Justin Sheppard has been sharing the art of glass blowing with the Eugene community for 11 years — and has been loving every minute.
The idea for Cornerstone Glass, Art & Supply, a local glass blowing and lamp working shop, first manifested inside a chicken coop just outside of Eugene, off Lorane Highway.
Sheppard’s father had rented out the coop to a friend and local glass blower to use. When the glass blower left, Sheppard made the vacated space his own. He took off from there.
For years, like many artists in his shop today, he blew individual pieces of glass and sold them to local retail shops. Then, in 1998, he decided to open Cornerstone. Bench-by-bench, the shop was pieced together in a new space that boasts upwards of 5,000 square feet. He has 30 workbenches open to the public complete with burners, torches and a variety of different tools.
“We’re not a retail shop,” Sheppard said, distinguishing it from other local art galleries or head shops like Midtown Direct and Hunky Dory Pipe & Tobacco. Cornerstone sells materials for glass blowing, like tubing, torches and protective wear. The store also carries a line of clothing featuring their insignia, a silhouetted glassblower on a shield of Rasta colors.
Walk through the front door of the shop and you’ll be met by myriad colorful glass rods. Opaque, translucent, playful, multi-colored interweavings, and filigree cane are scattered in all different sizes and colors.
“You don’t have to know how to blow glass to come here and rent space, but it helps,” Sheppard said.
Although novices are welcome in the space, Sheppard said that getting a little instruction helps with the process.
“We’re going to start having classes soon,” he said. “We’ve planned on starting them in 2010, but for now you can ask around and I’d lend a hand.”
There are a few things that separate Cornerstone from the University’s own glass blowing facility located in the EMU Craft Center.
First off, spatial constraints: The Craft Center has significantly less space that not only you have to share with your fellow glass blowers, but also with metallurgy artists and other artists working with torches and “hot” tools. A technician must be on hand at all times to monitor the goings on, you can’t legally sell what you make there, and oddly enough it’s very expensive. The $20 per hour at the Craft Center doesn’t really hold up against
Cornerstone’s $5 per hour fee, especially considering their state of the art technology and equipment.
Another plus that Cornerstone office manager Ashley Tulare mentioned is that “at Cornerstone, you can blow whatever you want.”
In fact, a good proportion of space renters at the shop make a living by the blowing pipes and bongs sold at local head shops. Those items cannot be blown at the Craft Center.
“Cornerstone is a professional working environment. That guy over there could have a wife and kids, you know?” Sheppard said.
In May, Sheppard will host the second annual Degenerate Flame Off festival and contest.
Last year, prominent glass artists from as far away as Pennsylvania and Texas were in attendance showing off their skills; some of their works are now on display in the front of the Cornerstone shop. This year, Sheppard expects even more artists from outside Oregon to turn out, as the industry is blowing up at an astounding rate.
Sheppard said that every year it seems like there is more talent brought from the underground into public forums.
As big as the glass blowing industry is getting, however, Sheppard continually stresses the
importance of community. On its company profile on Torch Life, a Web-based glass artist’s community, Sheppard said it best when he said, “I want to provide a place where my friends and I can flourish.”
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Fire away: the art of glass blowing
Daily Emerald
January 26, 2010
Nick Cote
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