Get schooled in glass blowing at SCFF

“I’ve driven through Minnesota once, but I would’ve loved to spend more time there,” said Devan Cole.

After meeting Scott Kozelka at a convention last fall in San Antonio, Texas, Cole got his wish.

“I’m excited to be coming out,” he said, but more importantly, he’s excited to share his passion and his art.

Hot Glass Academy will be performing at least six glassblowing shows a day at the 2022 Steele County Free Fair, each lasting between 20 and 30 minutes. In addition, Cole said, he’ll be doing several “mini-workshops.”

“I remember the first glass art exhibit I went to growing up,” he said. The son of artists, his parents exhibited their own work and brought him along when he was a child.

He didn’t enjoy the exhibitions – until he saw blown glass.

Cole took a class in college and now has a degree in fine arts. He’s been “blowing,” as he puts it, for 20 years.

Though he grew up in upstate New York, “I’ve been a nomad most of my life,” Cole said. Traveling to festivals and events, demonstrating the art of glass blowing, is the perfect fit for him.

While he attributes his creativity to genetics – and the exposure to multiple mediums – “I’m more of a three-dimensional artist,” Cole said. “I have a tactile sense of art; it allows me to imagine in a new visual language.”

He has a crew of what he calls “very, very, very skilled glass workers” who will be performing. Many of the completed pieces will be for sale, while others will go to Hot Glass Academy’s sponsor, Pirkl Gas. Pirkl is supplying the propane Cole will use to heat his equipment to 2,000 degrees.

The blowers will use a PA system to narrate as they work.

“There’s so much happening so quickly,” he said, “and we can’t slow down” to answer many questions. “That changes the process. I always encourage people to come back the next day,” because colors – and shapes – change throughout the process.

In addition to the multiple pieces the crew will create during the daily shows, other work will be on display.

“I always bring exhibits to show what the glass can do,” Cole said.

Working with a furnace and torches in the middle of an August day “is definitely part of the trade,” he said. “We have electrolyte tablets and lots of fans,” and the crews swap in and out of the process as necessary.

“You can only stand there for so long,” Cole said.

He is the founder of the academy, which operates out of Americus, Ga., and offers workshops, private parties, and summer camps to share the experience.