Arcadian Artists 2018: the magic of glass

The magic of watching molten glass transformed into beautiful, delicate pieces of art often leaves audiences transfixed.

Glass blower James Fletcher at his workshop. Pictures: Jordan Shields

The magic of watching molten glass transformed into beautiful, delicate pieces of art often leaves audiences transfixed.

The process for the glassmaker can be strenuous — not to mention time consuming — but for McGraths Hill artist James Fletcher it is still magic.

His fascination with glassblowing started in the early 1980s when he was introduced to the art form by a friend who ran an iron foundry.

“I found a book in a local library that gave me some information about glass blowing and I thought it looked easy — but it isn’t,” he said.

The challenge of glass blowing is partly what has kept Fletcher hooked for more than 30 years.

He said part of the appeal was the “experimentation with chemistry and furnaces and then making something that’s really difficult to make”.

“I experiment with a lot of different styles,” he said.

James makes colourful art, mostly using tools he has built himself.

His colourful work is often inspired by Italian glassmaker Lino Tagliapietra.

“He’s one of the great glass blowers, and his work is really inspiring,” Fletcher said.

An expensive and time consuming hobby, Fletcher spends about three or four weeks per year working on his craft.

“It takes probably two weeks to get everything warmed up and loaded,” he said.

He sources raw glass from Victoria while his coloured glass comes from overseas.

“There’s only about three companies in the world that makes the colour for what I need,” he said.

Fletcher, a church pastor, taught himself the craft and also makes his own tools.

“It’s a very difficult hobby to get into from a technical point of view, to get the furnace built properly — it’s taken me 30 years to get a good furnace built,” he said.

Fletcher will showcase his craft at this year’s Arcadian Artists Trail, which showcases a variety of artists at studios through Dural, Galston, Arcadia and Berrilee on November 10 and 11.

Fletcher, who will be joining the trail for the first time this year, will be one of six artists at Sandra’s Ceramics Studio in Fiddletown.

He said he was looking forward to “having the opportunity for lots of people to see my glass”.

“Most people haven’t seen glass blowing done in the studio, so people are really fascinated and they find it really interesting,” he said.