Hot Glass Blower Produces Cool Art

What’s Starts Out Hotter Than Fire But Ends Looking Cooler Than Ice?

By S. R. Morris

Here’s a riddle for you:

“I am fascinated by the transformation of properties in nature. I am part of the process, moving a solid to a molten and aqueous state, and arriving at a solid form again."

Who am I?

If you said David Van Noppen, a new glass blowing artist in Pasadena, you’re right.

Van Noppen Glass Gallery and Studio, located just steps north of the Pasadena Playhouse, is a very cool place to view solid glass objects that have already passed through the molten and aqueous state and now sit in his shop. The gallery and studio is scheduled to open to the public in mid-August.

“I’m a glass blower primarily,” states Van Noppen. “I’ll be selling my own work, as well as the work of other glass artists, and eventually other art craft media: ceramic, woodwork, metal work, jewelry, but the emphasis is on blown glass.

“My parents always had glass around the house, glass objects that I was intrigued by,” says Van Noppen. “I couldn’t figure out how they made them. In college, I dabbled in all the different mediums, but glass really captured my attention.”

Born in the western, mountainous region of North Carolina, Van Noppen says he developed skills in rock climbing and hang gliding at an early age. A graduate of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, he broadened his skills with post-graduate work at the Penland School of Crafts with hot glass, the PilchuckSchool with neon, and the Corning Studio with Venetian glassblowing.

“I was an art major, but the school I attended didn’t have a glass program,” explains Van Noppen. “After college, I was sort of stalling the inevitable job world and went to a craft school and took glass blowing. I had blown one simple vase at a workshop once and the lifestyle of the teacher really captivated me.

"There is also a fascination of working with the fire,” Van Noppen says. “Once you start a piece, you have to work it to completion. You can’t just put it aside and come back to it at a later time, so it’s the spontaneity of it. You might start with the end result in mind, but you might have to change course midway so you have to adapt.”

Van Noppen admits his career as a glass artist echoes his comfort with interacting with natural elements to achieve an outcome. His glass art, ranging from functional to sculptural, is not laden with heavy meaning or metaphor. Similar to his passion for the environment, the artist says his glass creations are “simply pleasing to view and to touch.”

A recent resident to Southern California, Van Noppen had a studio in Rhode Island for more than 20 years. His wife was offered a faculty position at USC and the couple is delighted to be living in Southern California.

His studio and gallery with feature a variety of glass floral arrangements, glass vegetables, goblets, paper weights, Christmas ornaments, perfume bottles, vases and freeform sculptures. He also sells items from his website and is available for commission pieces.

For more information about Van Noppen Glass Gallery and Studio, call 626-808-8389 or visit his website at www.vannoppenglass.com.

Copyright 2012 by S. R. Morris