Frequently Asked Questions : What projects are you working on right now?

• I am constantly evolving how I see the landscape around me. For those of you who know my mountain  vessel series, it is continuously ever changing. Which is how projects should be for an artist. Stagnation is a killer of creativity. That is why I am so happy that I have found my niche. To give those of you some background on my mountain vessel series. About 3-4 years ago, I started transforming my perspectives of the mountains around me here in the Pacific Northwest onto my glasswork. I wanted people to see my favorite time of day, which is dusk. It is this amazing time of day when blues, purples and pinks in the sky create this highlighted almost rainbow affect against the crispy sillhouetted mountain lines. 

To find a technique that actually translates those feelings, emotions and views I get from looking at the mountains was pretty incredible. Spending all of this time honing in on my glassblowing skills and then taking an idea and translating it into glass. As well as having it be something I actually imagined was life changing for me. 

I am constantly learning everyday and I hope that when people experience this series, they invoke some feelings of contentment and peace that resonates from my viewings of the cascade mountain range . Currently I am looking towards using different techniques like enamel painting to create more detail in this series. I have been thinking of incorporating people and their actions into my landscape stories as well. So stay tuned to see more!

• Another Project I am working on right now is putting together and creating a limited addition glass series where a majority of the proceeds, probably 50%, will go to a non-profit organization supporting social justice and the BLM movement. I would like to be able to donate 100% proceeds of the sales to a non-profit, but I am a small solo owned business and it does cost money to make these pieces. If you have any suggestions for non-profits in Portland please let me know. I am researching diligently right now.

Announcement details will be coming soon. I’m super excited to work on this and be able to give back in some way shape or form. 

Nate Watsons statement on how to best support social justice during these current times

I had a wake up call last week. I read an amazing and impactful statement from Nate Watson, the executive director of Public Glass SF, which is San Fransisco’s “only glass-focused youth education program.” At the end of my spiel will be a link to the statement he wrote. Please read it!

Nate explains how our glass community has not fully stepped up to the plate until now and how unfortunate it is that it took a BLM movement (and a death) to start supporting black and brown glass neighbors and friends. What I got out of it is that it is great that people are supporting the BLM movement but please don’t use black and brown friends as a way to profit from your business. In order to really show your support and take action, donating and physically helping people is the best course to take.

I’m trying very carefully to put together a plan of action to further help with social justice and the inclusion of everyone in the glass community. After reading Nate Watson’s statement, many questions came up in my head. What is the best way to go about showing my support for social justice? What projects can I bring to my business that can create a lasting support system for everyone?

From where I’m standing, the glass community really isn’t that big. It’s getting bigger every day and all over the world, but what I have always loved about our community is how tight-knit we are, no matter how big the community gets. Or so I thought.

I have been following Public Glass SF and other non-profit glass communities for the last couple of years now. Public Glass SF is a pretty amazing non-profit that offers free workshops for underserved youths, upon applying and getting accepted. Glassblowing can offer several things for youths:

• It can cultivate an understanding of how to control your emotions with discipline of the medium

• Concentration and teamwork is huge in learning how to blow glass, and it can simply help with getting through hard times in life.

• It can provide self-motivation and inspiration, qualities that everyone should know how to use throughout their lives.

There’s no denying - it’s an expensive medium which makes what these companies do even more heroic. Check out a list of these non-profit glass studios at the bottom of this blog post as well as where you can donate to help with social justice and the inclusion of everyone in the glass community.

One of the main reasons I have stuck with glassblowing as a medium for so long is because of the teamwork aspect. I have always loved how breathing life into a complicated piece required extraordinary amounts of personal bonding, patience and group concentration with fellow glassblowers. Having cooperation and camaraderie as the backbone of our industry gives me hope that we can get to the place we need to be as a community, together.

For me, I am going to be brainstorming new ways to support social justice. My next couple of blogs will be a more clear and concrete plan of action that I at Rachel Escoe Glass will be taking to help support non-profits like these and local non-profits here in the Portland area. Stay tuned and in the meantime take a look at Nate’s statement and please please consider donating to the links below.

Stay safe and healthy out there friends.

Rachel Escoe Glass

Nate Watson’s Statement

Donation Links for Underserved Youths

Give To Glass

Crafting The Future

Non-Profits in Glass

Public Glass SF

Ignition Community Glass

GlassRoots