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I'd like everyone to join me in thanking John Bridges for being our newest Glass Addiction interview. I'm sure we've all admired John's marbles when he posts them in the showcase and perhaps wonder about the guy that made them. Here's your oppratunity to learn more about him. Please don't hesitate and ask any follow-up questions that you might have.

I've really enjoyed reading John's answers myself and think he may have perfectly summed up marbles' appeal for me in his answer to question #5. Read it and see what you think.

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1. Please tell us a little about yourself.

Well, I'm currently 38 years of age and I live here in blissful Eugene, Oregon with my wife Marjorie and two girls, Lu (11) and Imani (6). I work glass by myself here in my luxurious garage studio.

I grew up as a skate punk in New Jersey, the son of a Philosophy professor, where I never quite fit into the scheme of things, a bit of a round peg in a square hole. I hit the road at 18 and spent my 20's living, pondering, and schooling in Tampa, Florida, spending a lot of time reasoning with the Rastafarian community there. Florida's a fascinating place, but not so hot for bringing up kids, so when my first girl came ('97) we decided to adventure out to the west in search of mountains and culture, and have been here since.

2. How and when did you begin working with glass?

I came to Oregon armed with a fresh Electronics degree, so I went to work in the professional world, manufacturing laser barcode scanners. I worked with great people and learned amazing things, but being elsewhere for 45+ hours a week was putting great strains on my family. It reached a crisis point where we came apart, and I took up living part time on a friend's land in the hills of Cottage Grove, Oregon ('99).

There were several others on the land, including most notably a gem of a human being by the name of Dan C., a glassblower who had set up a modest shop in a rickety shack. I had never been exposed to the art before, and I was immediately fascinated and stunned, especially by solids with their otherworldly fluctuations. I watched him work whenever I had the chance, and soon began fiddling around with it, hypnotized by the flow, amazed that hours would pass in a seemingly short time.

In a little time we managed to pull our family back together, and I began to apprentice more seriously with Dan, determined to make a switch to something both satisfying and more flexible for family time. Just when I was looking for the right moment to take the leap, the outsourcing beast came through my factory and it became the perfect opportunity.

All in all, I feel like glass came and got me, rather than me pursuing it.

3. What did you do before becoming a full-time artist?

Uh oh, I think I answered that one in the last entry!

4. Do you work in any mediums other than glass?

WELL! I love very much to work with other mediums, most notably paint, music and words. Unfortunately though, between glass and family life I have very little time to put into those mediums!!!! The painting right now is entirely relegated to the back burner, and I look forward to doing the brushes more in my later years when things ease up a bit. I leap at any chance to play music, but this usually consists of grabbing my guitar (or piano, flute, drum, etc) for a 15 minute session here and there. In the same way I rarely have space to write, which may explain my sometimes indulgent wording on my Ebay auctions, it's one of my few regular word opportunities. A space will be allotted for all things in time.

5. Do you make other items beside marbles?

Yes, I make plenty of pendants, and also various small vessels and sculptures, most of which I haven't marketed online just yet. Marbles remain my first love in glass and my main pursuit, those round gems of undulating color, having no function other than being what they are, standing on their own essential authority.

6. Do you think that all boro artists share a similar style?

No, I don't think that *all* boro artists share a similar style. To be sure, there are plenty of marbles out there that repeat certain styles to the extent of making them generic, but I think that boro itself is quite limitless, perhaps more so than soft, and there are a bunch of geniuses out there whose original style is unmistakable.

7. How much does technique affect the finished style of a piece?

Well, technique is just a form, and *style* is the creative juice in which the artist marinates the technique, like tofu. I guess we get to make some bad tofu for awhile until we combine the spices just right for a taste-symphony!!!

8. How important to you is working safely?

Very important of course! I'd say my most realistic safety issue is those pesky shards. Tiny glass shards have an annoying way of traveling about and showing up where they are least welcome, and one never desires to be picking out bloody glass splinters.

Shop safety is very important, but perhaps more important is safety while skateboarding. One broken wrist and I'm sidelined! Skaters, wear some wristguards!!!

9. Do you think that glass art gets the respect it deserves, say compared to painting or sculpture?

I think that larger glass art gets the respect it deserves, but not marbles. Marbles occupy a strange space between art and curiosity, and I don't think many gallery owners really know what to do with them. If they could learn to speak the marble language and communicate it in their displays it could push us over the top. They don't take much space…make a well-lit corner fascinarium.

10. How important do you think a formal art education is to a glass artist?

Personally I'd have to say I'm biased against formal art education. For me such training feels like a burden that weighs down my creative impulse. I'd rather just go forth and feel out forms and textures that are pleasing to me. For a long time I wouldn't even look at other folks work; I felt like it polluted my ideas (now I like to look around thoughJ). This tends to be my approach to most things; I guess I'm a little hard headed in that way.

Still, let each approach in the way that feels best. I've always played music by ear, but I have a friend who strictly reads sheet music and likes it that way. Surely each approach has its strengths and weaknesses.

11. Is making glass art more technically demanding than other mediums?

I think so, yes. I used to think of glass as equal parts art and science, but really, it's heavier on the science. With painting for instance, there are techniques to spreading paint in various ways, but it's all expression after that. In glass, there are several techniques that compose a technique that enables the main technique, and with luck and a few more tries you'll be a bit closer to the image in your mind!

12. I've asked many artists where they look for inspiration, but how would you describe inspiration? How do you feel when you've been inspired?

I think that the glass itself is the best inspiration, because it has a way of showing you its possibilities, bit by bit, enough to lead you on. There are certain times when you (seemingly) on a whim reach for a certain form, and the result of that groping will expose possibilities which cause an overwhelming flood of ideas. This can be problematic if it's too late at night…many times I've tossed and turned as colors and forms cascade before my eyes. "If that worked, then that means I can do this…and this….and…(ad infinitum)".

13. What is the greatest compliment that your work could ever receive?

"I've gazed at that piece for hours, and it still lives in my pocket!!!!"

14. Which artist(s) really inspires you?

I'd have to say the strength of the movement itself inspires me. It's great to see more and more sweet gems coming, styles sharpening, colors deepening, each pic hotter than the last. This year was the first that I made it to the Wheaton show, and it was a great inspiration to be around so many folks that love marbles like I do.

15. There's been quite a bit of talk about collaborative marbles on Glass Addiction lately. If you could collaborate on a marble with any other marble artist, who would it be?

Oh no, down to one? How about 3: Gong, Weber, Tiemeyer.

16. How did you come up with the name "Black Fire Glassworks"?

"Black Fire" is a term from Jewish mysticism that refers to primordial consciousness before it engages the world of form. In Buddhist terms this is "unsullied mind" or "mind in its natural state". Mind is not thoughts; thoughts are something that mind produces, and to recognize mind without thought is to locate the fount of creativity.

This has bearing on the glass art because glassblowing is yogic in nature, like any tactile pursuit. This is to say, the best glass comes out of that state of mind wherein subject and object blend. When there is no longer glassblower and glass, and those poles merge, with nothing left but the "becoming"…this is the creative mind without meddling thought, and the true glass alchemy.

17. Is there any part of making glass art that you find especially challenging? Parts that are very satisfying?

It's always challenging to come up with new designs and forms. When certain possibilities are exhausted it can feel like being up against a glass wall face first. I've learned that I need to just push, push into it, push…when I've pushed enough the wall gives and new things pop up, fascinating things. And that moment is VERY satisfying indeed!!!!

18. Are there certain personal characteristics that define or lead a person to be an artist?

Oh no, I don't know! What is it? Are they too fidgety? Restless? Imaginative? Is it lust, greed, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth, pride? Were artists annealed too long in the womb? Not enough? Is it just some nameless urge rising unexplained and unannounced from the depth of the subconscious? An overflowing of joy like breaking into song?

19. How long do you think that the popularity of contemporary marbles (or glass in general) will continue?

I think that contemporary marbles' popularity will continue and grow indefinitely. Why? Because there are so many fantastic marbles being spun out by such an expanding group of talented people. The marbles just keep getting better and better, and with marbles carrying an authority and intrinsic value that borders on legal tender, they are *destined* to be held in high popular regard. I just believe in marbles.

20. Your part of the country has a wealth of flamework artists. Why do you think there are so many in one area?

I think it's a confluence of a couple things. First is the cultural nature of the Northwest; this area was settled by folks who were willing to plunge into the risky unknown in the quest for self reinvention, and this vibe still manifests today as a general tendency to adventure and open-mindedness.

Next, the specific link to glass came to be through the various so-called "counter-culture" movements nurtured by that open mindedness, particularly in connection to the marijuana that they tend to appreciate. The pipe-making movement got a lot of free thinking individuals into melting glass, and not just plain functional globs but wildly fluctuating and sparkling compositions of bursting color and audacious form.

Certainly there are many others here who have entered the glass realm through other avenues than those associated with marijuana, but the incredible impetus and vitality provided by the pipe scene is undeniable. Eugene in particular is known as one of the main hubs of that controversial pursuit, and it is the foundation that has enabled several of our local institutions, from our excellent glass supply shops to our outstanding glass school.

21. I enjoyed reading your Glassartist bio, especially the part where you say that your wife & daughters "…tolerate my eccentricities honorably." How eccentric are you?

LOL, I was probably just being sarcastic, I'm not that eccentric. I do pride myself on being a free thinker, and we FT's might be a handful at times. Some strive to think "outside the box" but some have to strive to think IN the box!