Miami Glassblower Matthew Miller's Nickel Glass Brought Fire to the Bird Road Art Walk (Photos)

Glassblowing is the only traditional art where the artist can never touch his media, unless he likes the smell of burning flesh. The "glory hole," or oven where the glass is heated, operates at about 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. Glass is an "amorphous solid," because its crystalline structure is never fully...

By Jacob Katel

June 19, 2012

Audio By Carbonatix

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Glassblowing is the only traditional art where the artist can never touch his media, unless he likes the smell of burning flesh. The "glory hole," or oven where the glass is heated, operates at about 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. Glass is an "amorphous solid," because its crystalline structure is never fully stable, and it transforms to liquid with heat.

Matthew Miller, this year's Best Of Miami winner for glassblowing, held a demonstration at the Bird Road Art Walk that explained some of the physical concepts behind the art, and put them into practice live. Here's what it looked like.

Don't touch the kiln.

South Miami graff.

Monir Madkour, Matthew Miller, Liz Amador-Escobar, Mr. Escobar

Nickel Glass

Starting the process.

The "Glory Hole"

"Gathering"

Shaping

Colors

Color wrap

Glassblowing

Nickel Glass also works with other artists in the area to show their work in his gallery. Dennis Escobar, of Splotchworks, currently has several works on display. Here's some of his charcoal work.

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Jacob Katel

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