“Creativity takes courage.” — Henri Matisse
Can’t Every Artist be Internationally Known Today?
Yes, it’s true. With the Internet, any artist with a good camera and a willingness to develop a web site can become well-known worldwide. Many have.
We have met glass artists in their studios and galleries all across the United States. For example, we recently introduced you to Matt Fenske in the story The Art of Making Marbles in the 21st Century.
But…You Can’t Beat “Face Time”
We have been fortunate enough to see some of these artists at work. And we know that many adopt the philosophy of “if you make it, they will come.” Often they do not have the time for the demands of effective Internet marketing and sales. And many simply do not have the needed technical skills or any interest in acquiring them or hiring someone to build and manage their web space.
They would much rather open the glasshouse to visitors and potential customers. And create. Many visitors come from far away, but these artists also take their work to marble shows, arts and crafts festivals, established flea markets, and regional antique fairs which sometimes spread across an entire town and last for days.
Artists enjoy meeting people and showing them their work. They can tell the potential buyer what drew them to create a particular marble and they can promote their work. Most are very enthusiastic and we have been fortunate to meet many glass artists.
A Local Flavor
In the related story, Contemporary Art Glass Marbles, we examined the work of Sara Sally LeGrand, Jody Fine, Steven Maslach, Jim Davis, and others.
In this story we will introduce you to some fine artists whose work you may not know. We met many of them at antique fairs and marble shows.
Arcadia & Ian
Anyone with even a passing interest in all things Florida remembers Hurricane Ian which struck Florida with Category 4 force the last week of September 2022. Arcadia, in central Florida, is one of our favorite small towns anywhere, and it was terribly damaged by wind and flooding from the Peace River.
Arcadia was one of our “go to” marble towns. In addition to vintage and antique marbles, the shops featured the work of regional and national marble artists.
The Heard Opera House, which houses one of our favorite shops, is temporarily closed. It sits in the Historic District which was built in the 1800’s. It was badly damaged during the storm. The 4 square mile town is special: “Cowboys are seen everywhere in Arcadia and the surrounding farms and villages. These are not drug store cowboys; they are the real thing. …While Arcadia City Center is only 4 square miles, it manages to honor its history, draw antique lovers from all over, and offers something for all interests.”1
Arcadia is no stranger to natural disaster. In 1905 much of the town burned in a catastrophic fire which ravaged the central business district.
We hope that the Arcadians will rebuild and reopened…again.
Tanner Castle & the Glass Lama[1]
The last time we visited Arcadia was in the winter of 2019. We did see cowboys, innumerable range cows, and a mallard nesting inside a tree! We ate a “down home cooking” lunch, spent the day at the Antique Fair and we had a wonderful time. And late in the day we met Tanner Castle, who was set up on the sidewalk during one of Arcadia’s festivals.
Courtesy of DeSoto County, Florida
The Glass Lama is in Fort Myers; this is where Castle creates astonishing works of glass art. Fort Myers is about 50 miles and one hour driving time from Arcadia.
We enjoyed talking with him and we had a long conversation. We also bought an art marble for about $70.00. This is considerably less expensive than the same marble sold for online at the time. Prices can be cheaper when the artist doesn’t have to buy supplies, pack, and ship. Castle’s work has appreciated since 2019.
Castle gave us a small marble rest which he made from driftwood. It is a part of the marble assemblage. You can see the driftwood in a photograph above. If you check his Etsy site[2] you will see that Castle often incorporates wood and other media into his art. This concept really appeals to us because every time we visit a beach we look for driftwood, shells, worn ceramic, and even stones that we can use as marble rests.
Marbles Are Beautiful
The marble which we bought is called “Botanist Envy”. It is 1⅝”. This is what Castle wrote about the marble online at the time: “This anomalous plant life entices with its fluorescent green leaves, but don’t let its beauty fool you. This plant is a hunter and beauty is its prey. Here it is absorbing the charms of a smitten opal. The plant’s discerning eye is on the reverse, vainly judging its handsome victims.”[3]
The marble is torch work made with Borosillicate glass. It also appears to have been fumed; there is some type gold on some of the leaves. The single most unusual thing about the marble is the large man-made opal (“a smitten opal”) suspended right in the middle of the marble over the “plant”.
We enjoyed talking with Castle, who set up in front of the Koch building downtown, and we did not question him further about the opal inside the marble. While we cannot know for sure, we do believe that the opal is synthetic or lab-made. “The Gilson process is considered the chemical process closest to the way nature makes opal. Created by Pierre Gilson Sr. in 1974 in a laboratory in France, the process produces opal that mimics all the chemical and physical properties of genuine opal and takes 14 to 18 months to grow.”[4]
Adding the opal as a third media to the marble is a brilliant idea and it makes this work of art unique and very desirable.
Jo Marie Brotherton (JoBro Glass)
We met Ms. Brotherton in May 2022 at the Marbles in the Mountains show which was held in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. She is a Member at Large of the Foothills Craft Guild where she juried in glass. The Foothills is based in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“A member of Foothills since 2017 …. Graduate of the University of Tennessee in 1980 with a degree in art education. Worked at Knox Glass in their art department doing stained glass windows for the World’s Fair [Knoxville 1982], eventually becoming Vice-President…. Retired in 2000 and currently President of the Tennessee chapter of International Society of Glass Beadmakers. While serving on the Board would like to help promote all artists and help them have an active online presence through better photography of artwork, better communication skills and shipping/delivery.”[5]
Ms. Brotherton had a table next to ours in the conference room with an assortment of her work. It is very clear from examining her art that she is much more than a glass marble maker: she is a glass artist. The photograph above shows one of her gorgeous 1⅛” marbles.
Peter J. Connell
In June 2011 our nephew Mitchell Dunn gifted us with an art marble which he bought in Boone, North Carolina. At the time the High Country Glass Studio of contemporary artist Peter J. Connell was in Boone and Mitchell often visited the Studio when in town.
Google tells us that “Boone is a town in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. In Daniel Boone Park, the Hickory Ridge Living History Museum re-creates 1700s homestead life. Also in the park, the long-running seasonal drama “Horn in the West” evokes the struggles of pioneers like Boone. The Blue Ridge Parkway winds past town, offering mountain views. Nearby, Grandfather Mountain features a high suspension footbridge and a nature museum. “ Boone is certainly one of our favorite places in Appalachia.
Mitchell first bought contemporary art marbles at the Studio in 2009 and he met Connell then. Connell has a fascinating background as a metal chaser and artist in metal. He was seriously injured in a skateboarding accident and during his year of recovery he turned to glassblowing. Sometimes, like Tanner Castle, Connell incorporated metal into his glass art compositions.
In 2011 Mitch bought two marbles from Connell. They are signed on the bottom ‘PJC 2011’. Ours is a 1¾” Vortex marble with a large suspended transparent bubble over yellow flora, with a rake-pulled reverse design. It is a very unusual and beautiful design.
We placed this photograph here to illustrate the Vortex. You can clearly see the bubble in the lead photograph to this section of the post. We insert it again to illustrate the bubble at the top of the marble and the unusual rake-pull design on the bottom.
Connell left High Country Glass after eight years. In 2015 he and others in the Studio moved nearby to Soul Shine Family Glass where he planned to retail his art.
“Let Us Cross the River…”
Well, this has been fun! We have introduced you to some regional and local glass artists. But there are so many more! If you already have glass art marbles in your collection, congratulations! But if you don’t we strongly encourage you to plan a trip to a long-standing flea market, a nearby glass studio, an art fair, or an antique festival. Keep a sharp eye out for a glass maker and introduce yourself.
As a rule we have found these artist friendly and fun to meet. And if you do have a chance to visit an art glass studio you may have the chance to watch the artist at work. We once wandered into a studio in West Virginia and the artist actually made a marble for us on the spot with antique German tools!
You just never know what you will find next. Above all, happy hunting!
Are you or can you recommend a glass marble artist for us to profile in this emagazine? Please make your suggestion on the Contact page.
- Check him out at: https://www.instagram.com/glasslama/?hl=en 2/1/2023 ↑
- https://www.etsy.com/shop/GlassLama?page=2#items 2/1/2023 ↑
- https://www.instagram.com/p/BV92Z2kA0f8/ 2/24/2019. ↑
- https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8104sci3.html 2/3/2023 ↑
- Photograph: https://www.facebook.com/JoMarieBrotherton/ (5/24/2022); Text: https://www.foothillscraftguild.net/jo-marie-brotherton.html 5/24/2022 ↑
