Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Gappa. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
David, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
My career as a glass artist was a slow and gradual evolution. I originally studied as an architect at UT Arlington, and during my graduate studies, UTA started a glassblowing program. I took the first glassblowing class ever offered – our class of 7 students actually helped build the furnaces and glassblowing equipment. I took the class primarily as a stress reliever to take a break from the long hours I spent behind the drafting table. After I graduated in 1999, I worked as an architect for approximately 10 years. During this timeframe, I decided to start building my own glassblowing equipment. After the basic machines were built, I rented a space and began a co-op of glassblowers. We blew glass Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:30pm to 11:00pm and Saturdays from 8am-6pm. Since I only took one semester of glassblowing in college, I pretty much learned everything about glassblowing through trial and error. There were obviously no glassblowing resources in the area. The only help I got was from a VCR tape deck of a glassblower William Gudenrath that I watched about 2000 times to help enhance my technical skills. But in general, I made up everything as I went along and slowly learned how to work with and manipulate the molten medium. As I learned how to harness the glass, I was able to gradually start selling higher and higher caliber artwork. In 2005, took out a loan and built a larger studio and gallery on Main Street in Grapevine Texas, and with a core team of glassblowers behind me, I hired a full gallery and studio staff. I somehow managed this operation while still maintaining a full time position as an Architect in Fort Worth for 5 years. By this time, I had been married for 6 years and had 2 children. My eldest asked if she was going to see Daddy this week. This broke my heart and I knew then and there that something had to give. I resigned from the architecture firm that week and chose glassblowing as a full time career from that point forward.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have been a lifeling Texan. Born and raised on the South side of Fort Worth and now live on a small 27 acre farm on the North side of Fort Worth. I have been married since 1999 and we have 3 daughters and a son ranging in age from 20yrs to 6yrs old. We also have 15 goats, 12 chickens, a donkey and a dog. I love the dichotomy of living within both the farm life as well as engrossing myself withing the high-end beauty of handblown glass – and the luxurious places that the work often ends up! As a previous architect, I thoroughly enjoy merging the art of space with the art of glass. I spent 6 years of my college life studying the art and mechanics of architecture and 10 years of my life working as an architect. Without any real formal glassblowing training or resources, I felt drawn to this molten media and wanted to learn everything I could about how to work with and harness this medium, so as to incorporate glass within the art of space. It is an easy transition for me to work hand in hand with interior designers and architects since I understand how buildings are put together as well as the design of space. I also understand how the art of glass can be a part of those things.
With my architecture training, I am well versed with the mechanics of how the weight loads of glass art ties into the fabric of a building. I am also sensitive to how a project is organized and coordinated with multiple disciplines such as structural, mechanical and electrical engineers, as well as the general project coordination.
I am very proud of the Center for Brain Health project titled, “Introspection”. Introspection is an intricate, ceiling-installed sculpture in glass and steel that’s fifty feet wide, forty feet long, and weighs 5,300 pounds. It comprises one hundred and seventy-five LED-illuminated glass spires manufactured by Gantom and 1,050 hand-blown glass spheres. Each five-and-a-half-foot spire is individually illuminated and programmed to pulsate an array of colors across the entire piece, similar to the electric impulses passed from one nerve cell to another. Introspection is the focal point of the research institute’s multi-purpose room and serves as a visual reminder of the institution’s commitment to enhancing, protecting, and restoring brain health.
Another series of note is my Skeletal series. After years of having this idea in the back of my head, I finally said to my team at the studio that we were going to dedicate an entire month to create a body of work that was outside our realm, was going to consume an enormous amount of time, and would be very costly. But I wanted to do this for my own edification and to push my limitations as an artist. What we created was something called the ‘Skeletal Series.’ It was a body of work in which we focused on mammoth skulls, T-Rex skulls, Triceratops, horseshoe crabs, Saber-tooth Tigers. These were extremely detailed, sculpted-glass pieces of artwork. Talk about a dedicated amount of time! Each one of these skulls took about seven or eight hours. When I say seven hours, that’s seven hours of sculpting glass in front of a 2400-degree furnace with three of your assistants there with you the entire time. I was the only one that didn’t get a break for those seven to eight hours. I was just powering down energy bars and water while I manipulated this glass one minute at a time for seven hours until that piece of work started to evolve.But this isn’t only about me. This is about any glass artist or any glass sculptor. True grit is the willingness to take that challenge head on, knowing that you’re going to invest seven hours and three assistants’ time with a 2400-degree machine burning the entire time and knowing that one mistake from any of those team members could mean that entire sculpture is lost. You always hope that if a mistake is made, that happens within the first two hours. If, six hours into it, something goes wrong, it’s all over.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
A great example of a pivoting experience was when I partnered with a fellow artist to create a series of stone and glass decanters together. Some of my most beautiful and creative work was produced during this time. We had multiple gallery showings throughout several states and had the rare opportunity to be pure artists. Unfortunately, after several years of investing in this direction, the other artist decided to cut me out of the equation, keep my money and fly solo. Not the best way to end this experience, but you live and learn and sometimes you learn that you had better get it in writing. With all this being said, this partnership taught me how to hone in on art gallery presentations, networking with prestigious collectors and most important, when we strive to make pure art for arts sake and everything else falls into place.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I have found that the passion of my life is working with the shifting energies of molten glass into its final stages of artistic completion. I choose glass as an artistic medium for many reasons: the complexity of color and light; the classic beauty of glass; the challenging mental and physical discipline required; and the poetic and seductive nature of molten glass.
My work is primarily inspired through sectional glimpses into our surroundings. Objects within a space are equally important as the negative space the objects create, and it is my desire to infuse the viewer into a special realm of transparency and color. As a viewer approaches a glass installation, I crave they are drawn into the vignettes of negative space. I want the viewer to get lost in the simple complexity of form, shadow, and light, or enveloped within the hues of color that only glass can emit. For me, working with glass is the magical act of translating the ethereal into solid form. The creation of each piece is a journey as I strive to trust in the path God has chosen for me… a trail of color form and function.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vetroartglass.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vetroglassblowers/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VetroGlassBlowers/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/VetroGlass
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpMnQFdS8P9mR7AP88Kb8BQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vetro-glassblowing-studio-grapevine