We talked to New York glassblower B_Money_Glass about his incredible creations and what lies in the future for his art. B_Money_Glass first found himself attracted to the art of glassblowing after he purchased his first piece of heady glass from a local headshop, sometime around 1999. That first piece was a pipe by Kevin Nail aka Stress Less Glass, and that pipe inspired B_Money_Glass to learn glassblowing. In search of knowledge, he asked around and some friends directed him to Prism Glassworks in Troy, New York, one of few studios that blew custom glass in the area, but at the time B Money Glass could not afford to pay for lessons from the Prism Glassworks team.
Soon thereafter B_Money_Glass won a chunk of money from a casino and he put it all towards glassblowing lessons. His mentor in those early days was Prism Glassworks' founder Phil Sundling aka @phil_pgw. B_Money_Glass continued to learn glass but did not focus on the craft full-time. Instead he went to school and pursued a degree at a local university while blowing glass on the side and continuing to build a collection of glass from his favorite artists. He believed that his fortunes laid elsewhere but he never turned away from glassblowing as a means of artistic expression, as well as a means to earn a little extra on the side.
When B_Money_Glass was working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics he never imagined that he would end up becoming a full-time professional glassblower, but the economic crash of 2008 had other plans for him. When the market crashed B_Money_Glass saw that glassblowing could provide him with an opportunity to sustain himself through his craft without being at the mercy of the ebbs and flows of private business and economic conditions. Still, he credits his degree for giving him the foundational knowledge to operate his craft as a profitable business, as well as providing him with the discipline to fully pursue artistic greatness.
For many years B_Money_Glass has worked almost exclusively as a production artist, but now he wants to change his focus towards creating more artistic and expressive pieces, the sort of pieces that require days or even weeks of planning and execution, but which would also help to relieve the mental stress and physical wear that has built up over years of production-level work. For the more artistic elements of his pieces, B_Money_Glass finds inspiration in the works of other glassblowers. He's been actively following and collecting pieces from the heady glass community since around 1999, and that has given him the rare opportunity to watch how many artists have evolved from making simple pieces to world-class works of art. B_Money_Glass owns some early pieces from artists who later became giants in the industry, and he's always inspired by the huge range of works that he sees in the industry now.
Over the years B_Money_Glass has accumulated an impressive resume of formal classes from some of the industry's best glassblowing artists. The list is huge, and B_Money_Glass is currently working to make a website where he can list out the complete portfolio of formal classes that he has attended. He spends a lot of his time on the torch, but he still gets out for some 4x4 action, and he's still actively building his collection of works by other artists in the industry. You can see more of B_Money_Glass' impressive works of art over on the B_Money_Glass Instagram page.
