Blazing the way for Sustainable Artistry

Belfast — August 4, 2023 — It’s been a smokin’ summer for the Waterfall Arts Glassworks Studio — two sold-out weekend workshops led by celebrity guest glassblowers, Alex Rosenberg in May and Josh Bernbaum later this month, plus an invitation to speak as a member of the “Green + Sustainability Panel” during the 2023 Glass Art Society’s annual international conference this past June in Detroit. 

The Waterfall Arts Glassworks Studio Instructors Carmi Katsir and Brian Frus visited Detroit at the invitation of the Glass Arts Society (GAS) to speak during this annual conference, which attracts glass enthusiasts from around the world, providing a space to connect, learn, and build community through events, demonstration, lectures, exhibitions and panel discussions. Not only is it an honor to be a part of such a rich tradition of glass artistry and to be a hotspot, as it were, for creative strides in our local community, it is also a touching and humbling reminder of Waterfall Arts’ own efforts to highlight environmental responsibility in the arts. 

Brian Frus had this to say of his experience as the Green + Sustainability Panel monitor, which took place Saturday, June 10, 2023, “Waterfall Arts made an impact by presenting operational details about our bio-fuel glass studio. The full room of curious attendees lingered with questions well after the official presentation ended—hopefully our model will encourage other studios to build veggie-oil systems and spread a greener way of glassblowing.”

Annie Homola, one of the Waterfall Glassworks students who is well on her way to becoming an instructor, also attended the conference. In her words, “Brian did a great job! The part that stood out to me was just how eager conference attendees were for this information. The room was full. People stayed until the end, 1.5 hrs on a Saturday late afternoon, and they even stayed an extra half hour asking questions. They were engaged to the very end and then some. We even met some studio owners who had already called the Waterfall Arts’ office to ask questions about our system. Brian and I ended up blowing glass at their studio and I heard they dropped by recently to say hello.”

About the Waterfall Arts Glassworks Studio:

Waterfall Arts Glassworks is the only full-time, community-based public-access glassblowing studio of its kind in Maine.

Founded by glass artists David Jacobson and Carmi Katsir in 2020, Waterfall Arts Glassworks opens the wonderful world of hot glass to the public. The studio accommodates participants of all skill levels, from first-timers to experienced glassblowers. Waterfall Arts is proud to note that the studio is one of the few in the United States that is powered by electricity and waste vegetable oil rather than fossil fuels.

Waterfall Arts Glassworks is supported through generous donations, including a contribution by the Kao family in the memory of William Kao, honoring his life-long fascination with glass arts and crafts, as well as the great joy he found in learning to blow glass.  It is the family’s hope that the students of Waterfall Arts Glassworks will discover a similar joy.

The Glassworks studio offers both beginning and intermediate glass blowing classes, as well as one-on-one Glass Experiences, where groups from one person to a family or group of friends can book one hour or longer experiences and make something special together to take home. These sessions are open to those without any previous glass blowing experience and are great team-building exercises.

For more information visit waterfallarts.org

About the Glass Art Society (GAS):

Next year’s conference is scheduled to take place in Belgium, with past international locations ranging from Toronto, Canada (1989), to Seto, Japan (1998), Adelaide, Australia (2005), Murano, Italy (2018), and Småland, Sweden (2020).

From the Glass Art Society website: “Founded in 1971 by Fritz Dreisbach, Mark Peiser, and William Bernstein, the Glass Art Society was formed out of a desire to bring together the glass community so people could work together and learn from each other. Our founders decided to emulate the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), a very influential role model for arts organizations. In the 1960s, most glassblowers were also ceramic artists so they attended NCECA’s annual conferences. At the early NCECA meetings, ceramic and glass artists gathered together to share ideas and tricks, and the GAS founders learned many important aspects of how to successfully operate a craft-media organization.”

For more information visit glassart.org

About Waterfall Arts:

Launched in 2000, Waterfall Arts is a community arts center that offers resources to arts enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. We welcome the public to engage in the arts through classes, exhibitions, art events, performances, public art projects, open studios (in clay, glass, print, and darkroom photography) and more.For more information, visit waterfallarts.org, follow us @waterfallarts, or call 207-338-2222.