Almost three years ago, Central Park NC Executive Director, Nancy Gottovi, had big dreams of bringing a glass studio to STARworks. On October 23rd she along with the staff of Central Park NC, STARworks, and Wet Dog Glass celebrated the completion of the STARworks glass studio. The STARworks glass studio will serve the only public access glass studio in North Carolina providing glass artists with the opportunity to purchase time in the studio, a benefit to artists with the rising cost of fuel needed to fire glass furnaces.

The STARworks glass studio will also serve as the hands-on classroom for local high school and college students throughout the region to learn about the craft of glass-blowing and the business of working as a glass artist. Spring semester 2009 the first group of students will step foot in the studio at STARworks for a semester long course. Funding for the program has been provided through a grant from Piedmont Triad Partnership.

Funding for the STARworks glass studio was provided by a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and the studio itself was designed and built by Wet Dog Glass. Eddie Bernard and all the gang at Wet Dog Glass are also glass artisans themselves and their first glass-blowing demonstration in the new studio will be held Thursday, October 30th during Central Park NC's Annual Meeting at STARworks.

Wet Dog Glass Gang: Phil, Mac, Steve-O, Nick, Eddie, and "Miss Wet Dog" Louise aka "Weezy"

Wet Dog employee, Mac, shows his excitement as Nick opens the door to the furnace fired for the first time on Thursday

Owner of Wet Dog Glass, Eddie Bernard, explains the function of the heat recuperator on the top of the furnace