Beacon Glass CenterWe started Beacon Glass Center with the intention to create a small community arts center that is focused on providing education and enriching experiences that promote cultural healing and connectivity.
The hot shop is nestled on the hillside above the Guemes Islands Resort, in a serene forest setting with beautiful dappled light coming through the cedar and deciduous trees. Guemes island has a delightful 10-minute-long ferry ride from its own port in Anacortes, which offers passenger and car service.
Inside the studio, our Little Dragon furnace from Mobile Glassblowing Studios allows us to reduce our energy expenditure and minimize our environmental impact. We are also exploring our options with glass recycling programs and local cullet producers in order to further reduce our carbon footprint. The studio is small but efficient, modest but has everything one needs to learn and practice the art of glassblowing.
As we move forward into our fifth year as a small not-for-profit, we aim to continue to focus on community outreach with an emphasis on youth classes, including serving both the home school communities of Anacortes and Guemes Island. In addition to offering classes, retreats. and studio rentals, we host friends and visiting artists from the greater Pacific Northwest glass art community for short-term residencies where they can make their own work in an intimate creative space. Ultimately, we would like to expand our reach to invite glass artists from all over the world to experience the simplicity and beauty of our little studio in the woods, but here at Beacon our motto is to “think small and dream big.”