Breathing new life into Glassblowing
Glass artist Jennifer Bennett is thrilled to be back in studio.
“It’s a roaring, smoky, exciting environment.”
After a lengthy COVID-19 shutdown, Bennett and other members of the Ottawa Glassblowing Cooperative are eager to start creating again.
“I think we’re kind of celebrating our own survival as a cooperative,” said Bennett.
“We opened our doors as a co-op in the fall of 2019, so we had not even made it through our first year before the pandemic hit,” she said.
“It is hopefully coming back to a place where we can be in here again, as often as we like, and work,” said glass artist, Melody Jewitt.
However, how they work has changed. Blowers of glass, now wearing masks, are using innovative techniques, not their breath, to inflate their creations.
“We’ve created two tools,” said Bennett.
“One of them works with compressed air and using your foot you can blow air into the piece that you’re working on”
“Another one looks a little like a blood pressure pump. So, you’re squeezing your hand and gently blowing air into the piece,” she said.
This foot pedal releases compressed air to inflate glass creations at the Ottawa Glassblowing Cooperative. Now that glassblowers are masked, they have had to develop innovative approaches to creating glass art in the studio. (Joel Haslam/CTV News Ottawa)
“They’re working brilliantly, actually. So, I think this is the way we’ll always work,” said Bennett.
It means glassblowing artists can continue to do what they love. Even if they can’t explain why they do it.
“I can’t really explain why. I literally signed up for glass blowing school even though I had never seen glass blowing before. I had never done it before, it was a ridiculous life choice to make, but I did that 27 years ago and it changed my life,” said Bennett.
“It’s been the focus of my life, the centre of my life, my biggest passion. I met my husband there. Why? I still can’t answer that question,” she laughs.
But they do remember the first time they saw others working their magic with glass and they couldn’t wait to try it themselves.
“I was just blown away, pun intended, by the whimsical dance of glass and watching it in real life took me over that edge and made me want to try it myself.”
Currently, the members of the Ottawa Glassblowing Cooperative are in the process of making glass pumpkins, a traditional fall fundraiser for glassblowing schools, cooperatives and communities across North America.
Glass pumpkins created for “The Great Glass Pumpkin Patch”, an event at the Arboretum this Saturday October 2nd from 10am-2pm (Joel Haslam/CTV News Ottawa)
“Pumpkins are a relatively simple thing to make but there’s a huge variety of what you can produce creatively,” said Bennett.
“It’s just a typical bubble but you blow it into a mold so it creates all these ridges to it and in the end you get this little artful twirl that you put off the end of it showing how fluid the glass is when you get the right timing,” said Jewitt.
You can visit the Great Glass Pumpkin Patch this Saturday, Oct. 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at ‘Autumn in the Arboretum’, an event organized by Friends of the Farm.
Two hundred glass pumpkins will be on display outdoors and for sale.
Glass pumpkins created for “The Great Glass Pumpkin Patch”, an event at the Arboretum this Saturday October 2nd from 10am-2pm (Joel Haslam/CTV News Ottawa)
The funds raised by the sale of each pumpkin will support the Ottawa Glassblowing Cooperative’s upcoming move to a new space.
“They’re knocking down the whole building and we need to find a new space in as little as a year,” said Jewitt.
It will allow glassblowers to continue to create art in a colourful world where artists can gather.
“It’s starting to become a really interesting and diverse community here in Ottawa,” said Bennett.
“And we want to nurture that and promote it.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Demonstrators kicked out of Ontario legislature for disruption after failed keffiyeh vote
A group of demonstrators were kicked out of the legislature after a second NDP motion calling for unanimous consent to reverse a ban on the keffiyeh failed to pass.
RCMP uncovers alleged plot by 2 Montreal men to illegally sell drones, equipment to Libya
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
Government agrees to US$138.7M settlement over FBI's botching of Larry Nassar assault allegations
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
BREAKING Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Man wanted in connection with deadly shooting in Toronto tops list of most wanted fugitives in Canada
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
Doctors ask Liberal government to reconsider capital gains tax change
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.