I'm here in downtown South Bend, which, by the way, this is open.

We're on Colfax, just off the bridge, which is a bit of a mess right now.

Construction.

But I'm here with Jackie at Fire Arts.

And Jackie, tell me a little bit.

First of all, it is great that you're still open.

I'm sure this is very disruptive right now, so.

Well, it has been disruptive and we've thought that we've gotten fewer people in to see the studio and perhaps by Arc.

But, you know, we've sold a little bit and then we just tell them how to get here.

It is certainly a bit of a distraction right now that's going on.

But we made it here.

So I'm sure other people will too.

But it's not just art that's for sale right now.

I know there's a lot of classes that are going to be going on, so can you tell me a little bit about that?

Sure.

Yeah.

Well, we started out as a sculpture studio because several of us were sculptors taking sculpture from from Tuck Langland or ISB.

But since then we've we've gotten a lot of potters in here and jewelry makers and and so often I've been here I think three times to do segments for experience.

And I've never been in the back.

So I want to go back and see what it is that you actually do.

Because every time I've been out here, we've been showing works that have been on display.

So so we're going to head back and see what you do.

All right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

So tell me about your class.

When does it start?

What is it that you're actually doing here?

Because I see lots of things, and I have no idea what I would do with them all, so.

Well, my first class is on November 21st, and I was asked to do one on the 28th.

Two.

We'll see what happens with that.

But, it's it's just for one day.

We open it at noon and close at five so students can have all that time to, to work on their piece.

Now they, they use copper pieces like this.

They have to clean them up nicely, and they have to make sure everything's clean.

Because if you have any grease on this, you're you're an enamel won't stick to it.

But we have various colors of, of the enamel powder.

And then we have what's called frit.

Now we have these elongated pieces that can help make your design as well as these little pieces of frit.

Now, sometimes you'll want something smaller than that.

So we can use a hammer to break that up.

But, You do.

Yeah.

We, we use a, we put the powdered enamel in here and then, and then put it on the piece, and we set our kiln at about 1500 degrees.

And we'll, we'll put the piece in there and it.

And what's the is the end goal, one of these pieces over here or is that like way advanced or.

Oh no that's that's what, that's the kind of thing that people will make in the class.

That's really pretty.

Yeah.

And I was thinking about two things.

One, it was just my wedding anniversary, which was seven years, which is a copper anniversary, I believe.

So this would have been perfect.

The 21st is my wife's birthday.

I feel like I need to sign her up for this since that's when it's going to be on.

That's a good idea.

Yeah, and so get her out of the house for a few hours so I'd have some peace at home.

No, I'm just kidding.

But it looks really nice.

And then.

Is that all done then in that one class and you finish.

So it doesn't take long to.

Doesn't take long.

Some people are done at 330 or 4 actually, you know, depending on what they want to do with their piece.

Yeah.

So so yeah.

And then then I can provide some kind of a necklace.

We have, we have the leather necklaces, the pieces or, or some kind of chain, you know, whatever they want.

If they've made a, you know, a necklace piece and, and they need something for it.

What's really nice about this is you can't really go wrong.

You know, you just kind of you just go for it, and whatever comes out will be beautiful, I'm sure.

So that's one of the classes that's going on.

I know there's others that's happening here, so we're going to chat more with some of the other artists as well about what they're going to be doing.

So thank you so much for showing.

Okay.

Well you're welcome.

So things are heating up now.

I'm here with Diane.

I like that you've safety glasses.

None for me though, so that's fine.

I'm replaceable.

Oh tell me a little bit about what we have here and what it is that you do.

Okay.

These are called lamp working beads.

And I'm making.

Glass beads around a mandrel, which is the stick.

Yep.

And we have coating on that.

Otherwise I won't be able to get the bead off.

Okay.

That makes sense.

And so when is your class taking place here.

It takes place on various Saturdays.

Okay.

When I get a few students together.

Yeah.

Then we come together and I set up this whole thing, and people weren't to heat the rod.

And melt it on the mandrel.

This is one of those things where I'm always curious, like with you.

How did you even, like, get into this?

How did you start doing it?

I did a couple class fuzing where we fuzed glass and made dishes.

And that's all it took.

When you like glass it is.

And so again your classes aren't really on set dates.

It's more just as people reach out and you've got a couple of people together that want to do it.

So if somebody is interested they can just reach out and say on it's they're listed on Saturdays, on Saturdays, and you can come from one to 1 to 4, 12 to 4.

And I hope by the end of the class it's basically learning to to maneuver the hot glass.

Yeah.

And by the end of the class, I would hope that you'd have enough beads to make a bracelet or a necklace.

I like it.

Well, thank you so much for showing me this.

They're all very pretty and very nice.

Oh, well, as much as I can appreciate beads, and now we're going to have a chat with some other people here that are doing classes as well.

So thanks again for showing us.

You're very welcome.

So I'm here with Griffin now.

Hey, how are you?

Hi.

Good.

How are you?

I'm good.

You.

First of all, you look cool.

So, you know, that's.

You got the look down.

Tell me about these miniatures.

It must be really nice to not have to use as much materials as some other art.

Yeah, but how did you get into this?

Well, I was actually doing much larger, larger scale sculptural installation before I visited Art Institute of Chicago.

Okay.

Like three years ago.

And on their basement level, there's a permanent installation called Sawn Room, and there's all miniature rooms that really inspired me.

The first time I met, it completely changed my mind.

So I went from very big to very small very quickly.

And what was it about it?

Do you think, like, have you ever thought much about, like what it was about the miniatures that really, like, just was for you?

I mean, yeah, I had to write a paper about it for my thesis, so.

Yeah, but a lot of it is like, you know, I was realizing the power of space is homogenous.

It doesn't need to be big to be, impressive and, like, really engulf you in it.

It's like the psychology of miniatures is that when we look at them, especially if they're made to scale, we kind of just can't help but to project ourselves, you know, sitting on that chair and we see it.

So in those more arts, pieces in the gallery, you'll see a lot of those.

It's like inviting you to be there psychologically.

Well, it makes you have to like, really look at it.

Whereas if something's full size, you can just easily pass it because it becomes part of the your normal landscape or whatever.

But when you're looking at something small, you have to really be intentional about how you look at it.

That's that is very true.

I'm not a very sophisticated person.

So, you know, when you're getting this out of me, it must be something real to it.

But but again, it's just very cool.

So is this one of your bigger pieces?

I know it is here, but how big can miniature get?

I funny you ask that because in the beginning I would make like, you know, eight feet tall installations with miniatures in them.

Yeah.

And I, I still have two of them.

Yeah.

So I will say that's the biggest miniatures I've made.

So these are more about the size I will teach to the students here.

I don't think the bigger ones are for students to learn six weeks.

Yeah.

And so tell me about the class that you're doing here, because that's obviously the point of the segment today is talk to different instructors and different artists.

So, what about your class?

So my class I'm going to focus on miniature making specifically for furniture.

I also teach furniture design right now.

Saint Mary's College.

So that's interesting.

You know, parallel.

Yeah, a thing.

But, you know, it's hard to really pinpoint what furniture, like a, a fireplace, you can call that a furniture if you like, and gradually morphs into architecture.

And it really depends on what students want to do.

So you know, for furniture I would say like what working miniature what?

Working is a big part of it.

That is cardstock paper.

So that is also a big part of it painting if you want to do some of that.

And this is entirely out of foam.

So like foam carving if, if a woman would like to do it.

I would definitely encourage to do it, you know, some circuitry, you know, this is just kind of light up.

It has a bulb in it, but it's too bright, so I won't turn it on.

You can turn it on.

That's okay.

And have a battery with me.

That's the real reason.

Not because it's too bright.

Okay, that's the artisan you're trying to make.

No.

Yeah.

And just to finish this up, when is your class taking place?

It's November 14th.

Okay.

To December, six weeks.

Okay.

And it's 1 to 4 p.m.

on Saturday.

Awesome.

Thank you so much for showing us this.

Thank you very much.

Now, when it comes to pottery, that's one that we featured on the show before.

And it's must be very popular.

Is it Lynn?

Yes it is.

It's getting your hands in there, the feel of it.

And it's from ages five to well into your 80s.

People seem to dig this class.

You make it look so simple.

But have you been doing it a long time?

I learned I had a fantastic college professor, but learned primarily through trial and error.

Since the mid 1980s, forward and taught at the high school level, at North Ridge High School from 1989 to 2019, then Clay High School 2022 to 2024, and have been at firearms since 2010 and now helping out in the Art education department at Saint Mary's.

Nice.

The pottery class is on Monday night from 630 to 830, and it's geared specifically for beginners.

Or if you've never thrown on the wheel, this class is geared for you and the focus is on helping people that have never done this before.

Or maybe they did it in high school.

They had like where I went to high school in Northeast Ohio, one kick wheel, and you had about two minutes worth of practice and four years of taking art classes every semester.

All four years.

And or you just like throwing pots and you need studio space to work.

And this is like a little refresher course for those folks.

And so most of the classes we focused on are on Saturdays, but yours is on Monday evening.

Is there?

Is it ongoing or does it start on a certain date?

It's Monday evenings.

There's usually usually two sessions in the fall and then two sessions in the spring time.

And we're getting close to the end of the current session of the current class, which that will wrap up with a what's called a raccoon firing.

It's a fun type of participatory firing process.

That's, a guy that was what was it?

Born in Illinois and grew up in Goshen and then went to college at Bluffton College in Ohio, and he was on an exchange program.

This was about 1959 and saw some Japanese potters working with this, what's called fast firing, where they're pulling the pots out of the kiln when they're glowing hot, you know, close to 2000 degrees, that type of thing.

And, we do that on the very last night of the session because it's basically it's a ton of fun.

It's cool to play with fire and and just get some really neat results and you get quick results usually.

Obviously the pots are made previous, but within an hour, hour and a half you have pottery that's fired, cooled down, ready to take home.

Love it.

Who doesn't love playing with fire without getting arrested or burnt?

That's true.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for showing us this and hopefully lots of people sign up for your next session.

So thanks for sharing it.

Thank you you guys have a good day.

You too.

So yeah, there's so much going on here at Fire Arts in downtown South Bend.

Don't let the construction on the bridge stop you.