A Glass Blowing Community Grows in Northern Columbia County

Like the act of transforming molten glass into a fine work of art, there’s a hot little glass blowing scene coalescing in Northern Columbia County that's shaping up to bring more functional artistry to the area. It started nearly 20 years ago when glass artists Elizabeth Crawford and her husband, Nathan Hoogs, moved to Canaan from the Berkshires, which has a more established network of glassmakers. 

Nathan Hoogs

The couple opened Hoogs and Crawford Glassworks Studio and Gallery in 2008. “Our creativity together flourished, and after nine years working for other artists we opened our own studio,” Crawford says. Since moving to New York, they’ve been producing exquisite glass pieces ranging from garden ornaments to vases to larger fine craft designs with dense color applications full of intricate detail. The shop draws tourists, locals, and collectors, and the couple also work on commissions with designers and other artists. Additionally, Hoogs has been teaching his craft to members of the public through appointment-only one-on-one experiences. 

Open Wednesday toSaturday 11am to 5pm or by appointment, the Hoogs and Crawford’s work can also be seen at the Art in the Berkshires Juried Art Show at the Eastover Contemporary Art Space in Lenox, MA June 5 toJuly 5. There’s an opening reception to meet the artists on June 7 from 4:30pm to 7pm. They are also participating in the Berkshire Summer Arts festival at Butternut Basin July 4 to 6. 

Vase by Eric Meeker.

A few miles east of Hoogs and Crawford’s home in East ChathamPierre Bowring, recently established a studio. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Bowring has been in the Hudson Valley for eight years, most recently in Beacon, and moved his family and studio to the area a year and a half ago. “I was friends with [Crawford and Hoogs] before I moved up here but had no idea until we bought the house, they lived right down the street,” Bowring says. 

Bowring ended up buying a glass-melting furnace from them with which he now creates his beautiful, sometimes whimsical, and always boldly colored glassware—informed by his background as an abstract painter. “It’s kind of like a dance to try and harmonize the right colors together, with the underlying theme of it all just being fun,” he says. His business, Bow Glass Works, can be visited by appointment only. Bowring will soon be offering classes as well.

Plater by Hoogs and Crawford.

A fourth glass blower, and friend of Bowring, is also moving his studio closer to the others, as the community gathers steam. Eric Meeker, who currently has his glass studio in New Lebanon, will be relocating his business, Eric Meeker Art & Design, later this year to his home and farm in Canaan. Meeker is originally from the New York City area, but landed in the region via North Carolina. He’s been blowing glass for more than a decade and creates both glass sculpture and more utilitarian—although no less elegant and often conceptual—objects like glasses, vases, and his signature “shard cups,” which incorporate broken waste glass repurposed as the handles. “My work is informed by the Finno-Scandinavian and Italian design traditions as well as my work shepherding and farming and the natural movements of the earth and materials,” he says.

All of the artists enjoy being in such close proximity and while Bowring thinks the area “feels like a haven for glass blowing,” Meeker is less sure if that’s true, but believes Columbia County offers a nice setting for their art. “I think what makes this area unique and special is its proximity to so many rich craft traditions that allow us to exist not in a glass-centric vacuum, but rather an interdisciplinary web of makers, artists, builders, and farmers,” Meeker says. 

Crawford would like to see even more glass blowers come to the area. “I think it would be so cool if more glass artists moved to Columbia County!,” she says. Whether it’s an anomaly or an actual trend, Northern Columbia County has been blessed by a small group of glass artists whose work combines imagination and skill to create work that turns everyday objects into art—both fragile and timeless.