Glass
Ralph Behrendt
In 1986, after spending some 16 years in production management and sales, I decided to make a “life change”. My love for the arts had always been a strong one. I worked in photography during the mid 60’s and even showed my work in the mid 70’s. I wanted to incorporate my love of being an artist and my past skills of production management into one neat package. So, I started a custom picture framing business. Basically self-taught, I quickly became very good at this business, turning it into an art form all its own. While cruising along in this newfound love I was smacked in the face with something even better. I discovered GLASS! In 1989, after taking on a collection of art glass to sell in my gallery from the former J. Barrett Gallery, I met a glass artist named Jim Yarrito.
I assisted Jim Yarrito for a year and worked with another local glassblower, Tom Stienman. Tom helped me immensely by teaching me the value of keeping tight, precise packages when blowing glass. He taught me a lot more than just the basics. Tom’s tutelage taught me how to analyze master glassblowers and understand exactly what they were doing. Consequently, I have learned from a lot of great glassblowers. My current great influence is Walter Evans. While this name may mean little to most, Walter may have been the greatest production glassblower in the US working as a gaffer for 40 years. We have become close friends over the years. He generally comes to our annual open house in December where he still amazes everyone with his knowledge and ability to handle glass.
In 1993 I began doing outdoor art fairs. Since then I have exhibited in some of the finest art fairs across the US.
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125.00 |
300.00 |
400.00 |
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325.00 |
420.00 |
420.00 |
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$250.00 - $429.00 |
Larry "Lars" Mack
Nature provides the inspiration for my glass and copper garden creations. As a full-time artist, I design, produce and combine glass and copper forms to reflect their beauty for display in the garden and home. All of my work is performed by me alone in the studio and workshop.
Utilizing a blowpipe or prunte, molten glass is gathered and rolled with layers of various colors to establish one aspect of the final product. By blowing, crimping, pulling and twisting, each piece incorporates one or more of these techniques. When the decision is made to finalize the process, the glass is knocked off the tool and placed in an annealing oven overnight to slowly reduce the temperature of the piece.
The “cooler” stage of my production process takes place in the workshop where I flame paint, cut and solder copper pieces or wire to form leaves, butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies, etc. These copper or brass pieces are then attached to the glass flower or orb to complete the piece. When possible, I recycle copper as a method to design prototypes or to establish the “weathered” look of a piece.
I am a member of the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild and the Ohio Designer Craftsmen. To date, my work has been sold to more that 65 shops/galleries across the United States.
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$35.00 |
Mobile $125.00 |
$100 |
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w/Hummingbird $52 |
$27.00 - $40.00 |
$56.00 |
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$85.00 |
$90.00 |
$32.00 |
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Flowers $18.00 |
$55.00 |
$60.00 |
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$10.00 |
Small Pumpkins - $10.00 |
Small Hearts - $10.00 |
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$100.00 - $125.00 each |