What is your favorite color, and why?
It’s really hard to choose because I love so many of the vibrant colors we work with. Blues, greens, oranges, and reds. But if I only had to pick one, I would pick a dark ruby red. It was my mother’s favorite color of glass, and it just speaks to me with all those good childhood memories.
Why do you love the medium of glass?
I love the vibrancy of glass and the infinite variety of colors, shapes, and textures. The most precious commodity in glassblowing is time. So many ideas pop into your head when working with glass and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to make them all!
What is the history of Art by Fire?
Art by Fire was founded by artists Renée Robbins Pound and Lenoard Whitfield in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Renee and Lenoard created a gallery and studio for students and artists to be able to create and sell their work. In 2004, Art by Fire made a thousand floats to create a memorial that recognized and celebrated the bravery and courage of those lost on September 11th, without dwelling on the brutality of the acts of that day. The floats were created in an array of colors and stamped with the words “Never forget 9-11.” They were hidden on two Seattle beaches for people to discover the morning of September 11, 2004.
In 2007 Art by Fire moved to Issaquah’s quaint Olde Town. A few years later, in 2012, Art and I moved to Issaquah. It was our 25th wedding anniversary that month, and I gifted Art with a class at Art by Fire for us to take together. We both got completely hooked on glass and were spending almost every weekend blowing glass. In 2015, Lenoard and Renee decided to “retire” from the studio to focus on their art, so Art and I took the studio over. We have been running Art by Fire for 10 years now, and have a talented team working with us to make blown glass, and to teach.
What would you like us to know about the members of the Art by Fire team?
We have been blessed with a wonderful team who contribute greatly to Art by Fire. Since Art and I both also have positions in the tech industry, our strong team is crucial to Art by Fire’s success.
Tony Huss has been with Art by Fire for 6 years as our online specialist. He takes lovely pictures of our work, and has built our Etsy store to bring Art by Fire’s work to the world. Tony is a paint and photography artist in his own right, specializing in modern art and stunning urban and natural landscapes in his photography.
Brad Stearns has been our Lead Artist for the past 5 years. Brad is a local artist who has been creating blown glass for over 20 years. Brad is inspired by classical Italian cane vessels, late 19th and early 20th century Art Nouveau, buried ancient objects and reliquaries, color and texture creation through chemical interactions, and organics in our natural world.
Brad’s glassblowing team also includes Dan and Dylan. Dan is a gifted glassblower in his own right who has worked at several glass studios on both coasts. Dan and Dylan are also students. Dan is in college, and Dylan is in flight school. Dan and Dylan both graduated from local Sammamish High School, which has an excellent glassblowing program.
Alec is the newest member of our team and has just joined Art by Fire to help with our gallery.
Is there a particular project that you find symbolic of the Art by Fire experience?
Making glass art is often a journey of discovery. Most pieces you see in a gallery have several attempts behind them before the vision is achieved. Art by Fire has also worked over the years to make the world a better place.
The Art by Fire team worked with Art Freas’s designs and designer Russ Daniels to design a beautiful stainless steel and lighted glass installation for Valley Medical Center’s meditation garden. The piece was entitled “Gratitude” to honor and thank all the health workers who helped during the COVID epidemic. This process involved many meetings with the Valley Medical Center team to offer several initial designs, discuss the practical needs for this art.
Making glass art is often a journey of discovery. Most pieces you see in a gallery have several attempts behind them before the vision is achieved. Art by Fire has also worked over the years to making the world a better place.
The Art by Fire team worked with Art Freas’s designs and designer Russ Daniels to design a beautiful stainless steel and lighted glass installation for Valley Medical Center’s meditation garden. The piece was entitled “Gratitude” to honor and thank all the health workers who helped during the COVID epidemic. This process involved many meetings with the Valley Medical Center team to offer several initial designs, discuss the practical needs for this art, and then finally install our first installation at Valley Medical Center. We had many discoveries along the way on the design, having the custom metalwork created and even with the installation process.
Brad was attracted to the bright candy colors and wanted to experiment with challenging new shapes in glass. While you are making a piece, the glass transitions from the consistency of honey to firmness. Any small motion can create radically different results. Creating a new shape is a learning process in finding the exact motions and timing to achieve the shape you want.
Olde Town Issaquah is a quaint, charming town. It’s a step away from the daily grind you find in the surrounding area. It’s an area of restaurants, musicians and artists. We strive to be welcoming to everyone who walks through our doors and bring that love of creativity to all our students. I think being in that environment helps us to stay focused on bringing beauty and joy to people’s lives through our art.
There are no rules to color. Use the colors that speak to you! Whatever color combinations speak to you, I can guarantee you can find an artist who also loves those colors together. Find the colors that bring you joy or bring you peace and surround yourself with them. Let them bring you small moments of pleasure as you go about your day.