Portfolio: Laura Goldman
August 15, 2008
By Holly Selby
Photography by Bryan Burris
Laura Goldman of Liquid Glassworks.
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Laura Goldman was about 13 when she first saw glassblowers at work at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. The glowing beauty of glass captured her attention and has never let it go.
While still in her teens, Goldman taught herself how to make jewelry using glass fusion, a technique in which sheets of glass are layered and then heated in a kiln. Now 23, Goldman has just started her own studio, Liquid Glassworks, with two other glassblowers. “Glass fascinates me,” she says. “You can’t touch it because of the heat, but you can work closely with it. It is an unbelievable substance.”
Until May, Goldman worked for Baltimore Glass Works, producing luminous vases, platters, lighting fixtures and bowls of all shapes and sizes. Each piece represents a collaboration between the gaffer, or lead glassblower, and one or more collaborators. “Glassblowing is incredibly physical,” Goldman says. “Every inch added to the size of a vase means the glass is pounds heavier and that much harder to control.”
She suggests the physical difficulty of the work might explain why there are few women glassblowers. “It is heavy,” she says of her material. “You have to use your legs.”
Goldman will be blowing glass throughout the summer on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon at the Waverly Farmers’ Market (E. 32nd Street and Barclay Street) and Sundays from 8 a.m. to noon at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market (Saratoga Street under the JFX viaduct). To contact Goldman, call 410-279-8995.
