TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN9) — Glass blowing is an art form is seeing an increase in enrollment during the pandemic.
“Here at Sonoran Glass School, we are the only full-service nonprofit glass arts education facility in the southwest. That full-service piece means that we are able to offer furnace glassblowing torchworking and killed slumping and fusing. So people have all different means of entry into working with glass,” said Lynn Davis, the executive director of Sonoran Glass School.
The school works with a range of folks starting at age 5, and Davis says the school is able to accommodate Tucson’s professional community of glassblowers as well.
“We've been reopened to the public since October 1. And we are by design, limiting the number of people on campus at any one time we're keeping classes small. We have not reopened certain sections of the campus just because they’re smaller spaces and more difficult to social distance,” said Davis.
Paul Anders-Stout is an instructor at Sonoran Glass School. He’s been blowing glass for more than 20 years and even created his own form of glass called “Jerry Glass.”
“When the pandemic hit, I came here and I finally had time to explore, and to test and to do a bunch of like, just stuff that you never have time for during daily life because you don't know how it's gonna work. So I read books, and I melted glass and I experimented with ingredients. All thanks to the Sonoran Glass School. And I learned so much that I feel re-positioned to share that information,” Paul Anders-Stout Instructor, Sonoran Glass School.
Davis says the school has seen an uptick in enrollment over the past several weeks.
“We have changed how we blow glass, and we've switched over to hand-inflators, so no one is putting their mouths on shared equipment. No one's putting their mouths on any equipment. So we're really doing you know, the best we can within a pandemic environment to still accommodate all the people who want to come work with glass,” said Davis.
From those with years of experience to none, and even for those looking for college credits, visit Sonoran Glass School for more information.
