JUNE 3, 2004 • MIDLANDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

"Thrown and Blown" artists share work

In these artists lives, science is ever present.
They’ve learned you can’t beat nature, that gravity can make or break a work, that heat is often a friend but sometimes a foe.

That shared knowledge united the artists on hand for Louisville Art Gallery’s second annual Thrown and Blown festival May22 and 23.

“You’ve got to work with what nature gives you,” said Dan Klima, an Omaha wood turner.

Artists giving demonstrations or showing work included Klima, Ed Fennell, Dan Toberer, Peter Scherr, Tom Harnack, Larry Pelter, Tom Hubbell, Margie Shanahan and others.

Klima reinvents the wheel on a daily basis. His process, in a nutshell, is as follows: Take a round tree. Cut a square piece. Make it round again. The resulting product could be a bowl, pen, key chain, wineglass or bottle stopper. He notes he does not create these pieces to get rich, but simply because he enjoys the process.

Working with wood presents opportunities for uniqueness in each piece. Klima most likes wood somehow gone wrong. Buns, or abnormal growths, as well as spalting, a “very striking” result of fungus growth, enhance his work.

Hubbell, who makes porcelain and stoneware, uses gas and wood for firing his pots. The gas kiln allows him some control over the pots’ finish, whereas the wood kiln leaves behind a more random appearance.

He describes his work as having a “sense of humor.” His teapots, for example, arch back, their spouts high in the air and handles resembling a hand on the hip. They look like they’re copping attitude.

“It’s intrinsically satisfying to know you’ve made something out of a relatively common material,” Hubbell said.

The lamp-worker Shanahan uses a torch to turn glass rods into beads. MAny bear teeny, colorful worlds of flowers and charming creatures. Others are layered glimpses into swirls and shimmers.

Adding to the weekend’s heat was Fennell’s kiln, reaching temperatures up to 2,100
degrees. The glass blower proved to be a highlight for gallery visitors, as he transformed melted lumps into graceful glass vases, roundels and more.

Fennell demonstrated as the glass lump, at the end of a blowpipe, is placed in the kiln. Keeping the pipe rotating, Fennell heats the glass, pulls it out and shapes it using a rag. So it goes as the piece is perhaps rolled through shards of multicolored glass and continually sculpted.

Salvaged glass makes common appearances in Fennell’s work. He likes to provide a “second life” to green beer bottles, blue cold cream jars and other ordinary objects.

A background in medical research has helped him understand some of the technical issues that arise in his craft. He stresses the importance of math and even biology.

"If you want to be an artist, pay attention to science," he said.