Arts IN Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne Coming up, we'll talk with glass artist James Lupkin and self-taught artist Sarah Gayle.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts IN Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

James Lupkin was born into an artistic family.

His father, William Lupkin, owns and operates William Lupkin designs here in Fort Wayne, which specializes in the total design fabrication and installation of stained glass windows.

James grew up working in the family business and eventually went on to Ball State University, where he received his BFA in Glass.

Now James produces his own original artwork, focusing primarily on blown glass, as well as creating beautiful, cut and polished pieces.

James Thank you for having me.

I am so excited to talk to you because you are multi-talented.

Let's start at the beginning.

When did you realize that it was pretty much predetermined that you were going to be an artist?

So it's kind of something that's been in my blood.

I was born in it.

You know, my father is an artist and I've always been around an artistic family.

And then throughout school, I always wanted to be a drawer.

I really liked drawing.

And once I graduated high school and started college, I was drawing major.

And then one day at the atrium, I was eating lunch, and I saw that they were having a Christmas sale.

So all the glass majors had blown glass Christmas ornaments.

And I was like, Man, that's cool.

I didn't know they did that here.

So then the next semester I switched my major to glass, and from there, you know, I concentrated on blown glass and fuzed glass and kiln worked glass, everything that didn't have to do with the family business of stained glass.

And once I graduated, I was a production glassblower for Kokomo Opalescent Glass, which is America's oldest art glass company.

And then after a short while there, I decided, you know, maybe I do want to come back and and run the family business one day.

So I haven't turned back since.

Okay.

So tell me how it works when you are at your in school, you are drawing, you love it.

You see another medium that you like.

I mean, did you just switch your major right away or did you start to dabble in it or?

I just switched right away.

You just you were like glass, it's in my blood, Im going to do it.

I thought it would be something fun, because, you know, in my family, everybody that's artistically inclined kind of has a specialty.

Yeah.

So I was like, well, blown glass is different.

Maybe that can be my thing.

Yeah.

Okay.

What kind of learning curve is it now?

You're like, in the deep end, you have changed your major.

You're going to go all in.

How long does it take to get a feel for it?

Not to mention, get good at it?

So I thought I was going to go in and be this hotshot because I've been around glass before and it was totally not the case.

There was a huge learning curve.

Yeah.

And I was constantly kind of addicted to it because it was so challenging.

You know, I like that challenge and it it's when something is challenging but fun, you know, you can really get addicted to it.

But if it's too challenging, it's, you know, you turn away from it.

Right.

What was the most challenging part initially?

And has that changed?

Definitely the blown glass.

With, you know, the heat and everything about it.

It's very intimidating.

You know, you see everything's hot, it's glowing.

You know, there's a lot of movement and that's very intimidating going in.

But after a while, you know, I wanted to be that guy, you know, that was impressing a crowd.

Right?

Everything with that.

Tell me about the artistry that goes into blowing glass, because like you said, it is it seems like there are so many technical elements to it that it would be hard to then incorporate the art into it as well.

How do you go about doing that?

So I think for blown glass, it really kind of walks the tight line between a fine art and a craft.

And so in school it was very much I was trying to do the fine art of it and kind of build the craft up as I went.

And then when I was a production glass blower, it was like, that's all craft, you know, your technique has to be on point.

So then I think that was really beneficial to me because it was like, okay, once I learned more of the craft, then I could kind of bring back in some of the fine art to it and have some fun.

So what is it like to design a piece before you get to the process of actually blowing the glass?

Do you have a full idea in your mind of what it's going to look like?

And then you have to just leave it up to chance?

Yeah.

So one of the things with blown glass is that it's, you know, you only have one shot at it.

It's not like for pottery or for some some other art mediums, you know, even drawing you can erase and then start again.

With glass it's like if you don't have your heat right and it cracks, you know, because it's just naturally always cooling while you're working with it, then it's done.

You know, if it falls on the floor, it shatters, you know.

Is it ever frustrating when you have something in your mind that you want to create and it you are kind of fighting against the the technical elements of it?

Definitely.

So if I'm doing kiln work glass or some of my cold working glass, you know, I can really draw it out and plan for it.

But with blown glass, I'm kind of doing it on the fly.

I have an idea in my mind and I'll draw a shape on the floor, but that's about as far as that goes.

Wait, you'll draw a shape on the floor.

Yeah.

So in chalk, I will draw whatever shape of a vase I want to make just draw it on the floor and then be like, That's my starting point, I want to match that.

That's wild.

And then tell me how it works when you are choosing the different colors and all of that.

Because doesn't that affect how the glass works?

Definitely.

How you have to work the glass, I guess.

Definitely.

So some colors, they work really differently.

So like a blue would be a very soft color.

It's going to get hot really quick and it's going to get really thin.

The more you blow on it, something like white is a very stiff color, so you can really have a lot more working time with it.

It's a lot of trial and failure.

Yeah.

So traditional blown glass is kind of you know, you make it in one shot.

Normally that can be a one hour piece and then it cools overnight and then it's ready, you know, Then it's done.

Yeah, but, you know, the kind of glass work that I like to make is where Ill, if it's blown glass, I'll make it do that one shot.

But then I bring it back into my cold shop here with all my equipment, and then I start cutting it, grinding and polishing.

And that can really take some time.

And if I'm doing a piece that only is cut, ground and polished, you know, that's when it can take days, weeks, months.

You were telling me before we started shooting that you have a couple of favorite pieces in here and those are your favorite because of the the time and the effort that that went into them.

How much design goes into that before you actually get into the process?

So for some of those, I will even make like a cardboard mockup of what it's going to be.

Now, unfortunately, I can make the cardboard and it'll be this big, but then the more I keep grinding away at it, the smaller the piece gets.

So, you know, one of them, it was going to be quite a bit larger.

And then once, you know, the final product was that size.

you were telling me that you can't blow glass here.

Correct.

So how does that work when you are kind of having to go back and forth to to work on your craft?

So I think it's very challenging because of the time, you know, like I was saying, I go to Toledo and I rent the facility access at the Toledo Museum of Art, and it's a fantastic facility.

But, you know, that's 2 hours one way.

So it gets to be okay.

If I do, I drive 2 hours to get there, then I have a three hour blow slot, then I drive 2 hours to come back.

Then I got to wait till the next day or the next weekend for it to cool, drive 2 hours, pick it up, drive 2 hours, come back.

Yeah.

So that can really take a toll on sometimes, you know, really wanting to go make stuff.

I was going to say probably just the creativity because you know also how much pressure that has to be.

A lot.

Yeah.

So that's I kind of have a hard time experimenting when I go there because, you know, I work alone, which most glass blowers always have a partner or an assistant, a team.

And since I work alone, you know, I'm kind of limited on what kinds of pieces I can make or the scale that I can make, because I really don't want to screw something up.

You know, I've got 3 hours, and if I don't make something in that 3 hours, what a waste.

Yeah.

What is the best part of your artistry?

Opening up the kiln like after you've made something, whether it's whether you fuzed it or slumped it or blew it, and you finally get to, like, hold it in your hand, You know, to me it's it's similar with pottery.

If you throw something on the wheel, it's super wet and flimsy, and so you can't really touch it until it dries.

And then, you know, I think being able to hold the object in your hand is probably the most satisfying part.

I can imagine.

Okay.

I've talked to a few different glass artists and I don't think I've heard anyone say slumped.

Okay, tell me what is slumping?

Yeah.

Okay.

How do you slump glass?

That's where you control how much it's going to melt, if you will.

So normal slumping temperature starts in the kiln at about 1200 degrees.

Between 12 and 1600 is normally a good range to slump.

16 might be a bit on the high side, but that's where it'll start to fall.

You know, it's not really going to collapse on you, but you can if you know how many minutes like exactly that you want something to fall.

Yeah, you can have a really controlled effect.

Give me an example of a piece that you would slump That piece, the blue and pink striped.

So that was I had cut all the glass into these strips.

Yeah.

Then I set it in a kiln.

I cut a piece of clear glass to cap it.

So it has a nice shiny overall finish.

I fuzed it.

So now I've got one sheet of all these different pieces.

Then I have a mold that's a bowl.

And so then I set it on top of the bowl.

I put the bowl upside down, put the piece, and then slowly let it fall.

And sometimes that may take multiple firings because if a piece is thicker, it's not going to want to go as much as you want.

You may have problems with air bubbles causing holes to end up in the glass.

I'm like, stressed just hearing about it because so much goes into it from from the first step to the last.

And there are so many variables that can ruin it.

How often does that happen?

I'd like to say not as often as you think, but it still does happen.

You know, for that piece that I just shown, I did three at the same time.

And for some reason, like I did a small one, a medium and a large the small and large worked, but the medium didnt.

And I'm like, why?

If I if anything, I thought maybe the bigger one would have had a problem, but so that was just a chance.

One out of three didn't work.

Yeah.

What is the hardest piece you have created and was it the most gratifying?

So I think there's a couple pieces that come into that, you know, those would be some of my favorite cut and polished pieces just because of the challenge that goes into it.

You know, for that piece with the two cubes, one of the big challenges was trying to get them to stay on top of each other without falling off and trying to get the angles right so that it would line up well with blown glass.

You know, one of the big challenges there is trying to move beyond what I think I'm capable of, you know, trying to break that personal inner boundary that you've set for yourself, whether it's technique or scale or or anything with that.

What has your artistry taught you about yourself?

It's really taught me to check myself sometimes because, you know, I may think I'm pretty good.

And then I go and see somebody else and then you're like, wow, not at all.

And just being persistent, not being able to just walk away, you know?

Sometimes it's like, No, you need to come back.

You know, there's something really gratifying.

And finishing that, that piece, that object that was causing you so much trouble.

And then, you know, there's a big gratification that comes from being persistent.

Yeah.

James, your work is so beautiful.

I am just mesmerized by, well, anyone who works with glass, but especially that you do it in so many different ways and it's beautiful.

So thank you so much for taking the time.

Absolutely.

For more information, find W James Lupkin art on Instagram.

I'm joined now by artist Sarah Gayle.

Sarah, thank you for coming to join me today.

I am pumped to talk to you because one thing that you make very clear on your website and your social media is, is that you are a self-taught artist.

I am.

And that fascinates me because your work is so beautiful.

And I just think, okay, if you are self-taught and you have gotten that good, clearly A, you're incredibly talented, but also you really love it because I imagine that a lot of work goes into learning, teaching yourself how to make such beautiful work.

All of that to say, When did you start dabbling in art?

Oh gosh, it's one of those things that like, It's always been with me since I was very young.

I've always it just always come very naturally to me.

It could just be a lot of different things of like it could be like traditional art, but it could also be other ways of, like, expressing myself creatively.

So.

So you always had a creative outlet.

Yes.

And visual art was among that.

Did you have a did you like to draw?

Did you have a preference or was it just sort of anything and everything?

A lot of drawing.

And then it formed into maybe expressing myself like fashionably and going through different, like fun little phases.

And then turning to painting and then learning to do more of other types of arts, like graphic arts.

And then currently I'm doing some wood burning as well.

Yeah.

So again, I was looking through your social media and your your website and it's like every medium and but all so uniquely you.

So what is your, what do you describe your esthetic as?

Aw man, it's a lot of different things.

Basically, like I would just call my art style or just me in general is like an emotional journey.

I would contribute a lot of the different types of art and art styles or colors with emotion.

I would also say it's very expressional.

So I would consider myself kind of a expressionist surrealist artist.

Moody, curious.

I want to explore.

colorful just it's a lot of different things.

Like what was the impetus for first picking up a paintbrush?

You had been drawing and then you decided to dabble with paint, or how did that work?

It's kind of funny.

I always kind of rejected a little bit the idea of wanting to learn how to paint, cause I was like, I'm good at drawing.

That's what I'm going to stick.

You know?

I think that is a very normal thought process.

But I'd always been very fascinated with the old masters.

And so at some point I was like, You know what?

I am very interested in this.

I should, as an artist, explore into that medium.

So I kind of it was a slow transition because I was like oils and acrylics.

So it's kind of like are intimidating.

So I was like, what if I tried oil pastels and just worked with that because it's still oils?

Yeah.

So I worked with that.

And then at some point I was like, okay, I think I'm ready.

So I invested in some oil paints and other paints and I just was like, We're going to go for it.

And I don't know, it just felt natural.

So it came to me.

It felt natural.

That's that's the wild part to me, that it was just like, oh, okay.

So at that point, what does self-taught mean to you?

Are you just going with whatever your instinct tells you, or are you looking on the Internet and watching YouTube videos?

Are you hanging out with other artists?

What is how are you creating these beautiful pieces?

Without any formal knowledge of how to do it, I would say it's instinctive, thats crazy.

Yeah, it's all, as they say, subjective.

But objectively it is, it's composed well, the colors are beautiful.

So yes, whether or not somebody likes it is subjective.

But I think that, you know, you can objectively look at your work and say, that's well done.

So it was just trial and error.

Was it a learning curve or were you pretty good at it right away?

It's all trial and error.

I was I wasn't like I didn't come out amazing at art or anything.

It's anything that you spend hours and hours on and something that you're thinking about and surrounding yourself with and also the influence of the people that you surround yourself with, definitely a big factor.

When you start a piece, do you sketch first and then paint or how how do you go about the actual process?

Oh, usually it's it's a free for all.

I just go in and dive in.

But if I'm really trying to be a little more serious about it, not saying that I'm not serious about it.

Sure, then I will do drafts.

So let me in on your your thought process if if you can, when it when you start a piece, a portrait, for example.

How are you thinking about it?

Are you thinking about that face in terms of shapes?

Are you thinking about light and dark shadows what goes on in your brain before you actually get to work.

Usually it's just an idea.

So for example, one of my pieces that I've done, it's called Controlled Chaos, wish I had an example of it.

I'm sure they'll edit one in.

Yeah, So Controlled Chaos.

It all started with an idea.

I was like I had.

So basically back in 2019 when me and my one of my musician friends, we had talked about collabing or doing some type of like artwork piece.

So we had thought of a really cool phrase, controlled chaos, because at that point in my life, that's what I was feeling.

I was like, Everything's chaotic, but it's still in control.

Yes.

Relatable.

Thank you.

So so I told my friend, I'm like, you should create a piece of music that embodies that phrase, and I'll create a piece of art that embodies that.

So this was also during the time that I was starting to want to learn how to do oil paints and everything.

So I don't know at that.

It was a very transformative experimental phase in my life.

So I, you know, I said, you know, I'm just going to be an artwork based on that phrase.

It's going to be a piece of artwork that's going to be thats an oil painting, and it's going to be a portrait because that's that's just what I usually stick with.

Yeah.

And so that painting also I wanted it to be have a lot of symbolism because as a surrealist artist, you have a lot of different little tidbits that just have different little stories that may contribute to that whole thing as a piece.

So, for example, I have bees because.

I was going to ask about the bees.

You're clearly a fan of bees.

They're the bee's knees.

I see what you did there.

So they're they're cute but chaotic.

So it's controlled or on one of the sides.

There's like a string of just different colors and shapes and all different forms.

And that's still chaotic, but it's controlled because it's going on one side.

And there's I was also I'm also very inspired by Salvador Dali.

So if you look at the portrait she's got, these drawers coming out of her neck.

And Salvador Dali has all these really amazing figure paintings that have drawers coming out.

So I try to I was influenced by that.

And then one of my other favorite parts.

So there's these hands that are coming out and one of them has a chain and there's a little bell jar.

Are you familiar with Sylvia Plath?

Of course.

So her book, The Bell Jar.

Yeah, it's it's a book about chaos, essentially.

And, you know, a young person's life.

So I wanted to include that.

And then inside the bell jar, there's a nuclear bomb, but it's controlled because it's in a bell jar.

It's an enclosed space.

Yeah.

So did you when you started that piece, did you know all of the elements you wanted to include in it, or are you painting and then all of a sudden you go, Oh, wait, clearly this needs a bell jar with a nuclear bomb in it.

I would say the second.

So you just keep adding.

Yes.

And do you know when you're done, so many artists tell me that the hardest part of their work is that they they don't know when a piece is finished.

I'm definitely a perfectionist, I'll say that, but I definitely know when to stop.

Nice.

Okay, so we covered the bees.

There's another painting You did that I thought was so great.

The girl with the fishbowl earring.

Yeah.

Which is so fun.

Like, what inspired that?

I was just, you know, it was one of those things where I was like, I'm going to start a painting.

I didn't really have that idea, but just with the way her face was shaped and just there was some like, whitespace, I wanted to do something funky with an earring, and then I was like, What if it was like a fishbowl?

And then I was like, you know, the girl, a girl with like, the pearl earring, the girl with fishbowl earring.

So it's just where it came from.

I love it.

Sarah I think your work is so great.

I'm thrilled that you try all kinds of different things because we, the viewer, get to benefit from it.

So thank you for your work and thanks for taking the time today.

Thank you for having me.

It's been an honor.

For more information, find s j r g art on Instagram.

Our thanks to James Lupkin and Sarah Gayle.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts IN Focus.

You can catch this and other episodes at PBS Fort Wayne dot org or through our app, and be sure to check out our YouTube channel.

Thank you for watching.

And in the meantime, enjoy something beautiful.

Arts IN Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne