The Washington Glass School

Vitrum Studio owners Judith Conway and Kevin O’Toole.

Vitrum Studios has announced its intention to close at the end of 2016. Vitrum Studio was started by Judith Conway and Kevin O’Toole in 2001 offering classes and kiln-glass resources. Both artists were recipients of awards in Bullseye Glass’ e-merge, and both had works in the US Arts in Embassies Program. The owners have said that they will continue to research and to develop techniques with Bullseye glass, and are embarking on a new project – Vitrum Studio eBooks. These books will focused on fusing techniques.

We will miss them and we wish them well in their new endeavors!

From their Nov 10 email:

…”As we approach Vitrum’s 15th birthday, we reflect back on the very beginning of Vitrum Studio.  Our classes, office and retail shop were all in one bay when we opened, and our pants pockets were our cash drawer. During these past fifteen years we have grown to three bays, enlarged the retail and the classroom spaces, opened a smaller Lab classroom and taught hundreds of classes on a wide range of topics to students from all over the world. 

We’ve made wonderful friends in the glass community, and welcomed and learned much from many exceptionally talented guest instructors while we worked with an incredible Vitrum staff of caring, talented artists. We all have grown as artists as we researched, experimented and pushed the boundaries of kiln glass, and we have loved every minute of it.

But now, it is time for a change. Vitrum Studio will officially close its doors at the end of 2016.

As you probably know, running a business is a demanding 24/7 obligation.  Our plans are to spend more time with those who are precious to us, and to spend much needed time in our own studios, designing and developing our own work.
You may be wondering if this decision was also influenced by the environmental issues and the reduced production that Bullseye Glass factory in Portland, Oregon, has been faced with. That is absolutely not the case. They have spent countless hours and large amounts of money researching and installing new filtration systems on their furnaces, and have finally begun to be able to ramp up their production again. By spring of 2017, they should be able to fulfill all orders and be back online 100%. 

We know Bullseye Glass will succeed in all they do, and we will continue to work closely with them as we research and develop new techniques with the Bullseye glass we all love.
Thank you.