The air in Asheville gets cooler while the glass in the North Carolina Glass Center remains hotter than ever as they change seasons with their annual glass pumpkin patch, glass center employee said.
“It’s a celebration of fall and glass,” Director of Operations Mamie Fain said. “Glass pumpkins are a ‘thing’ in the glass world, and we did our first pumpkin patch about three years ago. It was a big hit, and it’s grown every single year.”
Glass Blowing Instructor and Artist Mark DeShields said he describes the pumpkin patch as a gallery full of pumpkins, and it’s a good way of displaying the variety of pumpkins each individual artist brings to the table.
“For the pumpkin patch, if I had to estimate, I’d say there’s at least 30 to 40 artists involved right now,” DeShields said. “It’s likely there will be more before the season ends.”
Gallery Manager Amelia Rosenberg said glass pumpkins are a popular collector’s item, too.
“People come here specifically looking for pumpkins to grow their collection,” Rosenberg said. “It’s another good way for artists to generate a good amount of money for themselves. This season is really good for them in terms of sales just because there are so many collectors who want pumpkins.”
Fain said the tiny pumpkins, jewelry and flat fused glass are made in a flame shop, and the bigger pumpkins are made in the hot shop.
“Glass blowing is in the hot shop. Lampworking would be the torch work (in the flame shop). The scale is different – it’s a much bigger scale in the hot shop than in the lampworking studio, but they can be more fine-tuned,” Glass Blowing Instructor and Artist Joe Nielander said.
DeShields said a majority of the smaller pumpkins with intricate patterning are made by Suzanne Cancilla-Fox in the flame shop.
“She’s a flame worker working in soft glass on the torch,” DeShields said.
Fain said the process of making different sizes of pumpkins depends on each artist’s technique.
“Pumpkins are blown into a mold, and all of the molds are different. You can tell because the ribs or ridges that are on the pumpkins vary,” Fain said. “The shape will depend on the mold and how blown out it is.”
Fain said Joe Nicholson makes sizable pumpkins, which use a lot more glass.
“Some of his are striped, so they are using cane, which are glass strings that have been pulled and stretched to give it the swirl effect,” Fain said.
Fain said some of the other pumpkins have color variations mixed with clear glass.
“There’s one with yellow and orange and that would be made using frit, which is pieces of colored glass blended together to give it more color variation,” Fain said.
Rosenberg said she loves Annie Jacobsen’s pumpkins for their funky shapes and varying sizes.
“I love Kit Paulson’s stems. Her stems are so textured and wonderful. Also, they’re really uniform,” Fain said.
DeShields said while most glass artists specialize in either the flame shop or the hot shop, Paulson works in both and is outstanding at both.
“Kit Paulson covers all the bases and does it extremely well. She’s got several different styles of pumpkins, and she executes every one of them perfectly,” DeShields said.
Fain said she likes several different artists and styles for their individuality.
“I like the ones that are slightly off of traditional colors, I gravitate toward more muted colors. People, in general, like the fun colors. You’ll notice that we have more fun colors than traditional colors,” Fain said.
Fain said the 30 minute Make Your Own hot shop classes offer pumpkins alongside the other options of what people can make. She said when people find out they can make their own pumpkin, they’re more inclined to take classes at the glass center.
“Being able to offer it in a class, people feel like they’re included in the excitement of the pumpkin patch,” Fain said. “The community gets really excited about pumpkins. It draws in a lot of people who wouldn’t normally be here on a regular day, so it’s like bringing glass to the masses in a way that we don’t get to a lot of the year.”
DeShields said the glass center’s pumpkin patch puts all the glass blowers at NCGC on the same page because they’re all working hard to prepare for the holiday season.
“Pumpkin making is something that I’m new to and now that I’m getting better at it, I’m starting to feel more a part of this particular community,” DeShields said.
Fain said the NCGC pumpkin patch opened Sept. 4 and runs through Nov. 3, open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for Tuesdays when the glass center is closed.
“We’ve kind of expanded it to other fall and Halloween items. We also have ghosts that are made in the flame shop, we have flat glass and fused pieces. It’s more than just pumpkins,” Fain said. “This kicks off the holiday season, and it just feels right.”
