The Paly Reporter December 2007/January 2008 Page 6 first page    previous page  next page

Glass Blowing Plans Holiday Sale

Paly’s award-winning, glass-blowing class will hold a one-day, special holiday sale of fine art objects on Wednesday, December 12, in front of or in the Tower Building (depending on the weather), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  A large percentage of the sales are used to support the program.

The Fiery Arts Program – ceramics, bronze and glass – consists of about 140 students filling five periods of the academic day. When Paly instructor David Camner started the program 11 years ago there were just two periods of interested students; he had time then to oversee the school’s yearbook publication and teach Art Spectrum.

This year’s Holiday Sale will feature the works of current students as well several professionals including Helen Lee, current artist in residence. There are three regular sales events at Paly a year, with the artists getting 60 percent of the proceeds and the rest going to defray expenses of the Paly Glass program. These sales give Paly talent an opportunity to sell their vases, flowers and pumpkins in a real-world market. Prices start at about $20.

 In addition to sales at Paly, current Paly students, former students and local professionals, participated under the auspices of Camner and Paly Glass in the annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch at the art center, which raised more than $10,000 for the Paly Glass program. Paly officially only funds a small percentage of the program’s operating costs. Camner, on his time, organized and managed the Paly Glass effort at the pumpkin patch.

Camner, a man “all about surfing, soccer and making art,” is a product of the East Bay, San Jose State, undergraduate, and the famed Rhode Island School of Design, where he received a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in glass making and sculpture. He has played semi-pro soccer, surfs two to three times a week – no waves over 10 feet – and lives with his wife, a radiology technician, in the hills of Aptos. The Camners have three sons and a pair of grandchildren.

He’s in his fifties, has a Santa Cruz look about him, and says that “glass blowing is magical, addicting and unforgettable.”

Interested students can take Ceramics/Sculpture, which includes glass blowing and sculpture, and then Advanced Sculpture for three out of their four years at Paly. “The interest in our program is very high,” says Camner “and we barely have enough work space to accommodate more students.”

Paly is one of but five high schools in the country to offer glass blowing. Although there is a lab fee of $60 a year, Camner doesn’t let that stand in the way of kids being in his program. The money from art sales and other sources is used for raw materials – they use about 200 pounds of glass a week – glass color, tools, bronze ingots, ceramic raw materials and to maintain the equipment in the glass studio. And, Camner is always trying to add a new piece of equipment, currently a special furnace for color work, as well as add to his library collection of books and video presentations.

Will the next Dale Chihuly have started at Paly? Who knows? We do know that “every time a kid makes something, he gets better and better. There is continuous improvement,” says Camner of his students.

LEARN TO BLOW GLASS –
or give someone a workshop as a gift and help support the Paly Glass Program! Sign up now for a Paly Glass Weekend Workshop! Open to high school students & adults. $375/person; limit 4 people. Choose a weekend:

Sat-Sun Dec 15-16, Jan 12-13; call for future dates. 9:30 to 3:30 each day, in Paly Glass Studio, behind Rm 105. [http://palylink.paloaltopta.org/maps/palyglassmap.gif]
Details: David Camner, 831-239-4444, 831-688-4483.