The Eugene Glass School – a nonprofit located at 575 Wilson Street – hosted its 5th Annual Flame-Off Competition this weekend. The event lasted Friday through Sunday and included these categories of competition: sculpture and goblet; team sculpture and goblet; marble and paperweight; and wearables (beads, pendants, bracelets).
Among glass artists, Eugene’s Flame-Off is well known, and contestants arrived from as far as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Hawaii.
“People came really prepared,” said judge Robert Mickelsen. “A lot of people had practiced with timers so they could get the maximum effect out of their allotted time.”
Mickelsen, an artist and teacher whose work has been shown in many galleries, including the Renwick Gallery of American Crafts at the Smithsonian Institute, flew from Florida to help judge the event.
“Flame-offs are actually more common than you might think,” said Mickelsen. According to Mickelsen, the first flame-off was hosted by Louis Wilson in Albuquerque, N.M., six years ago.
“And it was such a great event that it has just caught on,” said Mickelsen. Now several institutions nationwide host annual flame-offs. Philadelphia Glass Works even started the first all-female flame-off, now in its second year.
Wandering around the Eugene Glass School’s campus, it’s not hard to tell why flame-offs are popular. The event has an easy-going, family-picnic feel. Outside, people chat around a barbecue and drink mimosas in the sun, but inside, three competitors in goggles and heavy gloves sweat over blue flames as the clock races. About 30 spectators sweltered in the radiating heat, watching the artists work.
“All flame-offs are like this,” said Mickelsen. “Everyone has a great time.”
And then there’s the prizes. Josh McDaniel, who placed 1st in the sculpture category, took home a Mirage bench burner valued around $1,800, along with a whole pile of other prizes.
But, it’s really all about the art. The 3-foot spear that McDaniel created reflects his dedication to his craft. It had an eggshell handle, colored creme and ocher, that concluded in an arrowhead of sunset-toned glass.
“When I was growing I always felt artistic but I never felt like an artist,” said McDaniel, “until I found glass. Then I knew I was an artist and glass was my medium.” He said he has been obsessed ever since.
McDaniel entered the last four Eugene Glass School flame-offs and now holds two first-place finishes in sculpture.
“When you’re working with molten glass, you have to really dance with it,” said McDaniel, “There’s not too many feelings that can compare with that.”
“I got into glass because I wanted to play with fire as much as anything,” joked Jenny Newtson, the event’s MC.
“There are some jobs where being detail-oriented works against you, where being a detail-oriented person is just going to piss you off,” Newtson said. “With a torchworker, being really anal is really good.”
“It’s a natural outlet for that type of personality,” Newtson said.