Fairlea, WV (WOAY) The state fair has many free and fascinating shows and demonstrations. On top of the food, rides, concerts, and livestock competitions, you can also find many performers and artisans practicing their crafts and offering unique experiences throughout each day.
Founder and owner of Hot Glass Academy Devan Cole let Newswatch feel the heat during a close-up glassblowing demonstration.
“So we are Hot Glass Academy, and we’re blowing glass at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. This is actually our sixth year at the State Fair of West Virginia; we’re really happy to be back… We do 20- to 30-minute showtimes that we’re going to fully narrate the whole process that we’re very, very passionate about in a 2000-year-old art form.”
During his show, Cole talks the audience through his process. He collects molten material from his 2,000-degree furnace, shapes, cools, and strengthens each layer, and traps air in the blowpipe, which expands as the molten glass heats it up.
Cole says that every show has something worth coming to see.
“So we make something different every single show so you can come back and see multiple things. Just for example, we make a lot of hand-blown glass fish. Particularly, we’re using something called dichroic glass, which was actually developed for NASA…”
Part of what makes Cole’s craft endlessly fascinating is his endless love for honing it and sharing his experience everywhere he goes.
“So I like to learn every single day I work. I’ve been doing it for 23 years now. I started at Rochester Institute of Technology and built Hot Glass Academy. We travel all over the world, but love coming back to the State Fair of West Virginia.”
Hot Glass Academy will be showing demonstrations at the State Fair every day, and you can find more info about Cole and his work at hotglassacademy.com.
