Originally from Akron, Ohio, Mr. William Van Tassel said he enjoys intimidating hobbies such as mountain biking, scuba diving, mountain top camping and, of course, glass blowing.  He said that if he didn’t break a bone once a year, something was wrong.

He has excelled in his scuba diving hobby since 1996 and has gone on to be an instructor.  While living in Colorado he waited for the storm warning to go camping on top of a mountain.  He especially loves Maroon Bells above Aspen in Colorado where he says you do not even reach the tree line until 12,000 feet and it’s very exhilarating basking in hot springs with a five foot wall of snow all around you. “Now that’s camping”, he said.  And biking, well, Bill said, “Until you’re going down a hill at a 60 degree angle jumping stumps, you’ve never lived”!

Bill Van Tassel said, “I was interested in flame working so Barbara, then my girlfriend, gave me a gift certificate to a weekend paperweight workshop at the Indianapolis Arts Center in 2002 where she had taken lessons.  After that class I was hooked!”  Bill jumped in, hook, line and sinker by first enrolling in a weekend paperweight workshop at IAC in Indianapolis, Indiana and he also studied with John Steinert in Kent, Ohio at his Plum Creek School which Bill says is one of the best in the country, having two 300 pound gas furnaces.  After other classes in different forms he found he loved glass blowing best. He had to travel 40 miles each way to the nearest glass works studio so he helped build the first glass shop at the Peninsula Art Academy in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. He said, “Everyone loved being able to watch and have hands on training.  The National Park train had a stop there and tourists debarked right at my shop door.” he said. “They just flocked in.” He believes that having the glass works at PAA is responsible for majority of their attraction now. “But the last straw to enduring city living was when I was stuck in traffic due to a Browns Stadium game finishing and I decided while sitting there that it was time to move to the country”.  So in 2007 when Bill was offered a job at Corvac Composites in Morgantown he sold all of his equipment to a student who had been traveling too many miles to enjoy his art and relocated with his wife Barbara to South Central Kentucky.

William Van Tassel demonstrates glassworking

His wife had family land that included a roomy out building which he soon filled with new equipment and opened up shop January 1, 2008, where he continues this new hobby in the tranquil country area eight miles north east of Morgantown in Butler County.  His studio is called, Evolution Glass Works.   And as others had offered him during his beginning in glass blowing, Bill Van Tassel opened his doors for beginners as well as seasoned glass blowers and glass sculptured works. Even noted Western Kentucky University teacher/artist Kristina Arnold enjoys having Bill’s workshop available and comes to play, sometimes with students in tow. Bill boasts that his Glass Blowing Workshop/studio is the closest Glass Works within more than one hundred and fifty miles of Morgantown, Kentucky.  He even has a student who travels from Michigan to use his glass workshop.  He said it’s always thrilling because, “I start with a general idea of what I want to make and somewhere through the process the glass decides what it wants to be.”

He fills his weekends by loading 50 pounds of glass to melt and just works until it is gone.  Together with his beginner paperweight students and/or with his advanced workshop participants which can include four people, he instructs while each student experiences the rush of making something beautiful out of molten glass.  The beginner classes are five hours and he only charges $55.00 which includes all of the materials. 

Standing amidst an annealing oven of 1050 degrees, a 2150 degree furnace, a marver table to roll the gather into a cone, a colored glass station, a 2300 to 2500 degree glory hole,  a bench to form the piece and a cooling oven of 1000 degrees, where the piece must cooled for 24 hours, I had the pleasure of watching two of his students, Christine Bratcher and Ann Honaker, create a Day Lilly and a Tornado paperweight.  Ann Honaker commented, “I can hardly wait until the next day when we can open the door and can see the finished pieces that I have made”.  Just watching the excitement of getting the glass, sticking it into the glory hole, adding the colored glass, working it to the end of the pontil, forming the correct shape with the cherry wood block, forming the neck with the bladed jacks to eventually tapping it off the rod and smoothing the bottom had me in total suspense, I loved it!

Bill’s student Christine Bratcher, columnist for the Butler County Banner came to do an interview about his glass blowing on March 15 and is now a continuing student.  Christine stated, “Bill obviously loves what he does, and loves sharing his knowledge and joy with others. It is that joy in creating that is so contagious, and what makes me keep coming back.”   I will be starting my classes there too, so beware, once you get this close, you will want to do it yourself!                         

This form of art requires a step by step process with little room for variation.  The glass demands specific guidelines to be followed or the piece will break.  “Due to this fact”, stated Bill, “Doctors and engineers pick up on glass blowing quickly where an artist sometimes has trouble because they want to go outside the proper procedures.”  “It’s fun teaching people.  I hope to make enough to keep the doors open and so far, almost everyone who takes the class keeps coming back”, stated Bill.

At the ArtWorks second annual juried members exhibit he took Best of Show in the Amateur Division at Gallery 916.  This was only the second time Mr. Van Tassel has entered a show and he explained to me that he prefers having the workshop, making pieces, instructing and selling finished works rather than entering shows.  “It’s always exciting.  Sometimes our best pieces come from Serendipitous accidents.”

You can see some of his bowls, vases and paperweights at Memphis Marsha’s, The Butler County Library and Markhan Design Group in Russelville, Kentucky.  He has shown at Gallery 916, The Capitol Arts Center, Arts in the Park, and Lost River Cave.  Upcoming shows are at the Butler County Museum in Woodbury and at Lost River in October

You can view more of Bill Van Tassel’s works on his web site at: web.mac.com/evolutionglassworks or contact him by email at evolutionglass@yahoo.com or by phone at 270-999-5318 to inquire about classes.

Bill said, “Life is good as a back woods glass blower!”

Ronnie Jaggers is a seasoned sculptor, fine artist and master crafter. Her work can be seen on ChiseledFeaturesStudio.com. She reminds other artists “Trust the beauty of your art, for if you see the beauty, others will too.” To be considered for the featured artist call Ronnie at 791-3505 or email ChiseledFeaturesStudio@yahoo.com