Carlsbad Village is the home to Barrio Glassworks — a new glassblowing studio, gallery, and shop dedicated to the art of glass.
Mary Devlin, one of the owners of Barrio Glassworks, picked up glass blowing after her son Drew Raskin.
“Drew went to college and studied glass. We kept taking seminars and so when we got ready for our second act, we decided to be glassblowers,” said Devlin.
Devlin opened the family-run studio in December with her son and husband right before the second stay at home order. Operating at a limited capacity allowed the studio to continue business.
The large open door on the face of the building sparks curiosity to the people walking by when they see glass blowers at work.
“We knew we wanted public access where people could really watch what we were doing,” said Devlin.
The studio located at 3060 Roosevelt St. in Carlsbad has a viewing area, a glass art gallery, and a shop with glass pieces from various artists for sale.
The glass blowing area is equipped with 2200 degree hot kilns, known as “glory holes,” that are also available for classes and for rent to blowers.
“The shop is designed so we could do our work and other artists can also rent the benches. The third part of the studio is that we have a resident artist,” Devlin said.
The studio’s first resident is Nao Yamamoto, a Los Angeles glassblowing artist. Yamamoto was born in Japan, but really honed her glass art skills in Seattle.
She was recently featured in the Netflix show “Blown Away,” a competition show with glass blowing artists.
“I've been trying to create more of contemporary art side. So I make installations. I challenge myself to make something bigger so that we can see a different texture or different idea about what the glass is. It’s been fun, been a fun journey,” said Yamamoto.
The hit show has brought an increased interest to the art of glassblowing.
Yamamoto’s residency at Barrio Glassworks goes from May 25-28.
The public is invited to the studio where Yamamoto will be creating a glass art installation during her residency.
“When people come over they can see us working on the glass and more than anything people get to see our teamwork, because even though I’m the artist it's not just me making the art, it's about the teamwork and the community,” said Yamamoto.
Although watching glass art being created can be entertaining, Devlin invites the community to be a part of their own glass art experience.
“Come in and make your own. You're holding the pipe, you’re putting it in that 2200 degree glory hole. And you're pulling the glass and really get to see what it's like,” said Devlin.
The current project offered to the public at the studio is a paper weight.
“Mostly because you can stay masked and it's on a solid pipe so there's no blowing involved,” said Devlin.
In the future, the studio will offer make-your-own seasonal projects like pumpkins and ornaments. They will also continue hosting more resident artists.
