By
Patsy Evins

The first lampwork beads created in the United States were produced by individual experimentations and a joyful exploration of glass. Knowledge of glass behaviors in the torch’s flame was freely exchanged and slowly an accumulation of glass techniques grew. During this process, individual lampworker’s personal visions of what they wanted the glass to do crystallized. The amassing of techniques and experiences of each lampworker evolved until a distinctive and recognizable style emerged. This “style” became the trademark for the lampworker and highly coveted.

As the years passed the need to make a living with their newfound passion for glass became apparent. More and more time was devoted to glass endeavors and perfecting new techniques. The venue for stimulating income was the establishment of glass workshops. Most of the original lampworkers chose to phase out their old jobs and it’s security of income to pursue their love of glass.

The second wave of lampworkers was produced from these new glass workshops. These so called glass “newbies” hungered for the original lampworkers knowledge of slowly acquired techniques and were willing to pay the price of the workshops. But a troubling problem arose creating hurt feelings and fear among the sharers. The “newbies” seemingly started copying the teacher’s beads and the distinction between the teacher’s bead and student’s bead blurred. The issues of plagiarism became heatedly debated. The problem arose because the teachers did not realize that some lampworkers are crafters and some are artists. A crafter is one who can copy a technique and only repeat the technique. An artist will learn a technique and then mutate the technique so it becomes an expression of the artist’s vision. This approach is extremely time intensive but the reward is the birthing of a new creation.

Another problem with teaching lampwork techniques was that one technique must build upon another. Unlike painting where anyone can pick up a brush and become a folk artist, lampwork necessitates a working knowledge of the fundamentals of chemistry of color glass and the physics of glass expansion. This knowledge is slowly learned through years of experience with glass.

I joined this wonderful glass community in 1998, in the midst of the turmoil. Being a successful painter with a style of my own, I was not prepared for the controversy. The art world had established long ago a distinction between professional artist and hobbyist. The two never met and each was comfortable in their places. The problem I encountered with lampwork was it was necessary to exactly copy a technique and then perfect it through repetition before it could be immersed into my arsenal of techniques to use to express my artistic visions. Compounding this challenge was that learning each technique was slow, tedious and time consuming. It was a year of full time endeavor before I had enough techniques under my belt to express myself artistically.

It is important for the buyer to be aware of the struggle between the growth directions in the field of lampwork. The lampwork hobbyist is interested in dabbling with lampwork and possibly selling to curb some of the cost of this expensive hobby. The crafter will master a few techniques and produce a repetitive clone of these techniques in many color variations and be quite content in a pursuit of a living. The artist, on the other hand, will be only interested in one of a kind, artistic creations. I fall in this last group, viewing my lampwork career as the most challenging, stimulating, fascinating and joyful journey of my life.

I received a BFA in drawing and painting plus four years in private art institutions. In 1998, I changed my focus from painting to glass. My studies in glass have been extensive with training from leaders in the glass industry. My fine art lampwork beads have been featured in magazines, books and competitions, as well as in art museums and personal art collections. My paintings have been exhibited and sold in Japan, Europe, the Far East, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Visit my Work at https://patsyevinsstudio.com.

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