Service Description

March 20, 5:30-9:30pm | March 27 6-9:30pm | April 3 6-9:30pm Teachers: Marti Gorski and Ray Krein Max: 9 students - 3 benches Organic Forms invites students to explore glass not as a rigid object, but as a fluid, living material. Over three 3-4 hour sessions, participants will focus on the natural flow and movement of molten glass, experimenting with inclusions, interior spaces, layered color, and atmospheric effects. We will investigate how air, heat, gravity, and timing shape form embracing irregularity, softness, and sculptural possibility. This class encourages a shift away from strictly technical vessel-making toward more expressive, experimental forms. Students will create objects that blur the line between vessel and sculpture, considering glass as a fluid in motion rather than a fixed solid using irregular wooden molds, color application, and sculptural bits. Designed for those ready to loosen their approach and expand their visual language, Organic Forms is about curiosity, risk-taking, and discovering new ways of seeing and shaping glass. This class will provide students with color in the 2nd and 3rd class. Students will be encouraged to bring in their own color and other experimental materials. Syllabus: Day 1: Fluidity & Interior Space Slide Lecture (30 minutes) Artists exploring organic, fluid forms Interior space, enclosures, and sculptural glass Glass as atmosphere rather than object Hot Shop Exercises (Clear Glass Only) Focus: Loosening technical habits and approaching glass as a fluid material Blow without and without tools (including Marvin Lipofsky’s tools and forms!) Create layers and interior voids Explore inclusions and trapped air Investigate interior vs. exterior form Emphasize flow, gravity, and responsiveness Day 2: Color Exploration Focus: Surface, reaction, and how color transforms organic form. Technique 1: Powders & Frit Roll and sift powders onto hot glass Use clear frit to build layered surfaces Explore opacity, translucency, and depth Technique 2: Bar Mash / Painterly Mixing Mash color bar for blended application Observe chemical reactions between colors Explore color interaction and expressive surface Day 3: Collaborative Sculptural Form Focus: Synthesis, risk-taking, and expanding sculptural vocabulary in glass. Bench-Based Final Project Work in teams to design and execute one sculptural piece Incorporate interior space Use layered bubbles, inclusions, powders, or bar color Emphasize experimental, non-vessel forms