Bullseye Glass Reaches Agreement With Oregon DEQ: Glass Will Flow!

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Michael Janis |

Our long national nightmare is over.

Bullseye Glass Co. has signed an agreement with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The Mutual Agreement and Order (MAO) signed today allows Bullseye (BE) to continue the process, started in February, of installing emissions control technology on their factory furnaces.

A pilot emissions control system (baghouse) is already in place, which allows BE to make limited quantities of reds, oranges, and yellows. Starting in mid-July, BE has announced plans to bring a second baghouse online, which should allow the factory to resume making most other styles in limited quantities.

According to the BE release, inventory of many styles will remain low until after BE has a third, larger system installed and operational in August.

At that time, Bullseye hopes to return to previous production and staffing levels.

addendum June 8, 2016:

In the good news, bad news realm: The good news is that both Bullseye and Uroboros have reached an agreement with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and are moving toward putting filters on their furnaces so they can get back to making glass full time. For the bad news -Bullseye Glass advises that a price increase is on the way. Effective August 1st, Bullseye will increase glass prices a hefty 12.5%. That will likely make the retail price of some of their gold glasses exceed $350 per sheet. Evidently the price increase is across the line, even extending to Tekta clear, which wasn’t impacted by the environmental issues.

Happy to see the companies take steps not to pollute – but its gonna cost ya.

Posted in bullseye

Bullseye Glass Needs Some Help

Posted on March 26, 2016 by admin |

There has been a lot of charges flying in Portland, Oregon following concerns by state regulators over alarming concentrations of dangerous substances – carcinogenic metals cadmium and arsenic- in the air around the Southeast Portland Bullseye Glass (BE) manufacturing facility and whether Bullseye Glass understands the public interest and if they support stronger environmental standards for the industry.

BE has posted a letter outlining how the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is proposing a set of sweeping “temporary” regulations that will severely curtail BE’s glass production, which BE feels is without clear supporting scientific evidence or an understanding of how they make colored glass.

The primary issue is the use of trivalent chromium—also referred to as Cr(III). Both DEQ and EPA have acknowledged there is no clear evidence of acute or chronic health risks based on BE’s use of Cr(III). The limitations proposed are based on politics and anchored in speculation that Cr(III) might possibly change into a more toxic form of chromium—Cr(VI) in our furnaces.

Scientific evidence clearly indicates the furnaces won’t turn Cr(III) into Cr(VI). If they did, the BE glass would be ruined. According to BE, Cr(III) is essential to BE producing colored glass.

According to BE: “Scientific evidence shows our use of the compound is not harmful. Nevertheless, DEQ wants to restrict Bullseye from using Cr(III) for an extended period of time. They are essentially basing these rules on an assumption of guilt without any proper supporting scientific or factual evidence.

These newly proposed regulations are based on politics and fear, not science and fact. They come right after DEQ’s executive director was forced to resign and the supervisor of the air quality department left the agency.

If we are not allowed to use Cr (III), we can no longer make green glass. On top of our voluntary suspension of cadmium glass production until our baghouse is in place, this new limitation would eliminate 50% of our product line. It would result in employee layoffs, huge economic impacts to Bullseye and our worldwide customers, and could even drive us out of business.

Until March 30, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality wants to know your opinion on whether or not to adopt temporary rules that are targeted to affect only one specific industry – the colored art glass industry.They could set a precedent that could affect every other colored glass manufacturer in the United States.

Again, DEQ is accepting public comment regarding the temporary rules until March 30 at 5:00 pm (PDT). To read the draft rules and submit comments, visit http://1.usa.gov/1LtqPaY“

Bullseye asks for messages of support be sent: “Please let DEQ and the Environmental Quality Commission know whether you agree with the points, and let them know how you would be affected by the temporary or permanent loss of Bullseye’s products.”

Click HERE to jump to Bullseye Glass’ message.

Posted in BE, bullseye, bullseye glass

Roll-up your glass! How warm and hot glass can live in harmony.

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Chip Montague |

Some pix of the great work made by the roll-up class – where the students made a fused glass panel here at the Washington Glass School, and the following week, the class was held at DC Glass Works, where the fused panel gets…. well… rolled-up and blown into vessel shapes.

The rollup class gets a history of the process from Audrey Wilson

This process gets all the benefits of fused glass— creating differing inside and outside imagery, precise color placement, and full cross-sections of color.

The flat fused panels get rolled up and blown.

Audrey and Dave working in the DC Glassworks hotshop.

This fused panel…

…became this sweet vessel.

Betsy Mead’s fused glass artwork transformed…

…into 3-D sculpture.

Tracy Benson’s fish panel flat…

…now ready to hold sharks and mermaids!

The blown work getting ready for the anneal cycle at the hot shop.

A great class and a great time!

Posted in aussie rollup, bullseye, roll-up

Sgraffito Glass Technique @ Hot Glass Houston

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Chip Montague |

>Michael Janis gets his glass to Texas.
Hot Glass Houston, a glass facility that encourages exploration and good times has a great assortment of classes and supplies to provide the people of the Houston area with everything they need to do everything with glass. And they’re a Bullseye Resource Center. Hot Glass Houston is hosting a 3-day workshop with Michael as he divulges his secrets on getting imagery in glass – “Visualizations in Glass” July 13, 14 & 15, 2012 – Friday, Saturday, & Sunday – 10- 4 each day. Erwin Timmers had taught a Recycled Glass class there and really enjoyed the place!

Famous Texas Icons: Texas Rangers, Oil, Armadillos, Big Hair

Click HERE to jump to Hot Glass Houston’s info on the class.

While in Texas, Michael said he wanted to check out all the Texas-isms he heard about from his Texas-born wife. The “Don’t Mess-With Texas” attitude, Big Country, Big Hats, Big Shoes, Big Mosquitoes. BBQ. Michael also said that he plans on re-enacting key scenes from Pee Wees Big Adventure that was partly set in Texas:

Being cheeky in Texas can end in tears.

Posted in bullseye, hot glass houston, scraffito, sgraffito technique, sgraffitto, texas

Kiln Formed Glass History – Part 2

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Michael Janis |

Exploring Technique and Content – the ’60’s, ’70’s & ’80’s

Untitled sculpture, Mary Shaffer, fused and slumped industrial sheet glass, 1975

As part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations in honor of the 1962 Toledo Glass Workshop, the Washington Glass School blog is looking the heritage of the art movement. This is the second part in an historical overview of how fused glass (aka kiln-formed, or warm glass) fits into the contemporary Studio Art Glass Movement. Much of the information was based on published writings by Martha Drexler Lynn, William Warmus & Beth Hylen, Richard LaLonde, Dan Schwoerer & Boyce Lundstrom and from the Corning Museum of Glass library.

The 1962 Toledo glass workshops indeed marked a watershed. After the workshops, glass moved into university and college programs and significantly into fine arts programs. After the two workshops, by 1964, (hot) glass artists were increasingly college educated in fine arts degree programs that required the same course work demanded for painting or sculpture. In the early days of the Studio Glass Movement the compelling attitude was the quest to spread the word and distance glass art from both the factory and hobbyist. Hot glass had reconstituted itself with the museum’s blessing, and had achieved a new identity.

Other aspects also had an influence on the growing art movement. The young artists were entranced by notions of an alternative lifestyle free of the establishment values of the older generation. “We were hippies, Okay? People have to understand that. No watches, no underwear, no nothing” remembers Toots Zynsky regarding the early days at Pilchuck. Learning to make art with glass, rejecting bourgeois rules, and living an anti-establishment lifestyle were irresistible and became part of the lore both of Pilchuck and of the glass movement in general.

Clipped Grass, Mary Ann “Toots” Zynsky, green tinted fused and thermo-formed glass threads, 1982

Antique collecting in the 1960’s brought about a renewed interest in stained glass. Cities such as Denver, CO became trading centers for stained glass windows removed from old East Coast houses and buildings. The demand for turn-of-the-century stained glass encouraged studios to create works ranging from Tiffany style reproductions to contemporary designs.

The rapid growth of the new stained glass studios across the country, brought about by the demand for stained glass, was made possible by new types of glass manufacturers and the influence of the growing Studio Glass movement and Harvey Littleton.

Ray Ahlgren, Dan Schwoerer, Boyce Lundstrom

The modern stained glass movement, started by mimicking the traditional work evolved into a very diverse art form. Boyce Lundstrom, one of the founders of Bullseye Glass Company wrote:
“Our experience in the glass world pointed to a need for more colored sheet glass for the stained glass industry…(I) began working with glass in 1965, when I joined the new glass program established by Dr. Robert Fritz that year at San Jose State University in San Jose, California. At that time I was a ceramics major, studying with one of the great ceramic glaze technicians of our time, Dr. Herbert Sanders. The close correlation between the calculating and making of ceramic glazes and the process of making glass is a natural one. So, as a potter studying glaze calculation, I found it natural to apply the technology to glass, and was soon drawn by the material.
In Dr. Fritz’s program I learned to control all phases of the process of making finished blown objects. We built glass melting equipment, calculated and melted batch, formed the glass, and carried out all the cold working processes for finishing the annealed work. After my graduation from San Jose State, in 1967, I operated a ceramics and glass studio in southern California for two years before my wife and I moved to Corvallis, Oregon, in late 1969, where I blew glass for galleries and craft fairs. While participating in craft fairs and shows, I met many other glass artists who had become infatuated with hot glass in the early years of the studio blowing movement in this country. We were all struggling to support our individual studios and families, while experimenting with new glasses and equipment.”

Two of those artists were Ray Ahlgren and Dan Schwoerer, who were partners in a glass blowing. (Ray Ahlgren started his glass career in Wisconsin in 1965. His background in ceramics, glass blowing, glass chemistry, studio fabrication and design. Daniel Schwoerer graduated from the University of Wisconsin where he also worked in the art department as graduate assistant to Professor Harvey Littleton in 1968-69. He then moved to Portland, where he set up a glassblowing studio. In 1974 the three self-described “hippie glassblowers” started Bullseye Glass Company, a small factory for making specialty sheet glass – initially focused on making colored sheets for use in stained glass.)

Ray Ahlgren, fused glass tiles, plywood, 1982

Said Boyce: “For the next four years, the pressing demands of an infant company consumed all of my time. In 1978 I began designing independent stained glass panels, executed for me by more capable craftspersons. Since, at Bullseye, we produced mixed colors of glass daily, and had control of the formulas, it seemed a foregone conclusion that we could make sheet glass with similar coefficients of expansion.

Boyce Lundstrom, red glass fused bowl, 1979

The thought process went something like this: if sheet glasses had the same coefficient of expansion, they could be cut into shapes and fused together. So, I started experimenting in 1979 or 1980–I don’t know exactly when because the process was slow at first, fraught with many failures and just a few successes. If there was one memorable breakthrough, it was the application of the method of testing for stress with a polarimeter (from glass blowing) to glasses fused to a clear sheet glass with a constant coefficient of expansion.

When making sheet glass it is not important to have a constant coefficient of expansion among all the glasses. Single colors can all be different and mixed colors only have to be within one or two coefficient points of one another. In glass blowing it is not uncommon to use glasses together that vary in coefficient of expansion by four or five points, because the casing process holds the glass together. But when fusing glass flat, the glasses must be very close in coefficients. Establishing a clear glass as a constant, and then formulating the melt for all colors to fit that constant, made the contemporary glass fusing movement possible.

The ability to fuse glass, by taking it through the complete process of heating, holding and annealing, then checking the finished results with an accurate test, really stimulated my dreams of unlimited possibilities. I saw kiln fired glass as the wave of the future, providing freedom for all those who would like to be freed of the lead lines! Tiles, windows, bowls, sculptures, and building facades could all be made with fused sheet glass… By 1981, I became adamant about producing glass for the fusing market at Bullseye Glass. My remaining partner, Dan Schwoerer, supported me in my one-man campaign to make fusing available to everyone. During the next few years we succeeded in making available a line of fusing compatible glasses. By 1983 we were teaching fusing in diverse parts of the world, establishing a line of products and working with kiln manufacturers to get kilns designed for glass on the market.”

The influence by the hot glass education and artwork by the artists that came from the universities now teaching glass artwork outlined the directions that warm or kiln-formed glass would take. In the late 1960s there was the emphasis on technology and education. The glass artwork was part of broader international craft movement of the 1960s in which clay, fiber, wood, and metal are used for creative expression.

Gyes Arcade, Christopher Wilmarth, flat and curved plate glass elements, 1969

In 1969, glass was rarely seen in contemporary art, especially in large-scale sculpture. However, the American Studio Glass Movement was gathering national momentum. Many studio glass artists looked at contemporary sculpture, such as Gyes Arcade, for inspiration on how glass might be treated artistically.

At the 1972 National Sculpture Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, Harvey Littleton introduces his phrase “Technique is cheap” that continues to influence artists. The dichotomy between the sculptor in search of form (the “technique is cheap” attitude) vs. the craftsman striving to create a perfectly executed functional object is a strong motivation for many artists.

Bowl #2, Mary T Warren, glass, wire, 1978

The explosion of glass schools and studios in the 1970s and 1980s paves the way for a new industry of glass tools, equipment and glass suppliers.

Glass kilns originally were ceramic kilns with cones that required watching the stage and temperature of the progress. With the programmable computer controls, the fused glass industry was revolutionized. In the early 1980s Spectrum Glass introduced System 96, and Bullseye Glass introduces its “Tested Compatible” glass designed specifically for fusing.

Mosaic Bowl, Klaus Moje, glass, 1978

The work by glass artists pursue narrative, political, gender issues and create more multimedia work, combining glass with other materials (wood, metal, paint, stone). The “Art vs. craft” debate pushes aside technical issues.

Blast Off To Oblivion, Richard LaLonde, fused glass panel, 1983

By the mid-1980’s there was an explosion in alternatives to hot glass: pâte de verre, lampworking, kilnworking, coldworking, even microwaved glass jewelry, and women play an increasingly prominent role in the glass movement. With the increase in interest and new glass specific art galleries emerging, art museums begin to exhibit glass in contemporary art sections – and the interest in glass art helps glass magazines flourish.

Charles Parriott, glass, enamels in sgraffito technique, ca 1983

Pajaritos en la Cabeza (Little birds in the head) and Cabellos de Angel (Angel hair), Toots Zynsky, fused and thermo-formed glass threads, 1988

In the summer of 1971, Dale Chihuly brought a small group of his friends and a few RISD students, including Toots Zynsky, to Washington State. There, she participated in the founding and early development of Pilchuck Glass School. By early 1972, she was making installations with slumped plate glass. In 1973, she began experimenting with video and performance works that incorporated hot and cold glass with artist Buster Simpson. Her experimental work—which was characteristic of much of the art being made in the 1970s—was important for the development of glass as a material to explore issues in contemporary art.

Throughout the 1980’s art glass collectors sought to build collections based less on investment value and more on the inherent worth of the artworks and auctions of contemporary glass begin at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The camaraderie of collectors and friendly competition for the glass artworks lead to a relatively stable market and the development of a glass community. In 1985, Glass Weekend begins at Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ. The biennial seminar brings together leading contemporary glass artists, collectors, galleries, and museum curators.

Opposing Fields, Charles Parriott, glass, silk-screened decal imagery, 1982

As it became more acceptable for artists to use of glass as a fine-art medium, there began a more expansive use of glass as a component – there was more multimedia work, where glass was combed with other materials (wood, metal, paint, stone), and a perceived reaction against the “beauty” of glass. Artists continued to pursue narrative, political, gender issues as expressed in the glass.

In 1989 the late Dan Klein, former director of Christie’s auction house and studio glass collector noted that hot glass, which had “enjoyed what seems in retrospect a disproportionate degree of popularity during the 1960’s lost ground to other techniques, until it was felt during the 1980’s that it had been almost completely phased out”.

An interesting note to end this segment of the history of fused glass within the context of the American Studio Glass Movement.

Click HERE to jump to Part 1 of the Washington Glass School blog about the History of Fused Glass.

Posted in american glass, bullseye, fused glass, heritage, history, kiln-formed glass, studio glass movement, warm glass

Bullseye Gallery Features Artists That "Paint" With Glass

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Chip Montague |

Touching With A Lighter Hand / Michael Janis

Bullseye Gallery in Portland, Oregon has a great new show of work by artists that use glass as a canvas. “Facture” has already created a bit of a buzz. The GLASS Quarterly‘s Ruth Reader has a great article and interview with Michael Janis about using glass as a painter’s canvas. This weekend, January 8, from 2 – 4 pm, Bullseye will host a panel discussion with artists Michael Janis, Kari Minnick, Martha Pfanschmidt, Ted Sawyer, Abi Spring, and Jeff Wallin; moderated by Michael End. The artists will also present images and discuss their methods.

Bullseye special events are offered free of charge, but advance reservations are required. Reservations must be made at least 24 hours prior to events. To reserve your spot, call or email BE: 503.227.2797 or portlandclasses@bullseyeglass.com

Bullseye Resource Center, 3610 SE 21st Avenue, Portland, Oregon

Click HERE to jump to Bullseye Gallery website images of works in the show.

Posted in bullseye, bullseye gallery, facture, glass canvas

BECon 2011

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Michael Janis |

This coming June, Bullseye Glass hosts their glass arts conference in Portland, OR. The biennial conference is a great way to see the latest BE glass products, tour the factory and network with other glass artists and educators. Scholarships are available – read below:

BECon 2011

CROSSOVER: A Material Exchange
Exploring the interface between kiln-glass and other media

What can the “makers” in the field of kiln-glass learn from artists working in other media? What lies at the interface of kiln-glass and forms of expression like painting, architecture, photography, digital technologies, printmaking and textiles? Exploring such questions is precisely the goal of the Bullseye Conference, 2011.

WHAT IS BECON?
Every two years, aspiring and accomplished kiln-glass professionals from around the globe enjoy the opportunity to gather, network, compare notes and expand their horizons. That opportunity is known as BECon (the Bullseye Conference).

WHEN IT WILL HAPPEN
June 16-18, 2011.

WHERE IT WILL HAPPEN
Portland, Oregon, USA—on the metropolitan campus of Portland State University, which is central to the city’s vibrant, arts-rich core.

WHO WILL SPEAK
A partial list of presenters includes:
Elizabeth Aro Invorio, Italy
Steve Brown London, England
Bruce Guenther Portland, Oregon, United States
Alex Hirsch Portland, Oregon, United States
Alex Hoare Winchester, England
Munson Hunt Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Tom Jacobs Portland, Oregon, United States
Silvia Levenson Lesa, Italy
Dante Marioni Seattle, Washington, United States
Richard Parrish Bozeman, Montana, United States
Marc Petrovic Essex, Connecticut, United States
Laurel Porcari New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Rick Potestio Portland, Oregon, United States
Judith Schaechter Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Shapeways Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Karlyn Sutherland Lybster, Scotland
Lino Tagliapietra Venice, Italy
Karen Yair Birmingham, England

WHO WILL ATTEND
About 250 artists, designers, fabricators, instructors, and students from around the globe.

PRE- AND POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
Are in the planning stages. Update – click HERE to jump to BE workshops.

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS
Bullseye is offering 25 scholarships for students. Recipients can attend the conference for $250, less than half the standard price. To qualify, you must currently be enrolled full time in an accredited university or have graduated from an accredited university no earlier than May 2010.

To apply for a scholarship, please email the following information to marketing@bullseyeglass.com by February 13, 2011:
1) your contact information, including name, website (if applicable), mailing address, and email address
2) your CV or résumé
3) a short paragraph describing how you will use what you learn at BECon 2011
4) four to six .jpg files showing your work (no file larger than 100 kb.)
5) a list identifying each work shown in the .jpg files by title of image, title of work, year, technique/media, dimensions, and photographer.

Scholarship recipients will be notified by email no later than February 27, 2011. Once notified, recipients will be able to register for the conference at the reduced rate of $250.

APPLICATIONS
Will open early in 2011.

CONTACT & INFO
Contact conference@bullseyeglass.com for more information.
Click here and here to learn about Portland, Oregon.

Posted in 2011, BECon 2011, bullseye, bullseye glass, portland

Upcoming Classes @ the Glass School

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Michael Janis |

>Some great classes are coming up – old and new favorites!

Roll-up = Fused and blown glass

Up first is the Bullseye Roll-up. In this class you get to fuse and blow glass! This process allows the detail and care that you can get in a fused piece can be transferred to the hotshop and blown into a dimensional piece. If you are a fuser – a great introduction to the world of blown glass. If you are a blower – imaging the detail you can get!

Nancy Donnelly’s Green Eggs & Ham fused glass panel.

Blowing at DC Glassworks studio.

The finished work.

Class 1007 – The Great Bullseye Roll-up

If you’ve ever been interested in making your fused glass panels into blown vessels- then this is the class for you! Come experience one of the most exciting trends in glass – where you get the best of both worlds. One class will be spent fusing Bullseye Glass into a panel at the Washington Glass School. The next class will be held at DC GlassWorks where you will help blow the glass into a vase, or bowl, or even go more sculptural! This class is for all experience levels, both fusers and blowers who want to see their imagery in blown glass.

Instructors: Dave D’Orio & Michael Janis

Dates: Saturday, February 27 & March 6, 1:30 to 5:00 pm each day

Tuition: $350

Also coming up everyone’s favorite way to work with photos – emulsion transfer! This fun class gets the photographer in you working! Your photo images (taken during class or from your slides) are transferred via polaroid-style film to glass, paper, whatever. A great way to get imagery in your art!

Class 1008 – Photographic Image Transfers On Glass

The photo-emulsion transfer process did not die with Polaroid. Learn how to make your images, manipulate them and put them onto almost any surface using Fuji‘s instant print film. Instructors Alison and Pete Duval will show you several tips and tecniques so you can get the most from your images. This will be a hands-on workshop, so com prepared to get your hands dirty All materials will be supplied by the instructors – but students are encouraged to bring their own slides and any materials they would like to transfer images to. There is a $20 lab fee for supplies to be paid to the instructors on the day of the workshop.

Instructors: Pete & Alison Duvall

Dates: Sunday, February 28, 1:00 to 4:00 pm

Tuition: $150 (+ $20 lab fee)

and – don’t forget:

Class 1009 – Introduction to Rubber Mold Making

In this weekend class you will tackle the basics of making rubber molds. These molds can be used for the production of parts that can be dupicated in wax – the first step in the Lost Wax Process for casting glass, bronze or aluminum. (Hint: Debra’s amazing Lost Wax Casting class will be offered next semester – plan ahead!) Students will bring in their own pieces to review and explore mold production, undercuts, multipart mold-making, and casting of wax. Students will learn about a variety of materials and which to use in different situations. Students will be asked to bring a minimum of 3 small objects (not more than 1.5″ in any direction).

Instructor: Debra Ruzinsky

Dates: Sat/Sun, March 6 & 7, 9:30am to 1:30 pm

Tuition: $300

Posted in bullseye, glass class, mold making, photo emulsion transfer, roll-up

S’more Bullseye Roll-ups

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Michael Janis |

Dave D’Orio puffs out a piece gaffered by Michael Showalter. Kate Pick oversees her work.

The BE roll-up class was so much fun – another day was scheduled – it has become an addiction!

above: Ida Miggins below: Nancy Donnelly

The artists investigated more complex fused and blown shapes and forms. Thanks to Mike Showalter and Dave D’Orio over at DC GlassWorks .

Michael Janis’ sgraffitto piece blown out.

Posted in bullseye, roll-up, sgraffitto

Bullseye Roll-Up Class

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Michael Janis |

Kilncast glass got the blown glass treatment in the roll-up class this past weekend. The class explored the innovative glass working method often referred to as “the Australian Roll-Up” – a technique that allows the artist to blow 3-dimensional forms without the necessity of a furnace and allows for an extended time for focused design of the patterning, as compared to the faster pace required for traditional hot glass.

This class combined working on both the Washington Glass School and at DC GlassWorks allowing for a fun cross-pollination of ideas and techniques.