We interviewed the incredible glass artist Ryan Bearclaw about his extensive career blowing glass. Bearclaw first caught the glass bug around 1998, and before that he was attending a community college trying to earn the prerequisites so that he could attend the Dallas Art School. Around this time a friend invited Bearclaw to come visit and to watch him blow glass at the Washington State Garlic Fest in Seattle.
Bearclaw traveled to Seattle and spent that summer touring around with his friend. They went to a Rainbow Gathering and met a glassblower who was working out of a school bus, and they stopped at Glasscraft in Golden, Colorado. Unfortunately Bearclaw's friend would end up passing away later that fall, but their summer journey had convinced him to pursue glassblowing as a serious career. He chose the name "Bearclaw" after some extensive deliberation, eventually deciding on that name because it rhymed with his real last name and it was a name which had been given to him previously by his third grade gym teacher.
In the early years of his glassblowing career the internet was an important resource for Bearclaw, and he picked up a lot of knowledge from online communities. Browsing the web led him to discover some incredible pictures of Jason Lee's work which in turn made Ryan Bearclaw feel more than a bit inferior, but this feeling spurred Bearclaw to push himself harder in his own work than he ever had before. He would attempt to emulate styles and techniques that he found on the net, and in this way he credits the artists that he admired in those early years as his unwitting mentors.
Now Ryan Bearclaw knows a lot of those early artists personally, and though he has never taken any formal classes Bearclaw has had the opportunity to teach a class at Dustin Revere's studio, and he was especially honored to have had glass artist Akio fly all the way from Japan to attend his class. His passion for glassblowing has evolved over the years like a long-term relationship, and Bearclaw's work has evolved alongside his passion. Over the years Ryan Bearclaw has blossomed into an astonishing artist with an imitable signature style.
In the future Ryan Bearclaw intends to continue pursuing new techniques and styles. He has a soft spot for marbles, and he wants to explore more sculptural techniques to create scenes and figures that express motion and sentiment. His work is only becoming more incredible as the years go on, and you can check out his incredible creations over on the Ryan Bearclaw Instagram page.
