Weekday
The weekly feature page of the University Daily Kansan February 15.1978
Standing in front of the blazing furnaces, Vernon Brejcha shapes and blows some of his beautiful glass.
Through the intensely hot gases swirling inside the klips at Chamney Barn on West 15th street glass blowing instructor, Vernon Brejcha, assistant professor of design, spears a molten lamp of glass.
Inside the hand-made ovens, temperatures exceed 2,000 degrees F and the liquid glass flows with the consistency of warm honey. After getting the glass to adhere to the five-foot pipe, Hercjia puffs through the tube until a form is created.
begins to emerge.
The glass is constantly moving so the pipe must be kept in continuous motion. And it must be continually reheated so as not to burst from burning too quickly.
As he moves back and forth between the kiln and a table on which he rolls and shapes the piece Breechj swings the pipe and watches the form intently. The hot glass is attractive to the slightest touch and the process demands his complete attention. He uses one of several hand tools to gently transform the shape. Then he moves back to the kiln for reheating and perhaps to gather a little more glass.
At that point, Brecchi said, the blower can make one of a thousand shapes. However, the process must be complete before he places the piece in the annealing oven to cool. The large oven cooks the glaze at a high temperature at about 50 degrees C. And once the piece is placed in the oven, major changes aren't possible.
objects that had been developing in the '80s, Tletitton blew the first piece of meat to be totally conceive and conclude successfully.
Breech's first contact with hand-blown glass was through a atteniton's work on display at the 1968 Wichita
tell Snow
He never seen anything like it before, and I fell in love with it. It was totally new, totally sculptural," Brechiah wrote.
said,
Brechja speaks of Littleton with a vivid reverence. His voice softens and his eyes narrow and shine with recollections.
Since then, Brochia has shown his works in well over 100 shows. He is nearly swamped with requests to enter more shows around the country. And his commitments run through 1979. Last year some of his pieces entered the collections at the Carring Museum of Glass in Compass N.Y. and the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York.
Harvey Littleton opened the first glass-blowing class in history at the University of Wisconsin. He was born in Corning, N.Y., and throughout his life he was exposed to the expansive glass operations at the Corning factory.
The prestige this lends to the University of Kanaas is, to Brechau, one of the greatest benefits of his nation-wide
"Glass blowing wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Harvey," Brechja said. "He really did send out disciples with his constant preaching to go out and give glass to the world again. And we did it."
"One day," Breech said, "he woke up to the fact that
it was time for him to eat a cup, that it doesn't
be functional to be accepted."
"I want my name to be associated with KU and I want people to be able to look at my pieces and associate them
have to be familiar to you or acquainted.
And in 1922, drawing off the respect for hand-made
The time one spends on a piece depends on its complexity and the blower's physical endurance. The heat in front of the klims is intense and once the blower begins, he is committed. Brechja said he has seen a blower spend six hours on one piece. However, he said one hour was his own chance to learn how to have the patience to wait very long for the finished product.
**run the flames of the furnace reflecting in his glasses, Brejcha concentrates on one of his glass pieces.**
Brechja is continually reaching out with his glass blowing. His nationwide exposure has spread his reputation overseas and his correspondences extend into Europe and as far as Australia.
A history of art is in print with through Brechja's glass works, as with most artists. But it isn't only for self expression that he reaches out with his glass. In a way, Brechja is a disciple. He learned the art of glass blowing from the first person to bring the technique to a classroom.
Kansas, however, will remain Brechya's home as he strives to convey the images he perceives, while also giving his students a sense of imagination coupled with the skill to express it.
His work is saturated with a love for his home state.
"The prairie has fascinated me more than any place I've lived. I use a lot of personal symbols to convey that feeling. It's a statement about what I am," he said.
Story by Lindsay Peterson Photos by Donald Waller
Raised on a small farm in central Kansas, Brechja has a natural respect for the prairie and what has shaped its development. The plight of the Indian and the joy of the Native Americans throughout much of North America has spontaneous sense of recollection and perception
The harmony of his work is largely in the theme. His depiction of the harvest, symbolized by delicate sprouts emerging from a cylindrical plate gently perched on the branches of the growth process that Breglia perseveres vividly.
It calls for a certain discipline that provides relief from the demands of sculptural glass blowing. And it is also a skill that is more readily conveyed to a student. Brechja now has 19 students. A few of them have traveled to Kansas expressly to study under Brechja. Much as Brechja went to Wisconsin to study under Littleton.
Above right, Breicha works a piece of glass into shape. After a hard day at work, Breicha spends a few quiet moments relaxing.
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