Glass blower will perform on different type of instrument

By Matt Felice
Staff Writer

Brook White has never performed at the Great American Brass Band Festival before, but when he does this year he'll be giving audiences something they're not used to, because the instrument he plays doesn't make music -- it makes glass ornaments.

For the first time festival-goers will get an upclose view of yet another craft that has made the Danville area famous -- glass blowing.

``The brass band festival has a lot of historical significance, and glass blowing is a historical craft,'' said White.

Steven Powell of Centre College perfected the art and brought national recognition to the Norton Center for the Arts. Brook White is a former student and chief assistant of Powell's. After studying the trade, Powell turned it into a growing local business, Glassbrook llc.

Directions to studio

White will be giving demonstrations at his shop near the Centre campus 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. To get to the studio, go south on College Street and turn right onto Russell Street. At the end of Russell Street turn left onto Beatty Avenue. Glassbrook llc. is a blue building on the left.

``This is the first time I've done anything like this -- being hooked up with a festival,'' White said. ``I've been to the band festival several times and it's just an amazing setup and I feel very fortunate to be able to provide another form of entertainment.''

White said he was asked to do the demonstrations by George Foreman, festival coordinator and managing director of the Norton Center for the Arts.

``It's a very interesting thing for people to see, because it's something that they don't have an opportunity to see every day,'' said Foreman. ``We're always looking for unusual activities to offer visitors at the festival.''

White said he will primarily be working on smaller items for the demonstration that don't take long to create, so as to keep viewers' attention. ``The technique is very time consuming,'' he explained.

Time consuming, but interesting nevertheless.

Molten glass is constantly kept at around 2,300 degrees in a furnace with a special basin insulated by brick walls. A gas burner shoots heat across the surface of the basin. ``Gathers'' of molten glass are removed from the furnace on the end of a tube which the craftsman uses to turn and shape the glass on a metal table. Air can be blown through the other end of the tube to create a bubble which is expanded to shape the inside of the piece.

White said the craftsman must be careful not to let the glass cool too quickly or it will crack, which is why it must be constantly reheated in another furnace called the ``glory hole'' while it is being shaped.

When the piece is complete it is cooled slowly in an oven, called an ``annealer,'' which has a computerized thermostat that can be programmed for different sized pieces with different thicknesses. According to White, a piece not cooled properly may be fragile and can suddenly develop a crack years later.

White said it had never occurred to him before his sophomore year at Centre that glass blowing or any kind of art might be a career interest. In fact, he briefly studied law at the University of Kentucky in 1993. ``I didn't take any art classes in high school,'' he said. He was just filling an art requirement at Centre when he signed up for Powell's course, which a friend had told him was ``really cool.''

``I had never heard of Steven Powell and I'd never seen glass blowing like this. I think I was the only non-art major in the class,'' he said.

Powell encouraged him to stay in the class, and the friend who had recommended taking it, Richard Garvey, helped him design his studio and obtain supplies. Other investors in Danville became interested in White and provided capital for him to start his business.

``They basically did it to help me turn a dream into a business venture," he said.''

``It is a lot of work. It's challenging, but it's very rewarding when you make something that you like but that somebody else likes as well.''