Eugenes Glassblowing Legacy

Small Town Glassblowing Community Thrives Both Locally and Nationally

Eugene, Oregon has an unmistakable small town feel, from its citizens laid-back attitudes, to the
seamless integration of the natural and the man made. Glassblowing, the art of manipulating
molten glass into different shapes and products, has blossomed into a distinguished profession
under these unique conditions. According to local glassblowing shops, the market for glass wares
such as pipes is booming. Eugene, due to its focus on local business, has been the perfect
springboard for the local glassblowing community to expand locally, as well as to break out on a
national level.
Sean OConnell is a manager at Cornerstone Glass, a company that sells glass wares, holds
glassblowing classes and rents work space out to independent glassblowers. His passion for
glassblowing began almost 13 years ago when his older brother introduced him to pipe making.
Youre mixing form and function, OConnell says about his craft, you could make a glass
dragon, or you could make a glass dragon that you could also smoke out of. I like the challenge
of making it functional. OConnells multidimensional concept of glassblowing is a fitting
comparison for the close-knit group that is the Eugene glassblowing community.
Members of the local glassblowing community often share with each other their knowledge of
effective glassblowing techniques and form. Chris Baker, an artist who currently works at Sweet
Tooth Glass, was introduced to glassblowing 7 years ago. He says an artist in Cottage Grove, a
town less than 30 minutes away from Eugene, inspired him when he showed him how to make
pendants. The artist then connected him to a raw glass vendor in Eugene. I went home and got a
little hand torch, set up a little shop in my shed, started making pendants, and I just kept working
from there, Baker says. He loves working at Sweet Tooth because of the ample learning
opportunities he gets from talking to the artists who rent space at the shop. Baker also likes going
to the many trade which attract glassblowing artists on a national level, because he says, you get
to see all this cool stuff and you get new ideas that you might not have thought of.
Although Eugenes tight knit community fosters new creativity and ideas among artists,
Technique is not the only benefit. For full time glassblowers connections forged within the glass
community function as an indispensable support network. Part of what we enjoy about being
self employed glassblowers is having a job that can be what we want it to be OConnell says. At
Cornerstone, glassblowers who rent space come and go as they please and make whatever they
want. However, increased personal freedom comes with increased personal duties. Independent
glassblowers are essentially in charge of their own businesses and are responsible for their own
cost management and marketing. Contacts within the glass community serve as a resource pool
for best business practices and as a network of glass vendors and potential customers.
Art collector Andrew Steier also knows firsthand the help that the community provides
glassblowers. Steier first became interested in the glass community when, in his junior year of
college, he received his first piece of glass from a friend. He eventually sold the piece, and the
money from the sale gave him the idea to start a business buying and selling glass art. This year
I became a locally owned business, so Im doing everything I can to work with as many local
artists as I can. he says. Steier has helped some glassblowers pay their rent by buying pieces

from them, a testament to the fact that local glassblowing community members can rely on each
other to make a living.
Steier says that besides being a useful business tool, the glass community has led him to a great
group of friends. I think the things these folks make are beautiful, but I collect glass because of
the people behind them. His extensive art collection reflects the bonds he has formed over the
course of his involvement with glassblowers and other artists. Steier credits Eugenes
glassblowing community with introducing him to other local artists such as woodworkers and
metal fabricators as well. He says, You meet all types of different folks just because youre in a
creative community.
Artists and collectors within the glass community have largely favorable opinions of their fellow
members. Steier says the connections he made through the glass community helped him hang out
with better people and become a better person. OConnell says, Locally, a lot of pipe makers
are good family people with their own social networks. There are a lot of pipe makers here.
Enough so that if you go to other parts of the country, they have heard of Eugene pipe makers.
Glassblowing has provided important benefits to the Eugene community as a whole. Beyond its
role as a unique discipline and visually stimulating art form, glassblowing functions as a glimpse
into the culture of Eugene which, aside from its claim to fame as the home the University of
Oregon, tends to be relatively unknown.
The glassblowing community is going strong locally as well as on a larger scale. Annually,
Cornerstone Glass holds the Degenerate Flame off, or DFO. In the 6 short years since DFO was
first held, it has evolved into a network of glassblowers on a global scale. This event fuses
Eugenes prestigious glass culture with glass communities from around the world. For 3 days
each year, glassblowers from all over pour into Eugene to buy and sell glass pieces, make
connections and watch some of the best glassblowers in the world compete to construct the most
outrageous, creative pieces they can. Baker says, The people who compete at the DFO inspire
me every year. I go right back to the shop afterwards and make new pieces all night. The DFO
continues to expand its reach and inspire more people with each passing year. This year DFO
will take place from June 27th through the 29th.