The molten blob requires constant attention, methodical twirling.
"Always keep it spinning," says Dan Neff, owner of downtown Duluth's Lake Superior Art Glass and the instructor for a pendant-making class. "Remember to breathe. Don't burn yourself. And have fun."
Wearing protective glasses, we tentatively hold metal rods with clear glass tips under a flame, until the heat turns the glass neon orange. Keeping my tip spinning, I touch a red glass rod to it and watch them swirl together, color disappearing into the molten glow. I tenuously extract the remaining length of red glass rod. It pulls away like radioactive taffy.
In the workshop of this five-year-old gallery, wine glasses with handmade stems and glass icicles on the workbench catch the light. Work from more than 60 mostly regional artists shows the potential of the glass.
Three hours north of the Twin Cities, Duluth (and the North Shore it anchors) has inspired artists for decades. Lush and moody photos, vibrant paintings, woodblock cuts of wildlife and whimsical illustrations depicting life in the north have long graced gallery walls downtown and in the Canal Park district.
That artistic energy is spilling into other places, such as the Armory Annex on London Road. Waves of heat and the clang of tools ripple through the air where the Forging Community works and teaches classes on blacksmithing. New tenant Anthony Michaud-Scorza fits in well with his glassblowing studio that creates curving, swirling handblown waves. He's perfecting a glass lake trout and planning to offer classes in making paperweights.
These hands-on classes follow the surge in interactive tourism and appreciation for locally crafted products. The Lincoln Park neighborhood in particular — a corridor of W. Superior Street where Duluth Pack makes its gear and Frost River makes and sells its accessories — is on its way to becoming a designated craft district. It's also where Bent Paddle brews its beers, Clyde Iron Works fires up pizzas in a repurposed foundry, the Duluth Children's Museum has relocated, and the Duluth Grill packs its parking lot with gardens for its farm-to-table menu.
There is talk of more businesses opening by fall or winter, too, including a leather store, a coffeehouse, and an Oink Moo Cluck Smokehouse from the Duluth Grill folks.
