Make Way for the Glass Artists

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Lawrenceville, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty, Downtown & The Cultural District, North Side, Oakland, South Side, Shadyside, Strip District, Friendship & Penn Ave Arts District 

Move over, Seattle. There’s a new kid on the glass block. Glass artists from around the United States are migrating to Pittsburgh to live, work, study, teach, and exhibit. And the infusion of talent promises to continue for a long time, thanks to a combination of affordable housing, accessible studio space and abundant moral support.

For nearly 40 years, the Pacific Northwest’s Emerald City has been a mecca for aspiring young glass artists hoping to be the next Dale Chihuly. But the high cost of living and working are pushing Seattle beyond the economic means of most newcomers. In their search for a less expensive location to hone their glass skills and earn a living at their craft, they heard one city mentioned again and again: Pittsburgh.

That’s right. The former Steel City and one-time industrial glassmaking capital of the United States today stands poised to transform its blue-collar heritage into a new image formed in the superheated furnaces of its burgeoning number of glass art studios. With a strong stock of relatively inexpensive real estate, practitioners from nearly every corner of the country are relocating here. In fact, since the opening of the Pittsburgh Glass Center in the city’s Friendship area, 25 glass artists have moved to the region to live and work. Among the first was Drew Hine.

“I moved here from Michigan, just a few months after college,” says the 28-year-old whose home and studio are on the Southside. “I knew of the Pittsburgh Glass Center and worked there when I first arrived here five years ago. Since then a lot of other people have moved to Pittsburgh because of the Glass Center and the growing community of glass artists here.”

With the Pittsburgh Glass Center acting as the magnet, the attraction pulls artists to Pittsburgh for plenty of creative and practical reasons.

“From the moment the Pittsburgh Glass Center opened, glass artists told their friends about us,” says Kathleen Mulcahy, a glass artist and a PGC co-founder with her husband, Ron Desmett. “We have a great hot studio for glass blowing. But we also have one of the better cold working finishing areas around. We try to have us much equipment on hand as possible so that local artists can make anything imaginable.”

Full-blown Support

While the PGC provides the base for nearly unlimited creativity, the increasing number of artists forms a critical mass of support and technical help — a necessity for a complicated, volatile process that can require as many as six helpers at critical moments.

“Making glass is a team effort,” says Hine. “Usually the person who’s creating the piece is in control. But usually there will be two to four other people to help with shaping, blowing and other tasks. Since this is such a tight-knit community and we all know each other, you can always find someone to help.”

Soon to join the community are Anthony Schafermeyer and Claire Kelly, a husband and wife team that will be setting up a residence and studio in Millvale.

“Pittsburgh has so many great elements in place,” says Kelly. “It’s a small city with a sophisticated arts community and great cultural establishments such as the Frick and Carnegie museums. We picked Millvale because we find the space we needed for a home and a place to work. Plus, the Glass Center is nearby for when we want to work on bigger projects. There’s a lot of potential there and all over the city. And it seems as though everything is happening so fast.”

Hine agrees that the glass art community’s evolving at a fast pace. “It’s growing quickly,” he says. “And really after a few years, it’s on the verge of thriving.”

Case in point: Hine already earns a living exclusively working as a glass artist. He credits an appreciative core of local collectors and area companies that commissions work from him and others. In addition, area galleries seem committed to nurturing the Pittsburgh’s burgeoning crop of glass artist. And one in particular provides a welcome home for artists to display and sell work. For the past nine years, Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery on Shadyside’s Ellsworth Avenue has been the only gallery to deal exclusively in art glass.

“I am certainly in the business of selling glass,” says owner Amy Morgan. “But it’s more about representing the artists and curating exciting exhibits that challenge people to see new and different work. That’s what makes the community grow.”

Long involved with the PGC, Morgan has witnessed the glass art scene grow tremendously during the past few years — and predicts an even brighter future.

“The influx of young people and artists is just beginning,” she says. “I don’t think we’ve come anywhere near the potential. Artists are starting to realize what Pittsburgh has to offer. That’s how it evolved in Seattle. Whether we have an artist on the level of Dale Chihuly to employ people at studio, that may not be the situation now. But I can imagine it happening. This is only the start.”