Friday, May 21, 2010

'Feature Friday': Prairie Fire Glass Studio & Gallery

I am the Program Director  for an elderly group that meets weekly. All of the elderly people in this group are still living in the community, many of them still live at home and are quite independent. All of them, however have been diagnosed with mild or moderate memory loss. The purpose of the group is to maintain their current level of functioning and in some cases improve it. I feel very blessed to be a part of such a wonderful group. I'm not only helping people maintain their independence and improve their overall functioning, but I get to have so much fun while doing it! We have experienced so many great things together as a group. This week, I arranged for our group to go to a Blown Glass studio in a small town just 30 minutes from here in Monticello, Illinois. I'd heard wonderful things about it and was thrilled with how the day trip turned out!

The owner gave our group a complete demonstration from start to finish on how the art of glass blowing is done. It truly is an art and requires so much talent and experience. There are many stages in the glass blowing process, many of which you literally have a matter of seconds to work with and if you don't use the right technique with the right timing, your project is trashed and you have to start all over again. The Blower has a great personality for this line of work. He had all of us completely engaged in what he was doing with his humor and wealth of knowledge. It really was a great experience and I know that everyone really enjoyed it. I only wish I had some money to spend. He has so many beautiful pieces of work - all unique, all hand made and all were signed by him. So if you are ever in Monticello, Illinois, definitely check out the Prairie Fire Glass Studio and Gallery! You won't be disappointed!

Here are a few images I took from the studio and gallery. Hope you enjoy! :)

I wanted this necklace sooooooo bad! Isn't it absolutely stunning?? I think I may have literally drooled over this piece! LOVE IT! OK, so I loved everything....but this seemed to have really stood out to me. As you can see....he has some truly fantastic creations so support local artists and check it out! :)

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