Blown-glass pumpkins decorate town

Picking out the perfect pumpkin can be tedious sometimes – even more so when the “pumpkins” come in different shades of blown glass, as they will this weekend at a downtown pumpkin patch. \nJeremy Sweet, a current Master of Fine Arts printmaking student at IU, and artist David Camner co-manage Blind Dog Glass. They will be hosting the second annual Bloomington Area Arts Council Glass Pumpkin Patch featuring hundreds of hand-blown glass pumpkins in a variety of colors. The event creates a spectacle of colors in the form of an alternative pumpkin patch.\n“We put a bunch of (glass pumpkins) out on the lawn so people can walk down the rows just like they would in a traditional pumpkin patch and pick their favorite ones,” Sweet said. \nThis event is the only one of its kind around this area. Sweet said his partner runs a glass pumpkin patch that started in Palo Alto, Calif. \n“The one out west that is kind of our model has been tremendously successful and raised a lot of money for the art program out there,” Sweet said. “And since I’m living here, going to school, and my wife and I are planning to stay here full time after school, we just wanted to do something that would last for as long as we can make it last.”\nThe glass pieces range in price from $40 to $100. Blind Dog Glass works to raise money for art education programs, and a portion of the proceeds will support the BAAC’s Community School of the Arts at the John Waldron Arts Center and throughout its five-county service area. \nThe method behind the art is as unique as the pumpkin patch itself. Sweet’s partner, Camner, designs the pieces and makes a few of them himself. Artists in different shops throughout the country create the rest of the pieces. The artists use a variety of techniques employed throughout Europe and the United States to make each piece, Sweet said.\n“The temperature of the glass while it’s being worked is between 1,500 and 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit,” he said. “It takes a couple of artists at a time to make one pumpkin because of the weight.”\nTo make the colors, another special technique is used.\n“The molten glass is then rolled in broken pieces of glass, to pick up the color,” Sweet said. “It’s crushed glass called frit, and it sticks to the hot glass and melts into it.”\nThen the pumpkins are pressed into form and blown out into the shapes they will take. The final step is the delicate stem. These delicate pieces of art come with packaging material that is travel-ready upon purchase. The result of all this hard work is a distinctive, one-of-a-kind piece of artwork.\nThe event will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 and Sunday, Sept. 30 on the courthouse lawn downtown. After the weekend pumpkin patch closes, the pumpkins will be available for sale at the John Waldron Arts Center gift shop through the holiday season.