Glass Blowing

 Fire ignites me. Working with glass is a remarkable avenue for transformative manifestation... Using elements from Mother Earth, we can create beauty through artistic expression while simultaneously experiencing phenomenal changes and shifts within ourselves. With glass, you begin with solids such as sand and powders of various colors, then moving into a highly viscous, molten state. You are working with the same materials but at a different level of expression, of evolution. Then in final stage, you are presented with yet another form. All from combining and melding the original pieces together into a new shape. All the ingredients are still the same!

This is a powerful metaphor for life and how we can grow and change dramatically through shifts in our perceptions, through our willingness to move forward out of our comfort zones and believe in new possibilities!

I began blowing glass over a decade ago in Arizona. It all happened rather bizarrely. I walked into a glass gallery to look around and before I knew it, the owner said he needed an apprentice and would I be interested? Sure! why not?

The strange part of this story is that I had been raised with the most beautiful glass artwork all around me. It was part of my life, not in a studio, but finished, elegant masterpieces. It was not until I had been in the studio watching and absorbing for three weeks that all of a sudden, a light switch flipped on inside of me. I said to the glass blower, “ Have you ever heard of Frederick Carder? He was my great, great grandfather?” The glass blower literally dropped his glass blowing pipe and stared at me with disbelief.

Frederick Carder was one of the most famous and extraordinary glass blowers that has ever lived. The inventor of Steuben and the founder of Corning glassware in New York. He pulled out a book of his works and stared open mouthed as I pointed to pieces I knew well and identified relatives in the photo in the inner fold of the book.

I blew glass for a year with no formal schooling but raising my son with working and going to the studio was a lot on my plate. There were difficulties in the studio as well among those of us working there. I left for studio for many personal reasons and about 2 years ago, I picked up the pipe again after over a decade of absence. This time in Colorado.

I was just stepping back into my creative center, very much an amateur not close to the arena of my great, great grandfather. At the present moment, I am currently taking a hiatus from glass blowing. I had just started back after a decade away and then with the loss of my son among other factors, I have needed to honor my heart and focus upon other areas within myself for the present time. I shall blow glass again! I have ideas how I feel to tie it together with my healing work and earth medicine.

With deepest gratitude, Amita.