Glass Blowing workshop (Sat. April 18) before the Kingsport ARTS Festival!

Description:

Try your hand at Glassblowing the morning of the Kingsport ARTS Festival. Glassblowing artist Ryan Gothrup of Mobile Glass Studios will offer a workshop on Saturday April 18th.

All students will make a glass flower, and depending on time may also create a glass paperweight or other bauble.

Glass is a strange material when hot, somewhere between liquid and solid. Students will learn how to gather glass on a punty, manipulate their glass, and how to maintain the correct temperature by using the glory hole to reheat your glass as needed!

Safety requirements:

All natural fibers, full length pants and sleeves, and close-toed shoes. We recommend jeans, a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt, and boots. We also recommend bringing a water bottle! (Why natural fibers? When synthetic fibers get hot, they melt rather than burning which is extremely dangerous.)

Students will be required to sign a liability waiver, our organizers will send these out before the session.

Max number of students: 10

All materials you need will be provided.

Saturday, 4/18/26

Time: 9 am-12 pm

Location: Outdoors, @The Inventor Center 118 Shelby St, Kingsport, TN 37660

*Online sales end 48 hours prior to class. Age 18+ please.

This project is brought to you by Kingsport Cultural Arts & Engage Kingsport, and is funded under a Grant Contract with the State of Tennessee, Tennessee Arts Commission.

Glass artist, Ryan Gothrup, has been an educator of glassblowing for over 16 years. From youth starting at the age of 10 years old to elderly and students with learning differences, he has taught glassblowing to a wide variety of students. After receiving his MFA, he spent six years teaching at the college level and for the past seven years has been using his mobile glass trailer to educate on location.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Engage Kingsport / OCA office