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TOUCH OF GLASS
A hot business for
this small Texas town.
By Jennifer McKenzie
From the outside, it
looks like a barn: weathered, worn, and built to house Texas farm
animals. But the interior of Grapevine Art Glass studio & Gallery
is more like a California art gallery: sophisticated, chic, and
contemporary. This is proof that the shell of a structure doesn’t
necessarily reveal what’s inside.
“Everything in here is
one of a kind – you couldn’t duplicate these pieces even if you
tried. That’s why it’s so amazing. And most pieces are signed,”
says Betty, as she cradles a $350 orange and blue vase that could
easily sell for $500 in a metropolitan city gallery. Tables and
store walls are lined with lamps, paperweights, wineglasses,
pendants, earrings, pins, and vases. Each piece, from artistic to
functional, is an explosion of colors crafted by flames up to 2,200
degrees.
Vetro!, the youngest
member of the team at only three years, is where visitors can
observe glass blowers at work. Thursday nights at Vetro! are like a
jazz band’s jam sessions, where the glass blowers perform their
magic while people sit and watch in awe. If the piece you watch
being blown survives the tedious process, you can later purchase it
in the gallery. Vetro! also teaches paperweight glass blowing
classes, even for the artistically challenged. Barton St. Stained
Glass is the place to buy supplies as well as completed stained
glass pieces. You can even commission a grand front door or
colorful window display.
Barton Street is buried
behind Main Street, but the best is often hard to find.
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