By Cinnamon Janzer, December 2, 2020, Next City.
From constantly churning a ball of molten glass that has to be kept above 1,000 degrees to multiple trips in and out of various ovens as the glass ball is blown and shaped into its final structure, glassblowing is an art form unlike any other. Another unique trait of glassblowing is that it’s often largely a team effort, particularly when someone is learning. Practice with that mutual effort, something that can be difficult for those who have experienced trauma, is at the center of what Karen Benita Reyes and Pearl Dick offer in their Chicago glassblowing studio.
It’s about more than just making art, though. It’s about the community experience that surrounds it. “We feel like giving people a space to be themselves in whatever way that means and to be connected with people who are alike and who are different from them gives them room to process what’s going on in their lives,” Benita Reyes adds. Each session at Firebird, which is free for participants, consists of three hours of in-studio work followed by an hour of a group session led by a clinical social worker and youth facilitator.
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