.). This was his first encounter with a traditional craft school. “In five minutes Carmen changed my whole perspective on my work, how I make it, what I think about,” Evans recounts. “It was her and it was also being in such an immersive educational experience.” Due to a long history of being shunned as a pipe artist, Evans hid that part of his life while at Penland and displayed only his “fine art” side projects that he made for amusement.
After assisting Lozar, Evans was invited back to the school that fall, this time as a teacher. There he taught a 2 month long intensive class, however due to the institutions “no pipe policy” he was not able to teach his true craft passion. Nevertheless it was still a big opportunity and he treated it with the utmost professionalism. It was during this class that Evans learned of Penland’s residency program. Most institutions offer artist residencies lasting anywhere from a week to several months. Penland’s residency, however, was a three-year program in which the accepted artists are provided with a studio, an apartment, and food for three years, without any restrictions or obligations as to what the artists can make. After teaching the 2 month class, Evans decided to apply for the residency. Due to the nature of this residency program there is a high demand for the position and many applicants for the spot. Fearful that the school would not want a known pipe maker as resident artist, Evans entirely omitted the pipe side of his portfolio, and submitted only his fine art. Here is an excerpt from his application.
“My work is a combination of things I want to make and things I cannot help but make. I started working with glass almost exclusively as a medium in the late 90’s. I spent the better part of a decade trying to gain the skill set to speak the material fluently. My goal for this residency is to refine the content of my work. To expose myself to new materials and processes that will expand my vocabulary as a maker.”
Miraculously, Micah Evans was accepted as one of Penland’s resident artists in 2012. Upon his arrival he became increasingly fearful, thinking that perhaps the people in charge were not aware that he made pipes at all. What if they were to find out and ask him to leave? As he had invested all of his money into moving out to Penland, he was unsure as to what he would do if such a situation were to arise. Upon entering the craft community, however, Evans realized that most people were not so opposed to the concept of pipemaking, and that the initial negative response was more about how the topic had been presented. At Penland, Evans was able to relate to people on a craftsmen to craftsmen level and help them to understand why the objects that he makes are important to him. Now that Evans had a newfound understanding of how to approach the traditional fine art/craft community, he was able to engage in an open exchange of ideas with people from all walks of life, many of whom had drastically different perspectives on their work, and life in general. For example, Evans remarked “The amount I learned from the 85 year old weaver sitting next to me at lunch was astounding!”
As it turned out, those in charge at Penland had known about Evans’ pipes all along, but they believed in him and supported him as an artist anyway. Upon discovering this, Evans realized that the work and narrative he had been presenting excluded 80% of the full story. He made the decision to face the issue head on, and present to his peers the real underpinnings of his glass career. To his surprise people were fascinated.
Evans ended his three-year residency by teaching another two-month intensive class. This time he taught an advanced class and was given permission to jury the applicants himself. In this way he was able to amass a class of young up-and-comers in the pipe industry. This was his final attempt to expose the craft school to “a broad spectrum of the pipe community.” He kept his mission secret until about a week into the class when he presented to the Penland faculty what it was that all of his students did for a living. He made it clear that the students take their work very seriously and he encouraged his contemporaries to come talk with his students and see for themselves. Those in charge at Penland were impressed to say the least, and after the first week of the class Evans and his students were given permission to make pipes at Penland. A seven-week intensive pipemaking crash course ensued.
When his residency at Penland was over, Evans returned to his home in Austin, Texas with a very nice art portfolio and a better understanding of his love for the pipe. He had also learned how to have a conversation about pipemaking, and be taken seriously. Soon other craft schools took note and Micah Evans was invited to teach classes first at Pilchuck Glass School and then the Corning Museum of Glass. In both cases, Evans made it clear that he would only teach there if they allowed his students to make the work that they are passionate about: glass pipes. Both of these establishments of contemporary glass art had strict “no pipe making” policies in place before his arrival, and both of them removed the policy so that Evans would teach there. In this way, Evans has been blazing the path for the acceptance of pipe makers in the world of fine art and high craft.
How the Pipe Art Movement has Expanded the Medium of Borosilicate Glass
One example of how pipe making has influenced the world of glass at large is that, in response to demand for color by pipe artists, many color batching companies sprang up to supply them. Borosilicate glass, which was a medium used primarily for scientific apparatus due to its high thermal retention, was also popular for pipemaking for this reason. It wasn’t until 1986, however, when Paul Trautman opened a color company called Northstar Glass, that Borosilicate color became available to artists. According to Abe Fleishman, the current owner of Northstar, “There’s no doubt in the world that this color would not be here without the pipe industry.” Soon Northstar’s palette had expanded from 12–20 colors to hundreds of colors. Northstar wasn’t the only company batching artistic boro color. Several other companies opened up such as Glass Alchemy and Momkas Glass, and eventually Paul Trautman left Northstar to start another company, Trautman Art Glass. Now, in 2017, there seem to be independent color companies and small batch glass labs popping up all over the country, and the Boro color palette now includes thousands of colors for eager young pipe makers to get their hands on.
In addition to the new colors, artist Marcell Braun, one of the early pipemakers from Corvallis, OR, worked with the company Skutt to develop new kiln technology specifically geared towards the needs of the modern pipemaker. The result was the Scarab series of kiln, the first kiln designed for making large, artisanal pipes. The Skutt scarab (as well as the micro, mini and xl) is revered by many pipemakers as top of the line kiln for the work. New tools have also been created to help facilitate this unique form of glass working. (Graphite reamers, paddles and sculpting tools, tweezers, shears and tongs, etc.). Many of the leading artists in the flamework community have designed and put out custom tools, such as the Mickelson egg, the Stump Sucker, and the Salt Trim Shears, again the list goes on.
Final Thoughts
The pipe art community, despite its rocky past, has emerged as a relevant movement. Whether or not you see it as art, the passion and skill displayed by the makers is undeniable. The movement has made inroads into the world of fine art and high craft, and has heavily impacted the glass community by opening up the possibilities of artistic flamework. It has brought about the creation of new glass colors, tools and technology. As the movement continues to expand, along with the growing cultural acceptance of cannabis, the work is getting better and achieving higher value. It is only a matter of time before this movement goes mainstream and is recognized by the world as a relevant, historical craft/art movement. I would like to leave you with various quotes from different artists in the scene, describing how they see themselves and the movement as a whole. Their voices offer a perfect illustration of this fascinating subculture and the overall vision of the pipe art community.
Quotes
“If I wasn’t making pipes I’d be creating something, I’ve got something inside of me that wants to create. Pipes just seem more untamed than traditional forms of glass art. It seems like the possibilities are so much more limitless.”
-Bearclaw
“I use pipes to explore new techniques. Just build this level of skill within a new shape or design that I want to apply to my fine art. I can apply it to pipemaking and people support impressive work that’s changing and progressing and going through a refinement process. They love to see the evolution. So I’m able to make a series of pieces exploring, like a lot of these curves that I’ve been doing in design. Stuff that’s all geared towards what I’m designing on sculpture that’s not functional, I’m able to use those same techniques and same design in my pipes, and it allows me to explore and develop ideas and get paid to do it. I don’t have to think about a destination or money or time and I can just make my art that I want to make with no restrictions. That’s what pipemaking allows me to do. Pipemaking pays the bills. And it allows me the flexibility to spend sixty percent of my time on my fine art and not have to worry about selling any of it. As far as I go as an artist, that’s the best it could be.”
-Micah Evans
“If you put it in the context of art, then it is art. Sometimes it’s a controversial subject, but, placed in the right context, it is as legitimate as anything else in the world.”
-Pakoh
“Money follows passion is basically my number one belief. Half of the pieces that we make today, you cant even tell that they’re pipes. Art is in the eye of the beholder. One of the main reasons all of us are where we are is exposure. We’re making awesome stuff its just like no one is really seeing it. The pipe world sees it and then it disappears really quickly. Any day now the rest of the art world is gonna wake up and be like “damn these guys are throwing down!” The progression is going to get faster and faster the more we all keep hanging out. There’s not that many of us in this industry that really know how to kick around borosilicate glass like this so the way I see it is we just need to team up and make the biggest baddest stuff and make some history.”
-Buck
