Spake Glass sits on a fifty-acre hilltop in rural Jasper, TN at the mouth of the Sequatchie Valley and the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. This idyllic setting—rolling hills, hardwood forests, and abundant wildlife—provides ample inspiration for my award-winning glasswork. I began blowing glass back in 1994. As it happened, I went to Centre College to pursue a basketball scholarship, but as fate would have it, a work study in the art department introduced me to glassblowing. I remember that jaw dropping moment, seeing the molten material rotating on the blow pipe, the creative energy, the improvisation, the dance, the sweat, the teamwork. All these things at once. This was something I had todo. After 2 years, I walked off the court, and in to the hot shop to take my first class. The rest, well, is art history. The college glass experience was one of exploration, trial and error, and a "see what happens" approach. This is how art is created, through a willingness to explore the material and make mistakes. When I graduated, I received a fellowship at the Appalachian Center for Craft. This experience focused my attention on the fine details of glass blowing, crafting the perfect object, great technique, and the understanding of the process. Through these early experiences, I developed my unique style, incorporating age old glass blowing techniques with good ole American ingenuity to create functional, decorative, and sculptural glass art with an elegance all its own. For 30 years and counting, I have exhibited, my award winning glasswork, in museum sand galleries across the United states, displayed my art glass at premier art festivals across the country, shipped my work to collectors around the globe and taught workshops, to young and old, across the Southeast.
