Peter Tietbohl

 

I was introduced to glassblowing at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading, PA. After taking a few workshops, making ornaments and cups with the help of the professionals at the studio, I was inspired to learn more about glass.  I signed up for an introductory class in February of 2018, where I got to experience the magic of gathering glass out of the furnace for the first time.  
 

I was captivated by glass; the challenge of working with it, the possibilities of what it could be made into, and the endless learning needed to master it.
 

 

 Following the introductory class, I continued to sign up for as many classes as I could at the GoggleWorks.  I soon became aware that the best way to learn how to blow glass was to spend as much time blowing glass as possible.  I knew I wanted to be in the studio more than once or twice a week for the classes I was taking, and thanks the Hot Glass Studio manager, Scott Krenitsky, I was able to do just that. I began helping out in the studio, assisting with workshops and cleaning, which over time, turned into me teaching workshops and classes myself.  
 

 

I have found the challenge of learning the craft to be an addictive process. Turning a molten unshaped material into a precise, predetermined form is fulfilling and keeps me coming back to the studio to produce my designs in glass.
 

 

Over the 6 years I have been working with glass I have worked for artists based out of Berks County, notably Danny Polk and Stephen Rich Nelson, as well as taken classes at Alfred University, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Pittsburgh Glass Center. I am excited to continue to expand my relationships in the glass community across the country and world.