As September comes to a close, my work at the State Fair and Renaissance Festival are coming to an end. While it has been fun, it is also come time for me to start preparing for my last shows of the season. While I only have a few shows left before the end of the year I have started designing new lines of work, including some plain colored cut vases as well as ornaments for the holidays. These will be on display and for sale in October, check out my 'shows' page for details.

With the rush of summer ending I am also starting to focus more of my work on casting. While it is a slower process, the differences in form, detail, color and texture offer a fascinating juxtiposition when seen beside blown glass. I look forward to getting to work more with the process.

In other exciting news, the annual glass studio tour dates have been set. On October 13th and 14th, the public has a fantastic opportunity to travel to different glass studios around The Cities and see both different studio set ups as well as watch free demos and check out each artist's work. Personally I will be splitting my time between Foci Glass and David Royce Glass while taking time to visit many of the other artist's studios. I hope to see many of you there!

Unicorn

A demonstration piece I did at the Renaissance Festival!

Fish Cup

While it has been a while the Renaissance Festival has given me the chance to start making fish cups again. These are cups with little sculpted glass fish on the inside of them.

This one is filled with an Arnold Palmer, what a refreshing drink for a hot day at the fair.

Back in the swing of things

  I just got back from traveling the country, so I'm just getting back into the swing of things. While I was away, I got a chance to go down to Omaha, Nebraska t visit Hot Shops. Hot Shops is the place I first learned to blow glass. While I was there I was able to catch up with my first teacher, Ed Fennel, as well as several of the other glass blowers there. While I have improved immensily since leaving hot shops and while I now work out of two fantastic studio spaces, the variety of what is done in Hot Shops and the community focus on how it functions still fills me with wonder and joy every time I go down there. Even if I'm only there for an hour they always manage to teach me something new!

  I have had some recent exciting news that I got accepted into the new art fair that is being set up in Plymouth, MN in November. I will be setting up a booth there and selling some holiday wares as well as my typical work. I will also be traveling to Maine in October and will be selling work at a fair out there. If anyone has friends or family out East send them to see my work in Isleboro on October 7th.

  Inbetween travels I have been stopping back into town on the weekends to help Foci Glass man its booth at the Minnesota State Fair and more recently at the Renaissance Festival. While the days are long it is a lot of fun to give demos for all the people as well as to enjoy the atmosphere of being there. the Renaissance Festival is one of the most unique fairs we have and it is always a pleasure for me to go out there to work!

Lately I have gotten into the studio to produce some more work. I'm working on a new design set that is set to be unveiled at the Home and Garden Emporium at the Convention Center in mid-October. Just of note, it does require a paid admission fee.