We were lucky to catch up with Blaine recently and have shared our conversation below.

Blaine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?

I feel that representation is incredibly important- having people to look up to in your profession as you grow as an artist. Studio art, sculpture and glass in particular, tend to be heavily male dominated fields. Having less bodies like your own to look up to leads to doubt- can I really do this, is there a future for me in this field, who can I talk to that will understand my experience? I remember one day in my art history class as an MFA student when the word ‘yonic’ was used, and I had no idea what it meant. Even though I consider myself to be a feminist, I was twenty-five before I learned the feminine version of the word ‘phallic,’ and that really struck me. We hear phallic all the time, we see phallic imagery everywhere. It’s the first doodle you saw flipping through used textbooks in middle school. But the word yonic? I’ve met a lot of adults who had no idea that was a word until we had this exact conversation.

I thought about the lack of use of that word in our language, and how I never even knew that the feminine version of phallic existed, because I never heard it. There is a direct translation, I thought, to the lack of representation within my field. These thoughts have transformed not only the art that I make, but also my practice within the studio. Working with young women is incredibly important to me- being a role model for them as well as helping them to find their own voice. Of the seven years I have been practicing in glass I have only worked for one woman, Anna Mlasowsky, who had an incredible impact on me. I learned a lot from her, but by far the best advice she ever gave me was to be unapologetically myself and to get comfortable taking up space. Much like the word yonic, this lesson from her transformed the way I saw myself and how I conduct myself as a professional. I hope to pass this same confidence along to the next generation of young women in glass.

Blaine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi, my name is Blaine, and I am a glassblower and sculptor in Nashville, TN. I first found glass in college, when I was studying marine biology and environmental science. My intro to glass class was actually not what inspired me to make the switch- it was helping my instructor prepare for a museum show that did it for me. The moment he put tools in my hands and I realized I could make anything was the moment I saw an autonomous future for myself. Growing up I had always been told to be a strong, independent woman, but it wasn’t until I was shown I could create that I ever considered it a reality.
I have since made glass my career, passion, and life. Along the way I have cultivated a voice in my work which is narrative and representational of my journey. I find a lot of self reflective moments in glass as a material, given how fearfully fragile most people perceive it to be, when really glass has its roots as an industrial material. Being a small, young woman in a male-dominated field, I enjoy making work that I feel is representative of myself, and creating more of myself in this industry. The work that I make is disproportionate to my small stature, just as my presence in the studio is at odds with my usually shy and introspective nature.

My recent move to Nashville was to follow my partner, Sam Spees, and help him open the hotshop at the Nashville Glasshaüs. Sam and I started working together when we met at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, where it was quickly apparent that we work well together. He continues to inspire me every day to step outside of my comfort zone and to pursue excellence in my art. We are working on starting our own design collective, branded Studio Slain, which will focus on fine art and high end interior design. Having both moved countless times for our career, it’s really exciting to finally have somewhere to call home, and we look forward to bringing glass art to Nashville.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Toward the end of my living In New Orleans I was robbed one morning while I was walking to my car. I was on my way to my restaurant job, picking up an extra shift, and this guy who I thought was just walking down the street completely knocked me out at 9 am. Unfortunately he broke my jaw in a couple of places and I ended up needing surgery and having to get my jaw wired. This would have been a normal-scale disaster, except that it happened during my thesis semester of grad school, three months before I was supposed to graduate. I think that it was probably equal parts resilience, stubbornness, and shock that kept me moving forwards in my work rather than taking the semester off for medical leave. The style of work I was making at the time took a major pivot, as I couldn’t move my head much and glass is very physically demanding. I kiln cast most of my thesis show, and in so doing found a new style of working that I am still exploring to this day. It was by no means an ideal scenario, but I found a level of strength within myself that I didn’t know I possessed, and learned a lot about my own voice within my work. Also, I can’t tell that story without mentioning the community of friends I had in New Orleans and within Tulane Glass, without whom I never would have been able to pull that off.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A major lesson I have had to unlearn, and that I try to teach to others, is that you don’t have to do everything yourself to be strong. I enjoy the physicality of working with glass, and for a long time there was definitely a feeling of needing to prove myself when working on a team. The further along I have gotten in my career, though, the more comfortable I have gotten sharing the work load. A lot of my work is hot cast, for example, meaning a massive ladle of glass is pulled out of the furnace around 2400 degrees Fahrenheit, and then poured into a metal mold. Pulling ladles for others is one of those jobs I’ve always enjoyed, but with my own work I realized I had to step back from. Trying to pull the ladle yourself, and also be at the mold to complete the design, and then torch the glass to cool it down- it’s just too much for one person. And that is part of the community aspect of glass, too, which I love. I love the collaborative nature of working on a team all the time, even when it’s to make your own personal work. Divorcing yourself from wanting the control of doing everything frees you up to spending more time actually working on the piece. I think that relying on others can be especially hard when you are used to being self sufficient, but in the end it is a huge part of working in this medium.

Contact Info:

• Website: blainestudios.com
• Instagram: @blaineooo