Podcast appearances and mentions of robert mickelsen

Sibelle Yüksek aka Sibelley has made a name for herself in the flameworking and functional glass worlds through the creation of what she refers to as “little women.” After focusing primarily on nudes, she shifted her energies into making video game and anime characters outfitted with accessories and garments. One early complex piece took roughly 40 hours to make. This female rig outfitted with a machine gun is a glass representation of Motoko from Ghost In The Shell. Considering the sculptural nature of her art, it's not surprising that Sibelley majored in illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, with the goal of working in fashion. But she fell in love with glass in an elective casting course and decided to double major in glass studies – an artform that would come in handy for sculptural installations and jewelry making. Moving to Los Angeles, California, in 2014, Sibelley set up a torch in an ill-advised bedroom studio, where she made jewelry until landing a gig at Neptune Glassworks. There, she learned how to make vessels and glassware while experimenting with smokables on the side. The artist credits 2 Stroke with her move into functional glass. While assisting him at his AGE show, he pointed out the many benefits of transitioning into the pipe scene.  In 2018, it all came together for Sibelley after taking a master class with OG flameworker, Robert Mickelsen, who taught her how to refine her sculpting with holloware. “I spent so many years studying the figure in illustration, doing live drawings, looking at comic books, drawing and drawing and drawing. So, the body has always been with me. But when I took his class, everything fell into place. I know how to work with glass and I know bodies, so he was the glue that put it together for me.” Most of Sibelley's work is marketed through her Instagram, where she has built a growing following. The artist is still trying to figure out where her pieces fit in to the pipe scene and the art world – should they be found in head shops and smoke shops, or interior design settings? Should they be functional or sculptural? Carly Fisher, Leafly.com, wrote: “There's something daring and uniquely fitting about a woman facing the flames, not adhering to preconceived notions about how a pipe should look or devaluing its legitimacy as art because it can be used for cannabis. If anything, it's another example of the limitless ways people are reexamining and elevating cannabis culture to a broader market.” Combining influences from her teen obsessions with Japanese comic books and gaming, experiences with yoga and bodywork, and her education in fashion illustration, Sibelley's delicate, naturalistic interpretations of female bodies that double as a pipe put her on the map. She recently held her first solo show at Glass2Grass in Miami on September 4, and she will participate in the upcoming exhibition, Mins Volume 4 on October 14 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The show will feature works from over 200 artists including Sibelley. VIP tickets are available via the link in @minspipeshow Instagram bio. General admission is free. Sibelley will demo at GAS Detroit in June and teach at the Corning Museum of Glass from July 9-16, 2023.    

Grant Garmezy: Elevating Sculpted Glass to Narrative Work With a passion for hot sculpting animals in glass, Grant Garmezy perfected his ability to capture not only form, but expression and movement, elevating each piece from just sculpture into a narrative work of art. From his Dragon Ranch in Richmond, Virginia, the artist continues to draw inspiration from the environment of the American South. Says Garmezy: “Nature is truly perfect in its creation—impossible to reproduce. I do not strive to recreate the natural world exactly; instead, I try to capture the essence of the animal I am sculpting, not only in its physical features, but also its attitude and spirit.” Garmezy's work is created through the process of off-hand sculpting, meaning he sculpts the glass freehand while it is heated to about 2,000 degrees. Using an extremely hot torch and a variety of hand tools, the glass is manipulated without the use of molds. For that reason, each and every piece is truly unique. The artist works with at least one assistant, but most of the work requires the help of an entire team of skilled artists. Born on a farm outside Nashville, Tennessee, Garmezy began his artistic career as an apprentice to metal and jewelry fabricator, Ben Caldwell. In 2003, he traveled to Richmond, Virginia, to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). While in the Craft/Material Studies program, he studied under Jack Wax, a furnace worker, and flameworker, Emilio Santini. Garmezy received the 10 Under 10 award from his alma mater, honoring 10 noteworthy and distinctive alumni of VCU who graduated in the past decade.   In 2008, Garmezy was awarded the International North Lands Creative Glass Residency in Scotland. While there, he was presented with the Benno Schotz Award through The Royal Scottish Academy for most promising young sculptor in the UK. In 2010, the artist served as teaching assistant for Karen Willenbrink and Jasen Johnsen at Pilchuck Glass School and the following year was awarded a position as an assistant at the new Chrysler Museum of Art Perry Glass Studio. During his time in Norfolk, he helped to break in the new studio and had a hand in shaping it into what it is today.  In July 2013, Garmezy was invited back to Norfolk as the featured artist for a Third Thursday performance at the Perry Glass Studio. At the conclusion of the evening, Grant surprised now wife Erin—and the entire audience—by taking a knee and proposing marriage to her. The special moment was very fitting to their relationship and is fondly remembered by all who were there to witness it. The husband-and-wife team returned to the Perry Glass Studio in September 2020 for the Visiting Artist Series, where they focused on a new series of works featuring reptiles and snakes coupled with sculpted flowers.  The pastoral environment of Garmezy's youth— specifically interactions with livestock, wildlife, and natural settings—manifests in collaborative sculptures with Erin, which are typically pairings of flora and fauna. Erin moved from blowing glass vessels at the furnace to sculpting glass plant life on a torch when she studied with VCU professor Santini, and later Robert Mickelsen and David Willis.  Having traveled as far as the Northlands of Scotland, and Seoul, South Korea, to demonstrate his craft, Garmezy has studied with Scott Darlington, Ross Richmond, Martin Janecky, Raven Skyriver, Marc Petrovic, Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen and Jasen Johnsen. He has been invited to exhibit his work all over the world, including Seoul, Edinburgh, Prague, Paris, and Istanbul. Upcoming 2022 workshops will take place at the Toledo Museum of Art, May 9 – 13 https://www.toledomuseum.org/master-class and at the Glass Furnace in Istanbul, May 30 – June 9 https://www.glassfurnace.org/intensives-workshops-2/ In 2020, Garmezy embarked on the most ambitious project of his career – hot sculpting 200 glass dragons for Kugler color company in Germany. Kugler hand-crafts a wide range of colored glass based on recipes passed on for generations. Garmezy and Kugler worked together with Hot Glass Color Supply to design a new color reference chart. A glass color chart is a reference that shows examples of what each glass color looks like. It is a resource for glass artists to help them choose the correct colors for their projects. As a sculptor, Garmezy always wished for a resource that showed more than one way the color can be used. The goal was to create a chart that demonstrated the bar color encased and blown, as well as powder color applied to the surface of the glass and sculpted.  Says Garmezy: “I created one dragon sculpture for each of the colors on the poster. It was important that each dragon head was a similar size and style, but each completely unique. This color chart will give both blowers and sculptors a good idea of the potential of each color. We chose the image of the dragon because dragon imagery can be found in cultures around the world, and its symbolism brings to mind good luck, fortune, wisdom and strength – things we wish for all glass artists out there.”  

GBC Ep17:Robert Mickelsen- From Fine Art to Degenerate Art This is a conversation  that I've wanted to have for years. For myself personally, Robert Mickelsen has been a major influence in my glass work with his refined details and proportions. With 45 years of dedication to this wonderful medium of glass, Mickelsen has a ton of knowledge to share while also understanding he still has a wealth of knowledge to gain.  Hope you enjoy this conversation and if you have any questions for Robert you can reach out to him on Instagram @ramickelsen   Other links referred to in the episode: - Robert's Bio: Born Dec.12, 1951. Grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii and attended high school at Punahou (same school as Barack Obama, just ten years earlier). I went to Humboldt State University in Arcata, Ca for one year but dropped out. Started blowing glass in Greeley, Colorado in 1974. Moved to Florida in 1977 and continued glass selling my wares at street craft shows and flea markets. I made my living on the street exclusively until 1989 when I switched to wholesale craft shows. It was also around this time that I took a class at Penland with Paul Stankard that opened my eyes for the first time to the artistic potential of my craft. My work blossomed after that. I began my teaching career at Pilchuck in 1994 where I was deeply influenced by the artists that I met including Dante Marioni and Bill Morris. I continued doing wholesale craft shows, indoor art shows, and teaching for the next ten years. During that time I had several solo shows at prominent glass art galleries and attended SOFA in Chicago numerous times represented by several different galleries. I stopped doing wholesale shows in 2001 and shifted my focus to selling exclusively through high-end art galleries. This lasted until the great recession of 2008 when I found myself in a crisis when all my galleries closed and shows dried up. I struggled for about four years until 2012 when I was introduced to pipe-making by Salt and Kevin Ivey. I experienced a rebirth and a newfound enthusiasm for glass. The rest you already know.  I am proud to have my work included in some of the most prominent museum collections including Renwick Gallery of American Crafts at the Smithsonian Institution, the Corning Museum of Glass, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Museum of Arts and Design, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and The Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village. 

Charting new territory in functional glass art, Patrick McDougall and Subliminal Glass redefine what is possible in terms of size and complexity of their builds, made possible by utilizing a team approach to fabrication. Taking risks with every large, complicated boro art pipe, Subliminal Glass is highly recognizable by its inclusion of characters from the Simpsons, Mario Brothers, and Rick and Morty. One recent tube displayed 14 partying classic Looney Tunes characters in perfectly intricate detail. “It’s not common for boro artists to want to go really large and elaborate due to the risks involved with that kind of construction,” says McDougall. “I think training so many artists has helped a lot. The team dynamic is something that hasn’t really been taken advantage of in our industry.” At age 19, inspired by heady glass in local shops, McDougall headed to Portland, Oregon, where he began an apprenticeship making straight shooter pipes on a lathe in exchange for lessons in benchwork. Now, from his 1000-foot cabin studio in the woods north of Portland, the artist has assembled a team of four artists to create production work in scientific glass as a steady income stream that allows them to work on mind-blowing art pipes. A self-proclaimed dreamer, McDougall’s solo work includes a 4-foot-tall glycerin tube with a castle in the base, a castle ash catcher, a built-in glass torch based on a castle with a fire-breathing dragon, and a full-sized dragon dropped inside a tube with a glycerin coil on top. The artist has also been collaborating with Robert Mickelsen on the The Art of War series, which included the life-size megawork, Shogun. One final piece in the series will be made some time this year. On 4/20, Ruckus Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will host the first solo exhibition of Subliminal Glass. “This show is monumental for us because it allows us to display our work and everything we can do in one place.” The solo exhibition will feature beakers, sculptural works, and guns with the goal of displaying the diverse skills set of Subliminal’s artists. McDougall will also be exhibiting new collabs made with his functional glass heroes.  On May 28, McDougall and team will teach a group class on the collaborative process at Level 42 Gallery in Asheville, North Carolina.  Please check the Ruckus and Level 42 Instagram accounts for updates and possible changes due to the Corona Virus pandemic.  

Join Robert Mickelsen on his journey through the ever-evolving world of fine flameworking! In this interview we discuss his entrance into the functional glass world, and the fabulous collaborations that followed. 

Ep. 34 - Robert Mickelsen by Glass Chat

Whether coral reef teeming with vividly colored sea life or honeycomb dripping with golden ambrosia, Joe Peters’ flameworked glass is highly recognizable. Yet the artist has somehow avoided predictability by pushing boundaries and welcoming subjects as diverse as dragons, robots, and honeybees. Collectors delight at the release of new work, never knowing what subjects will be brought to life in Peters’ torch.   In 2012, encouraged by growing international demand from private collectors and galleries, Peters began transitioning from purely sculptural art to functional glass. To be closer to his pipe making community and to produce more collaborative projects, the artist relocated to Evergreen, Colorado, where he joined N8, Adam G, WJC, Elbo, and Eusheen at the Everdream Studio. This stable of world premier pipe makers share this state-of-the-art studio.   Influenced by glass artists Robert Mickelsen and Vittorio Costantini, Peters also found inspiration in the work of his functional glass heroes Banjo and Buck. He has studied with many flameworking masters including Lucio Bubacco, Loren Stump, Robert Burch, Sally Prasch, Milon Townsend, Mickelsen, and Emilio Santini.   On his own and through collaborations, Peters creates pieces for glass enthusiasts worldwide. In 2013, his functional glass works were featured in a well-attended and successful solo exhibition titled Side Show at GooseFire Gallery in Los Angeles, California. Public commissions include his 2012 aquarium on display at Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and public art for Chicago Children’s Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.   As cannabis continues to permeate American culture, Peters engages the functional glass community, in part, by getting his work into the hands of influential musicians. In 2015, the artist created and hand delivered a pipe to country music and cannabis legend Willie Nelson. In early 2016, rapper Action Bronson purchased a Peters’ collaboration, solidifying the value of high-end functional glass artwork within the music world. 

Episode 164- Best of Featuring Dustin Revere and Bonus Best of Pros and Cons of selling to a distributor   Correction GROSS=total revenue    NET =total revenue - cost to         manufacture     Profit = NET- Misc Expenses      Finding Healing and Center with Glassblowing featuring Dustin Revere   Dustin is a wealth of knowledge who has soaked it up from some of the greatest flameworkers in the world. As an artists Dustin has put himself in position to build relationships and gain exposure from artists whom have hundredrs of years of lineage in their families of glass artists.  Learning techniques from artists such as Giani Toso http://www.giannitoso.com/, Cesare Toffolo, http://www.toffolo.com/en/, Lucio Bubacco http://www.luciobubacco.com/,  Robert Mickelsen http://www.mickelsenstudios.com/ and many more.        Dustin has taken this knowledge and created his own version of techniques which has now captivated and taught thousands of aspiring glass artists around the world. Between his Revere school of glass, youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/user/revereglass and facebook posts https://www.facebook.com/revereglass/, Dustin is always pushing himself to find and share tchniques with an audeince who is constantly hungry for more.   http://www.revereglass.com/   __________________________________________             http://www.wyzguymedia.com/selling/ This is the first in a series of 5 episodes covering the different areas of selling and pricing your work.  The goal with this series is to discuss and help you find ways to sell your art, create consistent revenue, and build relationships with the outlets you sell your art through. Whether distributor or retailer.     Today we are diving head first into selling to a distributor.     I personally sell my work through 2-distributors and several retailers directly. The benefits of both allow for a consistent income without putting all your eggs in one basket. On one hand you have a catalog that has a broader reach of distribution allowing more exposure for your line of work.        Most distributors take a 15-25% fee off the top of the wholesale. If you sell an item for $10.00 wholesale the distributor will then pay you $7.75 per item. If you calculate your time and gas that it takes to drive around and hope to sell orders it is way more beneficial to work with a distributor.  When you first start out I recommend starting off selling to a select few shops and have then help you find the right pricing based on their customers feedback. In the long run you can then fine tune your line and become more consistent which you can then approach the catalog companies.    When you begin building relationships with distributors it is important to know that you will need to mail off FREE samples giving them a physical sample of your work. This allows them to settle on pricing and then if they accept the item they have it for photographing it for their catalog.     If you decide to go this route there are a few details to take into consideration.   1. distribution companies tend to buy in bulk which means you will need to be able to keep up with orders if your lines sell well. 2. purchase materials in bulk which will save you a ton in overhead. if you order 6 or more cases then frieght will be an option to ship saving you tons of cash in the long run. Wait till companies like mountain glass have a monthly sale on clear or a color company.    whether you buy your material in bulk or single cases always estimate your cost to manufacture based on regular pricing, not the sale price as well as always include shipping in the cost of the case. if you buy a case of 1" hvy wall and it costs 130.00 before shipping then the actual cost will be around 165.00-  then devide that cost by the number of tubes in the case.      Below is a basic calculation you can use when figuring out cost of manufacturing your items.       How to calculate cost of production    In this example I'm using reference from internet which has material price based on length .....  This is a generic example example 3"-wrap and rake hand pipe  Material breakdown :  2" section of simax 25.4 hvy wall ($8.00/60")  $0.13per inch or $0.26(2"section)  1/2" section of color cobalt firsts ($5.25/18")  $0.15  9" section 4mm clear for raking ($0.52/60") $0.09  Estimated total for cost of Goods 3"wrap and take spoon ($0.26+$0.15+$0.09)=$0.50   Propane/oxygen/power is pennies on the dollar if you're able to get liquid oxygen. If you are renting space you still need to calculate your estimated per hour rate. If you pay $1500.00/mo(power,rent,gas) break it down to per day then estimate how many hours you work in a day and use that number as a base calculation. $1500.00/month (30-day month) is approx $50.00/day (per hour in a 10-hr day)  $5.00/hr (gases,power,rent)   If you can make 10-$5.00 3" wrap spoons per hour your estimated cost per hour is $10.00/hr   (power,rent,gas) $5.00+(material x's 10-hr) $5.00= $10.00/hr. to manufacture 10-$5.00 spoons    Net-$50.00(10-$5.00 3" w/r)-$10.00(cost to manufacture)= Gross approx $40.00/hr.     In a 8 hr day do the math  You can see just by getting a good base line down for estimating your cost to manufacture you have the ability to make anywhere from $30-60.00/hr gross profit   Gross= income  Net =income-cost to manufacture =profit   Now take 15% of your gross and put that aside for TAXES !!!!    If anyone has questions feel free to contact me info@wyzguyradio.com   GO TO WWW.WYZGUYMEDIA/RESOURCES FOR A DOWNLOADABLE FILE TO FIND OUT WHAT YOUR BASELINE COST TO MANUFACTURE YOUR PRODUCTS ACTUALLY IS.   WWW.WYZGUYMEDIA.COM   https://www.theflowmagazine.com/subscriptions/category/18-print-subscriptions.html   use promo code WYZGUY TO RECEIVE 10% OFF NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS Sponsors            

Robert Mickelsen’s second act in glass not only pays homage to his early career in flameworking, but couldn’t have happened without it. The artist gracefully transitioned from sculptural to functional glass, promoting his artwork to an entirely new fan base and resulting in the most successful years of his career. Born in 1951 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mickelsen apprenticed with a professional lampworker for two years in the mid ‘70s, then sold his own designs at outdoor craft fairs for 10 years. In 1987 he took a class from Paul Stankard that opened his eyes to the possibilities of his medium.  Mickelsen stopped doing craft shows in 1989 and began marketing his work through fine galleries and exhibitions in high profile shows nationwide. His work can be found in many prominent collections including the Renwick Gallery of American Crafts at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning New York; and The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Ohio.  Beginning in the mid 1990s, Mickelsen taught flameworking at major glass schools including the Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood Washington; Penland School of Crafts, Bakersville, North Carolina; and The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York. He has published numerous technical and historical articles on flameworked glass and served for six years on the board of directors of the Glass Art Society as treasurer and vice-president. June 19 - 23, 2017, Mickelsen will co teach with Jared Betty the first flameworking workshop at Pratt Fine Arts in Seattle, Washington, to include pipe making as part of the curriculum. From July 17 – 21, 2017 Mickelsen returns for his ninth year in a row to Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to teach the creation of organic forms made from bubbles of borosilicate glass. He also teaches private workshops at his home studio in Ocala, Florida.