Glass artist from Denver, Colorado
The Balloon Dog Rebellion:
I discovered glassblowing in high school and was lucky enough to attend one of the country's premier glass programs-plus, I got in-state tuition! But the excitement of attending art-school to find myself as a pipemaker was short-lived. The director of the department was an uninspired relic, clinging to the past rather than embracing progressive artistic expression.
Coming into the boot camp of the "modern-art" world, I was eager to explore my creativity through pipe-making. That enthusiasm was immediately shut down-both morally and institutionally-by this so-called educator and the flock of "art-sheep" students who clung to his every word. According to them, pipes were not, and never would be, considered art.
My response? Fuck that.
So I took modern art's poster child at the time-Jeff Koons' Balloon Dog, a piece that was already controversial in the art world-and "defaced" it in the institution's eyes by turning it into a pipe. While balloon animals and inflatable fun are naturally part of my artistic DNA, this moment was the apex of the concept.
It was a spirit of rebellion, a refusal to conform, and a testament to beating off to the beat of my own drum-alienation and possible expulsion be danged.
