Glass blowing exhibition at the Desert Botanical Gardens

In a fascinating series of shows, the Highway Hotshop owned by Joshua Dopp and Adam Frus demonstrated new techniques in the ancient art of glass blowing.

While Adam kept up a running commentary explaining the details of the glass blowing, they used their mobile unit working in concert to create some stunning vases, flowers, bowels and even a flying heart. Unfortunately, I left my real camera at home and had to rely on my iPhone camera. Sort of like using a sponge to pound nails. At the end of the demonstration, they ladled out their left-over molten glass onto a table for an impressive end to a very good demonstration.

Arizona is not the glass blowing capital of the world, but Highway Hotshop's new mobile unit gives a very accessible insight into this very difficult and technical art. Glassblowing dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt and Phoenicia.

The earliest evidence of glassblowing comes from a collection of waste from a glass workshop, including fragments of glass tubes, glass rods and tiny blown bottles, which was dumped in a mikvah, a ritual bath in the Jewish Quarter of Old City of Jerusalem dated from 37 to 4 B.C. Some of the glass tubes recovered are fire-closed at one end and are partially inflated by blowing through the open end while still hot to form small bottle, thus they are considered as a rudimentary form of blowpipe. Hence, tube blowing not only represents the initial attempts of experimentation by glassworkers at blowing glass, it is also a revolutionary step the induced a change in conception and a deep understanding of glass. Such invention swiftly eclipsed all other traditional methods, such as casting and core-forming, in working glass. Wikipedia.

Arizona has several glass blowing studios, including the Antonius Studios in Prescott, ArizonaGlassArt in Scottsdale and The Glass Studio at the Mesa Arts Center, where, if I understood correctly, Joshua and Adam are currently teaching.

Thanks to Desert Botanical Gardens for sponsoring a very enjoyable evening.