Saturday, September 7, 2013

Here & There Column 9-3-13


The Art Of Glassblowing

  Had the opportunity recently to just sit and watch an artist perform the beautiful technique known as glassbowling.
  Looks and certainty is more than mind blowing to me.
  Ray Keller of Keller Glass Blowing of Reeders, Pa. had a booth on the midway at the recently completed Wayne County Fair where he displayed his amazing talent in molding glass into many various and beautifully decorated displays.
  The Keller family all work together in this business with Ray's wife Roberta hand painting with glass stain and their son, Dylan following in his father and grandfather's footsteps making him the third generation glass artist. 
  Glassblowing or the practice of blowing glass may seem hip and modern if you've recently hit up or saw an exhibition by the Keller family, but the technique of glassblowing has actually been around since antiquity.
  Although not as old as simpler methods like bead making or cutting and carving shapes from larger pieces of glass, glassblowing has been very popular since the time of the Roman Empire.
  First century B. C. Syrians are most likely credited with the discovery that glass could be blown from the end of a hollow tube into different shapes or molds.
  Glassblowers today say that glassblowing techniques have evolved little since then while new technologies have introduced more modern equipment but that the fundamentals of glassblowing remain the same.
  Ray Keller's glass creations are handmade out of Pyrex glass. 
  Family tradition is important and it's good to know that glass artist Dylan will take this popular family business into the next century.

                                                      


Photo Identification

Glassblowing artist Ray Keller of Keller Glass Blowing of Reeders, Pa. performing at the Wayne County Fair. Some of his beautiful work is on the table below the flame.

                                                    

  

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