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ROBERT HANDLEY
ARTIST STATEMENT & BIOGRAPHY
Bob's passion for glassblowing began at Franklin Pierce University in 1998. He was a Fine Arts major and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in 2001. Bob has also attended classes at the CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS in New York, as well as ABATE ZANETTI in Murano Italy. Here he has become inspired by italian glassblowing techniques, supported by his interest in italian language and culture. Bob's professional experience included a three year apprenticeship, followed by his residence in Corning, NY, where he taught classes at the CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS. It was in Corning where CURRIER GLASSWORKS was started in 2006. In October of 2008, Bob's dream of building a fully operational glassblowing studio began, and the studio was opened in April of 2009.
All of the glass is hand-crafted and is gathered out of a two thousand degree furnace. The colors are added to each piece individually by a layering process. Various tools are used for shaping, and the glass needs to be reheated and worked until its final shape, then slowly cooled in an annealing oven.
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" Glass is a demanding material to work with. It requires all of my focus and attention; from the initial gathering of the molten glass, straight through until completion of the piece.
Successful glass pieces require a combination of having the proper heat, timing, and movement. It is challenging to try and keep up with the fluidity of the glass, and calming when my movements become complementary to the glass behavior.
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Although molter glass cools quickly, it takes a certain amount of slowing down to work property. I enjoy the rhythm of working hot glass; the constant movement required as well as shaping the glass with various tools. I enjoy the finished pieces as well as the process required to create them.
The glass that I make requires teamwork, and I enjoy working with others, exhanging ideas,
having the freedom of creative expression, and having fun. Certain technological advances have
improved the typical glassblowing studio, but molten glass has been worked for thousands of years. Being such an ancient craft, glassblowing stands on its own.
There is much to learn from glass, and it's the learning that I enjoy."
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