Articles Feed

Glass Bead-Making

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:12:39 GMT

By Glenna Parks

GAIL CROZIER SITS, striking glass in one
hand, a wire called a mandrel in the other.
The bright flame of a torch burns between
them. She brings the glass rod into the flame
to melt it and carefully winds the molten
glass onto the mandrel, shaping the glass.
One by one, she fashions elaborate beads,
which she then strings on twisted wire to
create intricate, handmade jewelry.

“I started by stringing beads as a hobby,”
Gail begins. But unable to find the specific
sizes, shapes, and colors of beads that she
wanted for her projects, she decided to make
her own. After searching for bead-making
classes in her area, she found one at the St.
Louis City Museum in 1998 and began her
whirlwind adventure of learning different
types of working glass, kiln temperatures,
and shaping techniques.

Inspired by her new talent, Gail set up a
studio in her home and practiced the art for
a year and a half. She then discovered Craft
Alliance, a non-profit art gallery in St. Louis
that teaches aspiring artists and provides
lessons in bead-making, metalsmithing, and
fiber arts.

“I thought I was doing well right off, but
as it turns out, I wasn’t!” Gail admits that
she’s still learning new techniques and perfecting
the craft.

“It’s not hard to learn,” she says. “It’s hard
to do well. It takes a lot of practice.”

A typical day in the life of this lampworker
(called such because glass rods are shaped into
beads using the heat of a torch or lamp) starts
at 9 AM. Normally, she averages three hours
creating beads, but if a show is approaching,
she’ll spend four or five hours working.

A look at her work reveals both talent and
technique variety.

“I like a lot of spirals and swirls, shell, sea
creatures, and fish,” Gail says. “These shapes
are made with different kinds of tools. Some
are like dentist tools, wax-carver tools, and I
mostly use tweezers to flatten round beads,
pointy-end tweezers to grab and twist, and
flat paddles to roll the beads to make cone
shapes.”

Gail is a juried a member of both The
Best of Missouri Hands and The Greater St.
Louis Art Association and a member of the
International Society of Glass Beadmakers.
She has won the Award of Excellence and First
Place in Jewelry at Columbia’s Art in the Park
and is the corresponding secretary and treasurer
of the St. Louis Lampworkers Society.
Call 636-978-1790 or visit www.strandedglass.
com for more information.

Oct 2007

Pieces of Wood

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:15:30 GMT

By Laura L. Valenti

MANY A CURE has been recommended
for high blood pressure, but perhaps none
has produced more beautiful results than the
hobby Vic Eckmann took up at his doctor’s
behest, which was woodworking.

“The stress of farming had my blood
pressure up too high. My doctor told me I
should find a relaxing hobby, and that got me
started in woodworking about fifteen years
ago,” says Vic, standing in his workshop just
outside of Lebanon.

Now a retired farmer, Vic creates intricate
pictures in wood. He fits different types
of wood into sometimes simple, sometimes
truly exquisite pieces of art.

“Each color in the design is a separate piece
of wood. Finding the woods is the hard part,”
Vic says. “The walnut, maple, oak, and the
cedars are not so hard to come by, but the butternut,
aspen, and catalpa are often difficult
to find. Still, I prefer to use the natural woods
rather than do any staining of the wood.”

While his workshop has a wood stove, Vic
often works without the benefit of the heat.
“Heating up the stove changes the wood,” he
says. “It makes it expand, and when you’re
sawing something that fine, even a little bit
of a change means a lot.”

Vic’s works are traveling far from his home
in southwest Missouri, carrying his reputation
throughout the state and region. Wild
turkeys are one of Vic’s favorite subjects; he
is an active member of the National Wild
Turkey Federation. In 2006, he and his wife,
Sue, traveled to the organization’s national
convention in Nashville. They brought along
pieces depicting a jake, which is a young male
turkey, and the NWTF logo. Vic also makes
trophies for Bennett Spring’s local Hillbilly
Days competitions, held each year the third
weekend in June.

“I have a craft booth at Hillbilly Days,”
Vic says, “but with time constraints, I don’t
do other craft shows.”

Vic works part time at the nearby Bennett
Spring Trout Hatchery, where he spends most
weekends caring for and stocking hundreds
of trout in the park’s fishing stream. He may
not have the time to travel, but people are
literally beating a path to his door to commission
his works in advance or to buy something
he has already made. Currently, his
wooden pieces of art have found homes and
offices in Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota,
Virginia, and Illinois as well as Missouri.

Vic’s favorite piece, Hidden Forest, hangs
in his own living room. It is a forest portrait
that depicts tall trees and various forest animals,
including a raccoon, tree frog, lizard,
and deer. It is comprised of nine hundred
pieces of wood, and it took more than five
years to complete.

Whether it is the complicated pattern
found in Hidden Forest or the simple beauty
seen in one of his latest, such as Mother with
Child, Vic Eckmann’s art in wood leaves a
lasting impression with the viewer.

Just as importantly, Vic’s doctor was correct.
His blood pressure is back down to
where it should be.
Call 417-532-6418 for more information.

October 2007

No Chance to be Forgotten

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:19:04 GMT

By Nancy Dailey

“GET A BUILDING!” That’s the advice Jim
Veronee gives young people.

“You can talk about art; you can show a
portfolio, but until other people see you working
… find a building, even if you have to
paint it at your own expense. It will propagate
more work. Stop painting on canvas right now
and get a building.”

Jim got his start around age twenty at movie
studios in California where he watched people
paint houses and backgrounds for movie sets.

“I can do that,” he thought. He was already
doing the same thing on smaller canvases.

He joined the Painters Union and joined the
people working on canvases so huge that the
artists had to walk the length of the canvas to
paint it. Once, busy painting mountain scenery,
he asked what production it was for, and someone
answered, Gunsmoke. That was a television
show set in Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s.

Gunsmoke? Kansas? Mountains?

“You can’t see mountains from Dodge City,”
Jim says. “None of them had ever been there;
they didn’t know. But the storyboard called for
mountains so we painted mountains. That’s
show biz,” he says with a quick laugh.

Jim’s biggest challenge was a sign, high up
on the Landers Theater at Springfield.

“I thought in the beginning I could just use
a big boom truck,” he says. “Well, it wouldn’t
fit in that alley with all those high tension
wires located right next to the building just
below the work site.” He found a company
from Kansas City that would put up a cable
with a small cage that ran up and down the
cable. But it wouldn’t fit between the building
and the wires, so he couldn’t go from the
bottom up.

“Well, I’m not a young man,” says this
energetic senior who admits to being seventy.
“I had to go up inside the theater, up a ladder—
the fire escape was kind of loose—then
climb over a five-foot retaining wall on to the
backside of the theater. Then I had to get into
a harness, lie down on the roof, and swing
out over a twelve-inch gutter hoping my feet
would hit the railings of the cage; and then get
into a position to paint.”

Jim has painted murals, both inside and out,
from California to South Carolina. A perk for
him is people who stop to visit while he’s painting.
His eyes twinkle as he tells one of his many
stories, especially if it involves word play.

“Murals increase the value of a building,”
Jim says, “and they give you the opportunity
to leave something behind. Otherwise people
forget you. When you’re forgotten, you’re dead.
Being dead’s worse than unemployment, you
know. Longer hours and less pay.”

Laughing, he gets back to painting. He’s finishing
Traders Printing Company; next comes
more bicycles for Queen City Cycles.
For more information, call 417-890-5196.

October 2007

In Her Element

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:27:15 GMT

By Stefani Kronk

THE buIldIng blocks of st. louis artist
Ellen klamon’s art—pattern, shape, and color—
are simple but exciting. borrowing these
elements from nature, the artist creates jewelry
that is a symbolic interpretation of the natural
world. Her jewelry line, Ellements, is a play on
her name, but also signifies earth, air, fire, and
water, which are used in her creative process.

Ellen sees her art as a perfect synthesis of
color, nature, and the dynamic mediums of
drawing and metalworking. Trained as an illustrator,
she draws directly onto pieces of cut,
shaped, and soldered metal that is coated with
gesso, a paint-like substance used as a surface
primer. Her favorite step in the creative process
is coloring her pieces.

“Color comes first,” Ellen says. “It is what
soothes me and excites me.” she achieves
vibrant color and seasonal tones with
Prismacolor pencils, which add definition,
and dyed epoxy resin, which confers color
and a glass-like surface to bracelets, necklaces,
earrings, and pins. The epoxy resin is tinted
with various pigments and materials, even
herbs and spices, to achieve the rich hues and
textures that stimulate this artist and give her
jewelry an organic feel.

If color is her love, her inspiration is
nature. “Missouri has four seasons, rolling
hills, green fields, and rivers,” Ellen says. “I
love rivers.” colors and lines evoke Missouri
landscapes in her jewelry, creating energyinfused
artwork.

After receiving her undergraduate degree
from Maryville university at st. louis in
printmaking and drawing, Ellen apprenticed
for a decade with a professional jewelry maker
at clayton.

As someone who enjoys change, Ellen’s education
has never ended. she continues to take
classes in order to learn different techniques.

“I would get bored if I did the same
thing over and over,” she says. Recently, she
completed a weeklong intensive study course
where she mastered the art of cold connecting
metal, which is using alternative methods to
combine metals without the use of heat. she
intends to use this technique in the creation
of future pieces.

After thirty years of developing her style
and perfecting her craft, Ellen remains as
committed as ever. “I love what I do,” she
says. “As long as I stay in the art world, I
have a voice!”

Visit www.ellenklamon.com or call 314-
821-5060 for more information.

December 2007

On The Bench

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:33:17 GMT

By Stefani Kronk

WHEN A COMMITTEE was interviewing candidates
to design a sanctuary, Martin Ratermann
was asked where he received his formal education.
He paused and replied, “At the workbench.”
Martin is a highly skilled artisan, designing
and creating what he terms “bench-made
furniture”—handmade, heirloom pieces instilled
with artists’ ideals and old-world craftsmanship.

“I take the old skills and do something new
and creative,” Martin says. “You learn every day
standing at that workbench and doing it again
and again and again. It’s that repetition of doing it
over and over that makes you skilled.”

Martin is a fourth-generation woodworker. His
great-grandfather emigrated from Germany as a
cabinetmaker and settled in the St. Louis area. In
addition to the woodworking skills, Martin inherited
his work ethic.

“I grew up knowing what work was,” Martin
says. “Growing up on a farm, there was always
some type of woodworking to be done.” Martin’s
education continued at Columbia, where he made
replacement doors and windows for the older
buildings on the University of Missouri campus.

“I have done carpentry in a lot of different
ways,” Martin says. “My interest has
always been in woodworking. I’ve done bars,
churches, banks, kitchens, gun cabinets, and
entertainment centers. I’ve done the ‘works’ in
the woodworking business.”

In his shop just west of Rocheport, Martin
uses a variety of woods to create his one-of-a
kind furniture. He has worked with many exotic
varieties but has discovered that some of the finest
hardwood grows in Missouri. “Walnut is the
premium, premier wood for me,” Martin says. “It’s
beautiful, stable, and good to work with.”

For the past fifteen years, Martin has placed
special focus on designing pieces for churches and
places of worship throughout the United States. He
has made doors, altar pieces, music stands, lecterns,
tables, chairs, and candle stands. His reputation
traveled by word of mouth, and he received commissions
to create pieces for approximately twelve
churches. Although there were many rewarding
aspects of that work, he found collaborating
with committees challenging. For future projects,
Martin plans to work with individual clients.

Although he describes his work as “traditional,”
Martin’s pieces have movement and fluidity.
The environment influences his expression.
“Curves that you see in nature, you see in my
work,” he says. “Trees, limbs, flowers, they curve
and have some flow.”

Creativity is a hallmark of his art. He describes
the risk and reward with creating one-of-a-kind
pieces: “I have this vision of what I want. But you
are always asking yourself, ‘Am I going to fall
short?’ You say, ‘okay, here is what I envision,’ and
I tell people that if you take a risk, you might get
a masterpiece. If you don’t, you’re just going to get
the same old thing. So let’s try it.”

During the hours spent creating a piece,
Martin infuses the human factor into his work.
It becomes personalized and energized with the
artist’s spirit and creative signature imbued in the
wood. “I think there is a fundamental need for
people to touch something that is made by hand,”
Martin says. “And I think people on a day-to-day
basis don’t realize that we are missing that.” By
handcrafting everyday items, Martin ensures that
the timeless connection and unspoken communication
between maker and user continues.

Visit www.martinratermann.com or call 573-
698-2192 for more information.

December 2007

Nature of Art

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:05:42 GMT

The Barbizon School and Nature of Landscape exhibit opens at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum of Washington University from May 2 to July 21. Free and open to the public, the show celebrates a natural form of art, popular in Barbizon France between 1830-1880.

In response to what was perceived as highly superficial city life in the nineteenth century, this form used rustic and pure scenes from nature in which man interacted more holistically with nature.

The exhibition features almost forty works including drawings, paintings, and prints by prominent contemporary artists of the era and later American and French artists who had been inspired by the school.

Derived mainly from the permanent collection at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, many of the works were acquired as early as 1881, directly following their creations. Some include Julien Dupre’s In Pasture, created in 1882 and purchased by the museum in 1886, and Dwight William Tryon’s Before Sunrise (Morning Twilight, at Daybreak), created in 1906 and purchased in 1910.

From peasants and flocks of animals standing amidst expanding fields to eerie forests, many of the works embrace simplicity and emphasize light and environment.

“It’s beautiful,” Kimberly Singer, museum marketing manager says. “We have a great space for this kind of work, and it’s great to see some of the works from our collection that we haven’t been able to bring out in a long time that have been restored specifically for this show, and they look fantastic.”

Call 314-935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum@wustl.edu for more information.

--Lauren Foreman

MissouriLifeLines May 2008

50 Miles of Art

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:40:31 GMT

By Lauren Foreman

Missouri’s 50 Miles of Art festival and semi-annual Studio and Gallery Tour decorate the cities of Hannibal, Louisiana, and Clarksville the weekend of April 27. For the last six years, this celebration has grown to include fifty-three artists and artisans and more than forty studios and galleries. Art aficionados can watch skilled local artists create a work of art and can later purchase those very pieces.

Clarksville artist Robert Rothland’s designs, which will be available at the festival, include winding hand-blown glass works that attach to the walls, artistically lit with backlighting to cast shadows for a unique flare. One of his pieces involves a pool table made completely of wire.

Hannibal artist Marshall Tripp of the Hannibal Alliance Art Gallery describes his cast bronze sculptures and paintings of Midwestern scenes as colorful, traditionally realistic pieces and modern forms of art.

Hannibal also features 350 acres of land with large-scale outdoor sculptures from all over the world that visitors can view along a two-mile walking trail.

Jewelers, furniture makers, painters, and photographers alike use the sparkle of the Mississippi River and the richness of the historic cities as backdrops for their works, while clay, glass, handmade drums, handmade pewter, and more provide variety and uniqueness on the fifty-mile stretch between Hannibal and Clarksville.

April 2008 MissouriLifeLines

Whispers' Sweet Nothings

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:24:22 GMT

Sweet nothings are a favorite to whisper on Valentine’s Day, everything from love songs to three little words. Valentine’s Classic Soul at the Fox Theatre at St. Louis will make that romance a bit easier this weekend.

The Whispers, a legendary R&B vocal group, who have performed for more than four decades headline the show. Their albums One For The Money, Open Up Your Love, and Headlights in the 1970s thrust them in to the national spotlight. Their most popular album release, The Whispers, went double platinum in 1980. More recently in 2006, Satin Tie Productions, the group’s newly formed label, released For Your Ears Only, their first independent CD.

Two acts will open the evening. Stephanie Mills, famous for her role in the hit Broadway play The Wiz where she was hailed as “the little girl with the big voice,” has produced several R&B albums, which featured hits like “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love” and “Never Knew Love Like This Before.” After 7, which debuted in 1989 with their self-titled album, has had hits with “Heat of the Moment” and “Ready or Not.”

All together, these acts represent more than eighty years of soulful R&B. They’re sure to provide a little inspiration to personalize your sweet nothings this year.

Call 314-534-1111 for ticket information.

February 2008 MissouriLifeLines

The Family That Plays Together

Tue, 29 May 2007 18:02:19 GMT

WHILE SOME TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRLS worried over boys and trips to the mall, Larita Martin of Versailles concentrated on playing the Dobro and traveling yearround with her family’s bluegrass band, The Martin Family. Now fifteen, Larita plays with professionalism that belies her age, as do her three sibling band mates. Jeana plays the fiddle, Dale the guitar, and Janice handles the banjo. Their father, Elvin, plays the bass, and their mother and their two younger siblings travel with them on a nationwide touring schedule, with the younger Martins home-schooled along the way. The most remarkable thing about this Missouri family is that until a few years ago, none of the children played an instrument. Inspired by a family band at Silver Dollar City in Branson in 1999, they decided to teach themselves to play bluegrass music. “When we came home from Branson, Jeana and Dale pulled my old instruments off the shelf, tuned them and said, ‘We can do this, too,’” Elvin says. Using videotapes as musical instructors, the Martins are selftaught musical impresarios. Since the band’s unlikely beginning, the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music Awards (SPBGMA), a national organization headquartered in Kirksville, has nominated each member for excellence on his or her respective instruments, and Janice Martin is the 2006 SPBGMA Midwest Banjo Player of the Year. As a group, The Martin Family has been SPBGMA’s Instrumental Group of the Year every year since 2004, and in 2006, the Martins are also SPBGMA’s Contemporary Bluegrass Band of the Year. With a growing fan base, the Martins are a bluegrass powerhouse and a closeknit family. “Some families go camping or fishing together,” Elvin says. “This is what we do together, and we love it.” For information and a touring schedule, visit www.bluegrassmartins.com. —Kendra Thomas

Art for the Health of It

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 15:16:30 GMT

*By Diana Lambdin Meyer*     Why does a blue sky lift our spirits? Shifra Stein, a Kansas City artist, writer, and workshop instructor, thinks it’s the color.
    “It’s calming and promotes physical and mental relaxation, stimulates healing and creativity, relieves pain, and lowers blood pressure,” Stein says.
    After recovering from a debilitating depressive illness in 1996 that left her unable to write, read, or concentrate, Stein attended an art therapy class where she tentatively picked up a brush and found she could create art. In the process, she found her lifeline back into the world.
    Today, she teaches an art workshop at health centers around the country, reaching those struggling with the emotional aspects of major medical crises. One organization she teaches for is Eastern Jackson County Cancer Action, a nonprofit that provides support and services to people and their families facing cancer.
    “We’ve seen our clients leave Shifra’s workshops with such a sense of empowerment in facing their illness,” says Executive Director Karla Nichols.
    For more information visit www.artforhealth.us.

February 2006

Touch the Paper

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 15:05:20 GMT

*By Kristy G. Flick* Lois Jacobs loves working with her hands. Her love of working with paper began in her preschool years when her mother provided her with scissors, glue, magazines, and boxes. She worked for days creating paper designs and little paper worlds that she kept in a shoe box. “Even though I love to draw, paint, weave, and make stuff, I’ve tried to concentrate on my papers,” she explains. Lois likes working with paper best because she can make paper come alive by making it two and three-dimensional, and she wants others to touch her art. “Paper can stand on its own with things I embed, or it can be the groundwork to another piece of art,” she says. Although she was training for nursing, Lois discovered her true passion for art while in college. She now teaches her love of art to elementary students at Valley Park, near St Louis. “I go to bed at night thinking about an interesting idea. Then I get up early in the morning and try it!” See this Best of Missouri Hands member’s art at www.relatedbits.com.

Wonder Under Bark

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:58:08 GMT

    Vic Barr has been making things out of wood nearly all his life. As a child, he hammered nails in planks of wood and helped to install flooring. He has always had an artistic flair and tried his hand at various art techniques, such as drawing, painting, and clay sculpting as hobbies.
    But his most satisfying medium was wood. He found he had an innate talent for forming clean lines and subtle curves in wood. He also had a curiosity about the wonder hidden beneath the bark of a tree, and he enjoyed making treasure chests for family and friends.
    The goal of his art is to become symbiotic with nature. “Wood is spectacular on its own,” he says. Therefore, he does not stain, color, cover, disguise, or mass-produce his pieces. “The wood should express itself and the artist,” he says.
    Barr says, “I am my happiest in my workshop — designing, cutting, fitting, finishing, and enhancing the beauty of woods of
the world.”
    See this Best of Missouri Hands at www.matanda.com or at Backstreet Gallery in Kirkwood.

—By Kristy G. Flick

February 2006

Illness Promted Art

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 15:01:48 GMT

*By Kristy G. Flick* Denis Smith grew up in the state of Oregon where dramatic natural landscapes abound. She moved to Missouri to pursue degrees in journalism, advertising, and graphics. After college, she settled in Union. Her motivation and inspiration came from her high school art teacher in Oregon. “She told us to never stop experimenting and investigating,” Smith says, “I took that to heart and love to try different mediums and techniques.” Her artistic pursuits had to be put on hold in 1982 when her oldest child developed leukemia. She had to concentrate on earning a paycheck to pay for mounting medical bills. She worked for several companies as an art and graphics director and quickly adapted to graphic design using computers. “This was a major turning point in my skill development,” she recalls. “I was one of the first in the St. Louis area to learn and use the computer for design.” Since her child’s recovery, she has become a freelance artist and began her own business known as OptiMax Design. Her strongest and most interesting area of business has become large format scanning of original artwork and giclee prints. Giclee is a method of making fine art prints using a seven-color archival inkjet process. Her watercolor paintings are mostly still lifes and natural scenes and are geared toward those who like dramatic color and symmetry. She draws inspiration today from her own garden, wildlife, and landscapes. Her jewelry line uses intense colors and color variances. It’s rewarding when someone chooses her artwork to enhance his or her surroundings or appearance, Denise says. See this Best of Missouri member's art at www. optimaxdesign.com.

The Stork Brought Paints

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:59:42 GMT

Veronica Greene's paintings on fabric and silk were born from her own pregnancy and a furniture-painting class. Born and raised in Mexico City, she discovered her talent and interest in art while expecting her first child. “I was taking a furniture painting class,” Veronica says. “I felt like I needed a hobby after I had my baby.” She bought an art book and made copies of the masters in miniature, which she compares to having private art classes with Monet and Van Gogh. While experimenting with various art forms, Veronica realized she possessed a flair for working with fabrics. She loves hand-painting on silk, which she has been doing for more than five years, and dying her fabric to create one-of-a-kind specialties. Veronica likes the feel of fabric texture and especially enjoys seeing her fabric art worn. “The idea of creating a unique piece to wear thrills me,” Veronica says. “I create pieces that are out of the ordinary that will make a woman feel special wearing it.” Veronica, who lives in St. Louis, seeks inspiration from “nature, a movie, my children, anything that helps me feel better about life and will help others, too,” she says. _See this Best of Missouri Hands member’s art at the Festival of Arts in St. Charles, the Painted Daisy in Eureka, and the gift shop at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild. Email her at sgreene@sbcglobal.net._ *-By Kristy G. Flick* April 2006

All Fired Up

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:54:04 GMT

*Classes in Glass at St. Louis* *By Adrienne M. Muralidharan* Step inside the studio at Third Degree Glass Factory, and you’ll see colorful ornaments hanging in the windows that line the far end of the room. They glitter in the sunlight, glowing with vibrant blues, greens, tawny browns, and reds. On your left are shelves with bright bottles, bowls, goblets, and pitchers arranged on each one. To your right, you’ll see the area known as the Cathedral where the furnaces burn bright and hot at two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Artists scurry around, some relaxed and chatting, others intense and silent, many twirling pipes in a glowing furnace. At the end of the pipes are globs of molten glass, red with heat and alive with color. Co-founders Jim McKelvey and Doug Auer opened Third Degree three years ago, after rehabilitating the building on Delmar Boulevard, east of the University City Loop. The Third Degree is now home to half a dozen artists and boasts the largest hot shop in the Midwest. Third Degree offers not just a place where artists can practice their art, but also a place for them to teach others. The organization provides classes ranging from beads and baubles to parent-and-child paperweight-making. Classes range from three hours to six weeks in furnace glass, flame-working, fusing, sand-casting, and other glassworking techniques for novices, professionals, and artists in between. Knowledgeable instructors provide demonstrations and safety information. Special introductory and intermediate classes this spring and summer begin in April and July. The studio serves as a unique venue for events, in either the Hot Shop or the Cool Room. Options include demonstrations and guests making their own artistic glass paperweight or ornament. The studio is also a place where artists can rent space and display their own work. The gallery, open Mondays through Fridays, hosts a changing selection of work from all levels of artists. Every month, Third Degree hosts a Third Friday event. Each event is free and includes glass blowing demonstrations, wine tasting, live music, a cash bar, and, of course, the display of many pieces of art, most of which are for sale. Most Third Fridays boast a feature artist. _Third Degree Glass Factory is at 5200 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis. Call 314-367-4527 or visit www.stlglass.com._ April 2006