Nautical glassblowing

 Michael Hengler's interest in boats extends from his childhood in Wisconsin and fishing trips with his family. A camping adventure over a long summer weekend was reminiscent of an entirely different world to the young Hengler. This nautical fascination has flowed into Michael's most recent work completed this summer, 2013, at his recent fellowship at Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center in Millville, New Jersey.

The piece to the left is a hollow glass blown vessel.  Hengler suspended a sandblasted glass boat inside the vessel and filled it with water. The finished piece is capped off with a solid glass orb and permanently sealed the fate of the capsized boat.

 

 The piece above, called "Unroll to Go", combines glass blowing,
glass fusing, and a found metal object.  A detailed shot is shown below.

The five canoes on the left are ready to embark on an unknown voyage.

For more of Michael Hengler's work, check out his website at Michael Hengler.com

The eventful summer of 2013 brought Michael Hengler to Princeton University to study with internationally known scientific glassblower Mike Souza. Mr. Souza has worked in the field for over 40 years and has held a position at Princeton University for over 20 years. Mr. Souza generously shared his extensive knowledge and life's long 'tricks' to the young artist and scientific glass hopeful. In this photo, Mr. Souza is utilizing a glass lathe, a blow tube (in his mouth) to add air which inflates the glass, and a handheld torch.





 Here you can see the glass lathe holding the glass in place. The lathe is used to rotate the glass piece on it's axis so the glassblower can make the various adjustments needed. Most scientific glass pieces begin as a hollow tube created in a factory. In this photo (right), you can see the initial tube size remaining on the left and the multiple changes the glassblower has made on the right. 

A Princeton Physicist, working on cutting edge Helium3 experiments, requires the use of a specialty glass, Aluminosilicate, because of it's impermeable properties. Mr. Souza and Michael constructed the four foot glass apparatus with eight perpendicular arms so that the Physicist could perform eight concurrent experiments at once (see left).

Why is an artist interning with a scientific glassblower at Princeton University? Michael is very comfortable with the glass medium and finds much enjoyment in problem solving with the scientists & creating this type of glass work. While attending the University of Oregon in 2007, Michael was employed by a geophysicist and has been producing scientific glassware for the University of Hawaii since 2012.  Finding himself fulfilled in this career path, @MikeHengler decided further formal training would be beneficial.


For more information on scientific glassblowing, check out the website American Scientific Glassblowers Society and for more details about Micahel Hengler's work and his artistic process go to MichaelHengler.com