So many, many weeks ago, I signed up for a glass-blowing workshop organized by DIS. My interest in glassblowing can be credited to my mother, who took us on repeat trips to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, where Chihuly’s glass was displayed throughout the park. I’m attending the workshop with other DIS students, but they are total strangers to me, so I am excited for the opportunity to meet new people!
MONDAY //
The first day was a mini-workshop in the evening before we headed to the Danish folk highschool for the weekend. We had the privilege of working in a glass artist’s studio, where he taught us the basics of glassblowing as we made very small pieces– tealights or whatever, but mine was big enough to be a small cup. Honestly, the experience was kind of scary, as the glass is very hot and theres the risk of getting burned if you’re not careful. But I made it through the night unscathed and excited to learn more over the weekend.
SATURDAY //
Saturday morning we met at the train station to travel to a folk highschool in Jutland. The train ride was beautiful. Outside of the heat island of the city, the snowfall sticks and builds, creating great expanses of sparkling white. I had meant to go back to sleep during the ride, but I couldn’t look away.
At the folk highschool, we were greeted by our instructor, Erik, and Alexander, his assistant. We had a breakfast at the high school before walking over to the glass studio. We were split into three groups, to work on either glass blowing with Erik and Alexander, fused glasswork, or torchwork with Patrick. I started with torchwork, where we could either use clear glass to make small honey spoons or miniature sculptures, or colored glass to make beads. Having prior experience with beadmaking, I chose the latter, and set into a comfortable rhythm, combining what I remembered from the summer class in my childhood with new techniques that Patrick recommended. Next, we worked fusedglass, in which we created a mosaic from old glass that would be melted and molded into a bowl. I found this to be rather meditative, and focused on balancing color rather than creating a distinct pattern.
Finally, I got to work in glassblowing. I was originally in Erik’s group, but he moved me to Alexander’s group, which made me a bit more nervous (because who wouldn’t be more nervous in front of an attractive young glassblowing assistant) but he was very patient and gave good instruction in the basic techniques we were practicing before making real pieces tomorrow. My practice resulted in a small shot sized glass, which Alexander suggested we save and fire.
Earlier in the day, we had been advised that the glass studio would also be the site of a punk concert, and the band came in and out to practice throughout the day. Oddly enough, I didn’t find it at all distracting, and at the end of the day’s work we stuck around to hear some of the concert. The band was four girls, of three different nationalities, and for their first performance, they sounded pretty good! We learned later that their drummer had only started learning the instrument 3 days prior, but their energy and enthusiasm covered any mistakes they made.
After the concert, we walked back to the folk high school and settled in our rooms before dinner in the school dining room. The food was really delicious, and they had plenty of yummy vegetarian options for me to choose from. The light was low and the room felt very hygge– it gave a strong sense of the community that they maintain at the school.
After dinner, some of the Danish students invited us "American girls" to hang out with them downstairs. We mostly listened to Danish and American party music, but one of the students was a Syrian refugee, so the students played some Syrian music and he taught us a traditional dance. We joined hands and traveled in a circle all around the room, until we were smiling wide and laughing too hard to continue. It was really cool to see an instance of Danes embraced and supporting Syrian culture, in light of the anti-immigration sentiments that exist elsewhere in the country.
SUNDAY //
Sunday morning I woke up excited for the final day of the workshop. I started this time with glass blowing, again working with Alexander. Today’s focus was collaboration, so I helped my peers with their work and they would return the favor in the afternoon. My group took a break from glassblowing to do some more torch work, and I settled again into an easy rhythm of making beads.
We broke up the day with lunch, cooked and delivered by members of the folk high school. Erik warmed the bread alongside our glass pieces being fired, and the warm soup was so yummy and perfect after all morning in the chilly studio.
After lunch we switched again, but this time I was placed in Erik’s group. Even near the end of the day, likely tired from the repetition, he was patient and encouraging, and I ended up really happy with the glass I made.
We walked back to collect our stuff from the high school just after the sun had set. It was an amazing weekend, and a perfect way to take my mind off of my break-up and more troubling, the very recent election results. I’m really glad DIS organizes trips like these to give us students incredible opportunities that we likely wouldn’t experience otherwise. I’m so glad I chose this program and thankful that I’ve been able to see and do so many memorable things.