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Seekers®
Glass Gallery presents the Grande
Fan series by Scott and Laura Curry. Each piece is individually designed and
created by Scott and Laura, who work as a collaborative team.
The piece is handblown by Scott and Laura, who
envision each one as an organic scalloped form. Their color combinations enhance
each pieces uniqueness.
The style of each whimsical base is a unique
creation that reflects Scott’s sense of delight in creating a beautiful piece
of illuminated sculpture.
Scott and Laura were both born and raised in
Tacoma
,
Washington
– the home of perhaps the world’s greatest living glass artist, Dale
Chihuly. Chihuly, founder of the celebrated
Pilchuck
Glass
School
near
Seattle
, has been widely credited with making the
Pacific Northwest
a world-renowned center for the glass arts.
After Scott and Laura married in 1982, Scott
began a formal apprenticeship as a machinist at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
During that time, he found himself fascinated by a televised documentary on
glassblowing. Soon, the fascination became an obsession and he embarked on what
many veteran glassblowers call “glass madness.”
He began to experiment by building a glass
melting furnace. Working with a friend, Ron Palmer, who was a tool and die
maker, Scott hand forged all his own glassblowing tools. At the time there was
very little information available for small studio glass shops – most was
geared toward large glass factories. Encouraged by his friend and his wife,
Scott became a toolmaker, pattern maker, electrician, plumber carpenter, welder,
forger, furnace maker chemist and, yes, finally a glassblower.
Scott was mesmerized by the ancient process of
batching raw materials together from sand, soda ash, lime and then melting them
in a 2400 degree F furnace and making crystal clear glass that could be worked
with the most primitive tools.
In 1986, Scott attended the highly respected
Pratt Fine Arts School in
Seattle
, where he studied with Martin Blank. Martin showed Scott the endless number of
creative possibilities available to those willing to endure the heat and
frustration that comes with the joy of being a glassblower. With Martin as a
catalyst for inspiration, Scott became absolutely dedicated to designing,
forming and blowing hot molten glass.
Since 1989 Scott and Laura Curry have worked
together in their home studio near
Seattle
, while raising three children. They have continued to develop their skills and
techniques and the glass art they produce has gradually evolved from what they
now view as primitive beginnings to refined works of art.
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