Fire craft: art, body, and world among glassblowers

Abstract

"The process of how one becomes a glassblower may not seem like a pressing concern. But how people shape their lives and experience its meaning through making objects is fundamental to the human experience. Glassblowing is not only a way of making things, but also a way of relating to the world and a vehicle for the formation of a self and a community. In Fire-Craft Erin E. O'Connor asks "How does the body learn an art?", "What and how are makers, things made, and materiality?", and "How are social ties and knowledge made through making and doing?" She interweaves firsthand descriptions of her experiences in glassmaking and critical theory in an exploration of why and how glassblowers commit to a life of glassmaking despite the risk of a medium prone to breaking. Beginning with her own origins story as a glassblower, each of the book's seven chapters focuses on a O'Connor's interactions with a specific character in the world of glassblowing, giving a sense of the deeply physical and intellectual experience of an ancient art"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction : arriving at New York glass -- The glassy state : setting the pot of man and world -- Embodied knowledge : the ebbs and flows of skill acquisition -- Fire and sweat: calorific bodies and teamwork -- Blow : time, space, and the vessel -- Quintessential craft : cupmaking and the turns of métis -- Materia erotica : love and strife in the hotshop -- Conclusion : heart of glass.