Photos by Caitlin Abrams
Vandalia
The Vandalia Glassworks studio and gallery recently relocated to a larger space in South St. Paul.
Vandalia Glassworks
Locals looking to learn glassblowing—or shop unique creations from Minnesota pros—know to visit St. Paul’s Vandalia Glassworks. The studio/gallery/education center has grown and expanded so much since its 2015 inception that co-owners Bryce Borkhuis and Erick Schmidt recently relocated the business to a new, larger space in South St. Paul. There, a team of full-time artists and staff members teach group classes and host private events, while the gallery space showcases locally made vases, bowls, jewelry, paperweights, and more. “I think there’s becoming more of an appreciation for handmade goods,” Borkhuis says of the team’s expansion and glassblowing’s popularity. “More people want to get their hands on it.” 651-744-0000, vandaliaglassworks.com
over view shot of a glass blowing class
Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Arts
Foci has been giving glass artists a northeast Minneapolis home since 2002. The nonprofit studio, exhibition space, and teaching center offers classes and showcasing opportunities for every kind of glass art, from beginning glassblowing to sand casting. (They also host kids’ camps for artists as young as 9.) Even the in-studio artists who may not take classes anymore are always learning at Foci. “Glass is the coolest material around,” says director of studio operations Chad Holliday. “There’s so much science around it, but sometimes things occur, and a project doesn’t work out, and it’s hard to explain why.” In those cases, they just pick up the torch and try again. 612-759-8476, mnglassart.org
a glass artist making a large jar
Hennepin Made
Jackson Schwartz fell in love with glassblowing during a glass arts class at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. “I loved the immediacy of it,” he says. “You have to make something from start to finish in one go.” After working as a studio assistant, and teaching and taking classes at Australia’s Canberra School of Art, he moved home to Minneapolis in 2008 to start his blown-glass lighting company, Hennepin Made. Room & Board quickly picked up Hennepin Made’s designs, and it has since grown into an internationally known (but still locally based) brand. And though Schwartz and his business partner, Joe Limpert, have expanded their business to include Parallel (a café and showroom) and an event space in their Minneapolis studio building, they have no plans to give up their core focus on well-crafted lighting. “Light itself is the most mysterious material,” Schwartz says. “I love figuring out how to capture it and make it beautiful.” 612-345-5445, hennepinmade.com
