I'm a glass artist.  I make $65.00 perfume bottles.  I make $30,000 plates for wall mounting.  And everything in between.  Most of my work is performed in a 2-acre compound that I own here in Santa Fe.  Its 36 rooms include a glass casting studio, four workshops, living quarters for four artists and a gallery.  The complex is open to the public 7 days a week.  My home, where I live with my wife Dee, is also on the property.   Usually I make what moves me, but about ten percent of my work results from commissions in the same genre.   

 

In addition to my own Tesuque Glass Works gallery, three major galleries represent me, the Habitat Gallery in Detroit, Kent Holston in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the Dane Gallery on Nantucket.  I have a piece in the Smithsonian's Remwick, and others in the Corning Glass Museum and the Fuller Glass Museum in Brockton, Mass.   

 

Tesuque Glass Works employs six people, more of less part time.  Three are working artists themselves.  In the summer we also open up to four unpaid apprentices, usually college or high school students.   

 

None really. I've often thought about the reasons why.  One is scheduling.  Learning glass art skills in a production environment is done best in eight-hour days, over a production cycle of thirty days or so. That does not merge well with most college schedules. 

 

What utilization of college worked for you as a young person?  

I grew up in Modesto, California's wine country.  My high school grades were lackluster.  So I entered Modesto Junior College in 1965 in search of a C-average that would entitle me to transfer to a state college.  I switched to newly-established Columbia Junior College, located in a revitalized tourist-oriented mining town. Columbia helped me get a job in a print shop making souvenir 'Wanted' posters.   And there I studied archeology for a year.  Sifting dirt for hours and cataloging artifacts helped me learn patience.  I also took forestry and agriculture courses there.  Together with my Modesto credits, I earned an Associates degree.

 

I entered Humboldt State College in pursuit of a degree in forestry. However, I was not allowed to matriculate, so I took extension courses there for two years.  My parents and food stamps helped me.  After two years, Stanislaus State was created 150 miles away with a brand new art department staffed by a faculty who were mostly working painters and sculptors.   I was officially admitted there and for two and a half years I was able to work as an artist parts of every day.  A fine studio was available to me, as were field trips to San Francisco galleries, museums and artist studios. 

 

I liked being outdoors.  At each school I gravitated to courses that could be taken outside a traditional classroom.  Even at Stanislaus State I worked on very large sculptures that could only be done outdoors.  Meanwhile, in 1970s California, tuition was affordable.  And students could be very mobile. 

 

I've thought a lot about this.  More than fifty percent of the people I associated with most closely eventually made their livings as artists.  All of them were older than typical youthful college students. That may have been due to the start-up nature of the schools I attended.  Except for Humboldt State, those schools didn't yet have reputations that would attract top high school talent. In addition, three of the schools are located in pretty much out-of-the-way areas.    

 

Make enough art to fill a garage.  When it starts falling out the windows, you've probably developed grit, and you should be able to find a place to sell some of it.  For the longer term, find a product that's purchased by people at several price points.  Or paint every day as a pure artist with no view to art sales, earning your living by teaching. 

 

I tell people to go to college, take art classes and use the tools provided.  Each class will open at least one door.  Investigate thoroughly what's on the other side.  When you find your true calling, you'll be making an informed choice.