Bernard Katz Glass celebrates art glass installation at Fountain Restaurant

  On Monday May 7th, Bernard Katz Glass enjoyed a wonderful art reception hosted by the Fountain Restaurant located within the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia.

The amazing ambiance and the culinary delights created by executive chef Rafael Gonzalez delighted all of our guests.

All of Bernard Katz’s art glass sculpture enhanced the already exquisite atmosphere of the Fountain Restaurant.

To see more of the artwork installed please be sure to visit our story at: Bernard Katz Art

KO Angotti Design visits Bernard Katz Glass

Last month we had the pleasure of having Kara Angotti from KO Angotti Design visit our studio, Bernard Katz Glass was featured in her wonderfully written blog. Kara did a fantastic job and I am proud to say that she is also a Moore College of Art & Design alumnae.

Be sure to check out her website and blog: KO Angotti

Basic glass blowing – what is in our glass

You Tube video created by my husband Bernard Katz. The video series covers many of the basic questions that people ask us about our hand blown glass. This is the 3rd tutorial video in a series of basic glass blowing and glass studio processes.

In this short tutorial video, Bernard Katz covers what the main components are that make up a simple glass formula. Bernard fills the furnace with the ‘batch’ along with some recycled glass. He throws in about 50 pounds or so every 1-2 hours until the furnace is full. Filling the furnace is a process called ‘charging’. Melting a full tank of glass takes about a day with the furnace at a high temperature of around 2400 degrees.

In videos from this series, we will show various processes involved in the making of our art glass sculpture. We hope that these and upcoming “how to videos” will help with some of the basic questions people asked about when visiting our studio or website.

Running on Navajo Indian Time

My mind is always racing with non-stop thoughts, it is so hard to stop the constant chatter. Turning the voice off in my head is a difficult to control. I am working on quiet meditation for at least 20 minutes of stillness.

As an Navajo Indian living on the East Coast within a major city is a far cry from where my ancestors are from. I am from the Dine Nation, Navajo Tribe. The Dine Bikeya is a between the Four Sacred Mountains of New Mexico and Arizona. When I am on the Navajo Reservation, it takes me several days to unwind. I am told “to run on Indian time, no watches needed.”

How does one forget about time? Especially with cellphones and computers? What happens if I miss that important job lead? Once I free myself, I am able to enjoy the total freedom. I am soaking in the awesome landscape of canyons and mesas. This is inspiration to an artist!

While I live in Philadelphia, I try to take my mind on a mental trip to the Navajo Nation and for a brief moment “I am running on Indian time.”

A glass mug challenge

At the end of a normal day of blowing glass, everyone cleans the studio and runs home. Not yesterday, why not a challenge? The guys were on a mission to create a beer glass mug. Now it may seem like a simplistic venture compared to Bernard ’s organic sculptures. But, it still takes plenty of thought to think of the steps to blow the shape. What kind of handle and in what style? The challenge of something new and different rekindled their enthusiasm for blowing glass. It wasn’t just a job, but recapturing the spirit of just letting go and creating for fun.

Basic glass blowing – adding color

This is the 1st tutorial video in a series of basic glass blowing and glass studio processes. These short videos cover some of the basic questions that we get from people about how we make our hand blown glass.

In this video, Bernard Katz shows examples of the color that we use to mix with our clear molten glass. He shows the various forms that the concentrated colored glass looks like before it is incorporated with our clear glass to give the glass color.

In other videos from this series, we will show various ways that we use color for our art glass sculpture. We hope that these and upcoming “how to videos” will help with some of the basic questions people asked about when visiting our studio or website.