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'Galaxy of Glass' vibrant and amazing!

It’s a “Galaxy of Glass” where wonderfully sculpted works of glass art will be on display through August 26 at the Art Center of Fallbrook. The annual show, now in its tenth year, is a juried display that includes glass works created with several processes: hot blown, cast, sculpted, fused, lampwork and etched, to name a few. Many of the pieces displayed are also for sale.

This year, for the first time, the Everett family is proud to have three artists displaying their works. The family owns Fallbrook Propane Gas Company and has been a major sponsor of the show since its inception. In fact, Merrill Everett is the originator of the show. “This is the tenth show we have sponsored – it is good to give back to the community,” noted Merrill.

Merrill has been an artist most of his life, working in ceramics and glass. His wife Deborah, a glass artist, also has pieces on display, and their son Chris has created some artistic glass creations of his own.

With a Masters of Fine Art from Claremont Graduate School, Merrill taught glassblowing at Orange Coast College. “We always had a studio in our home too,” he said. “We would have Friday night get-togethers where Chris and his friends would blow glass and do ceramics – it was a lot of fun.”

Chris Everett has been blowing glass since he was about fourteen and recently visited the island of Murano in Italy, where glassblowing was born. “They have been glassblowing since about 1291,” Chris explained.

“Incalmo” is an Italian glassblowing technique that Chris learned while in Murano and used to create the delicate and vibrant irises currently on display. He created these glassworks from memory while using some of the tools he purchased while in Murano. A Venetian leaf tool was used to make the detail in the flowers.

Deborah Everett has been married to Merrill for 30 years and has been blowing glass since they were married. “We had a glassblowing studio at our house and I put the wooden swings up and my three children grew up in the studio,” said Deborah. She created her own jewelry and has incorporated some of the medallions in her glasswork on display at the show. “I had to heat them up for a very long time to apply to the hot glass,” she said. “You have to love it and live it. You don’t do it for relaxation.”

“Reverse glass painting” is what Lynn Leahy does best. Some of her elaborate pieces were juried into the show. “This is a difficult technique that requires painting on one side of the glass knowing it is going to be viewed from the other side,” she explained. “You are working backwards, foreground to background.”

About six years ago Lynn saw the technique at an antiquities exhibit in San Francisco. “It was done in Eastern Europe three hundred years ago,” she said, “and mine is a contemporary version of the same process. I use acrylic paints and layer and layer and layer until finally I reach what I am looking for.” On the vases she not only paints backwards but upside down. One vase takes about two weeks to complete.

Several of the small works of glass art are for sale. Christmas bulbs in a rainbow of colors made by Ed Broadfield are available, as are a collection of necklaces, pendants and earrings created by various artists.

Bright “lampwork” fortune cookies created by Nancy Nagle spout “fortunes” such as: “May your home be filled with laughter” and “Take time to dance by the light of the moon.”

10th Annual Galaxy of Glass

Art Center at Fallbrook

103 South Main

(760) 728-1414

(800) 919-1159

July 8-Aug. 26

Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Sun. 12-3 p.m.

There is a minimal charge; members view for free

 

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