"Pilchuck Glass School, started by glass artist Dale Chihuly in 1971, has an international reputation, and draws students and teachers from around the world.
The school is isolated, in the woods on private property northeast of Stanwood. The teachers, staff and students live on campus for three-week sessions, said Sara Ball, Pilchuck Glass School spokeswoman.
In addition to the summer sessions, Pilchuck Glass School has a resident artist program, where two non-glass artists live and work on campus during each summer session, Ball said. A team of craftsmen and women translate the artists' vision into glass.
The school also hosts emerging glass artists from September to November, she said.
It's hard to believe a chunky bit of glass can become an elaborate goblet.
However, that's exactly what glass artist Adam Smith, of Camano Island, did while attending the glass school for the last several weeks.
Smith had wanted to take a class at Pilchuck for a while. As a fifth-grade teacher at Utsalady Elementary, the summer off meant he had the time.
Smith started working with glass after taking lessons at Seattle Glassblowing Studio six years ago. After that, he taught himself, and created pieces at his home studio, Spinfire Glassworks.
Smith took "Cups with Cane," taught by Tom Rowney, an Australian glass artist. It is one of the most challenging things that someone can do with glass, he said.
To make a cup, Smith said he starts with a chunk of glass, and then elongates the heated glass into a long tube, called a cane, which is cut into smaller pieces. Some of those pieces become a cylinder, which Smith then blows into the goblet part of the cup.
First, Rowney explained the techniques, Smith said. Each day, he demonstrated them to the class for three hours.
Students started with the basic glass shape and ended with wine glasses.
Smith also got the chance to watch other classes, including "Fashioning Glass," offered by Preston Singletary, and "Fundamentals of Lampworking," by Roger Parramore.
Smith said he could walk into any of the many shops on campus and ask a question on how to do something, and have someone answer.
"There's no trade secrets," he said.
Some of the procedures take three people to successfully complete, Smith said. Everyone needs to know his or her part. For example, one person might make the stem, while another makes the goblet and the last makes the foot.
Smith said he learned techniques and skills that he wishes he had already known. Those techniques will apply to anything he does with glass in the future.
"My style's completely different now," he said.
He knows when he returns home, he will no longer be satisfied with his previous pieces.
"I can't say enough about the place," he said. "It's lifechanging." "
Pihl, K. "The modest celebrity." Stanwood/Camano News. August 18, 2009. Accessed September 3, 2009. http://www.scnews.com/news/2009/0818/front_page/002.html
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