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GLASS ARTISTS CREATE UNIQUE
GOBLETS FOR FESTIVAL
By Patsy Miller -
Special to the Star-Telegram
The lucky bidders at
GrapeFest's Vintner's Auction will come home with unique hand-blown
goblets that symbolize the city of Grapevine's bond with nearby
wineries and grape growers. The goblets are featured on the
GrapeFest posters and will be used during the toasts at the
black-tie Texas Wine Tribute.
The 17 goblets -
representing the 17 years of GrapeFest were created by glass blowers
David Gappa of Fort Worth and Gary Hayes of Grapevine who in a few
short years of artistic partnership have created their own unique
bond.
"We started out doing
our own designs," said Hayes. "Now everything is
collaborative. Our direction and visual concepts are
different, but by combining them our level of artistry and technical
expertise have taken quantum leaps."
Hayes is an
environmental manager who had worked in a variety of glass art
mediums for 20 years, but not handblown glass. He owned a
custom stained-glass design center and taught classes privately and
to college art students.
Gappa took a glass
blowing class as a "stress reliever" while completing his master of
architecture degree at the University of Texas at Arlington.
It became a passion. He studied art, architecture and glass in
Europe for a year and in 1999 he fulfilled his dream of opening
VETRO Glassblowing Studio, located in downtown Grapevine.
Hayes was introduced to
Gappa during another Grapevine event, Main Street Days, in 1999.
Hayes took a handblown paperweight class at VETRO and immediately
thought it superior to other glass mediums such as leaded glass,
etching, fusion, sandblasting that he had mastered.
"With handblown glass
there is much more of an immediate reward. With other glass
forms, it's deferred gratification," Hayes explained. "There are few
mediums that you are so very close to your work, but you can't touch
it. The furnace is 2000 degrees."
The goblets are examples
of their artistic melding. Hayes said his style is organic -
there is a floral influence. Gappa leans toward the
[symmetrical].
"We were given the
dimensions for the bowls of the goblets, but the color schemes and
stems were left up to us," said Gappa. "We started as always
by sketching with chalk on the concrete floor, playing with forms.
We came up with themes. One bowl looks like a grape.
There is a pair that we call 'the dancers'. Goblets are the
most technically difficult to do of all glass pieces. They are
very thin and delicate. It actually takes more skill to do
goblets than a much larger vase. That just takes muscle,"
Gappa added.
The two go through a lot
of chalk as they work out a design on VETRO's concrete floor.
"We may go through 3 or 4 sketches until it clicks for both of us.
That's just the first stage of the process. It may take months
or years to determine if the glass piece can technically be created
and then actually produce it," Gappa stated.
"During the glassblowing
process, we seem to instinctively know what the other needs," Hayes
said. "We communicate by nods. Of course, the initial
design has been carefully planned. Our approach is that a
piece of glass art has to stand the test of time. We will
never be an assembly-line studio. It really is a more
classical approach," he explained.
Gappa promotes an open
door policy at VETRO, encouraging professionals, novices and the
curious to visit and watch artists at work. All the equipment
has been built by hand.
Following a summer
hiatus, the furnaces will be fired up for the public on August 30
and then every Tuesday and Thursday night from 6 to 10pm. On
Saturdays, the glassblowing studio is open from 10am - 5pm. In
addition to custom designs, repairs and large installations, the
studio and gallery is available to the public for parties, tours,
demonstrations and classes.
"We encourage
relationships with glassblowing artists from all over the country.
We invite them here to share their ideas and techniques and Gary and
I study at other studios and workshops," said Gappa.
The two recently
returned from an international convention of glassblowers in
Seattle. Hayes spent two weeks in Corning NY learning new
techniques.
"I have a low threshold
of boredom, but with glassblowing you can spend a lifetime and never
master the art form," said Hayes.
For more information on
VETRO glass pieces, classes and events, visit the Web site at
www.VetroArtGlass.com or call 817-251-1668.
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