Last week, when DCist met with Michael Janis at the Washington Glass School, the studio was abuzz with artists working. Janis’ colleagues Tim Tate and Erwin Timmers were there working on their own projects, and the team was preparing for several upcoming events: this Saturday’s Gateway Arts District Open Studios, the many glass events at Artomatic, and the June 4 grand opening of their public art project at Ballston Liberty Plaza, as well as their regular regimen of teaching classes, creating artwork, and displaying in galleries nationwide.

At WSG, Janis and his colleagues encourage innovation in classes and in their own work.

You learn technique. You learn the craft. Now, what are you going to do with it? You can just make the most pretty, decorative bowls, but you can also start saying, ‘once you learn the technique, you might want to add more of yourself to that piece, and where do you go from there once you learn it?’… It’s a lot of fun to see these people take it through and see where … they find their voice, and how much they explore with it.

Sometimes in my classes, I’ll actually step away when they’re doing something I consider so wrong, because I think that there actually might actually be an idea in there. And, I’ll let them do it wrong, and it will come out completely against the way they are thinking about it, and I’ll say, ‘Stop thinking about that it’s wrong. Think about what you just made. Reevaluate…Don’t worry about the flaws; actually embrace them as part of the piece.

Janis applies this way of thinking to his work as well, stating, “Sometimes a failure is not really a failure, it’s only how you categorized it. The piece there is actually a failure when I pulled from the kiln, this Submergence of Ophelia (pictured). I had intended there to be the thinnest, finest line.” After hiding the piece away, he brought it out again to reevaluate, and realized the piece works despite his original intention.

Because of Janis’ strong architectural background, he works with industrial glass, giving it new meaning, context and function. Much of Janis’ work deals with self identification, and how luck and chance have influenced his life, work, and how one views oneself. Drawing with crushed glass powder, he uses static electricity to take away the powder and reveal the desired image (pictured left). When the piece is fired, the glass powder becomes infused to the background, and Janis can layer multiple images through repeating the technique. Other artists at the Washington Glass School work with a variety of glass materials and techniques as well, including recycled window glass, dyes, glass weaving, welding, and ultraviolet glues.

Those interested in learning more about these glass techniques can choose from a variety of classes at WSG. Classes are workshop style, and typically occur in two to four sessions from two to five hours each. This summer, you can sign up to learn glass weaving on two Tuesdays in June (taught by Michael Janis), lost wax casting on three Saturdays in July (taught by Teri Stubs), recyled glass art on four Thursday evenings in July (taught by Erwin Timmers), or choose from other upcoming classes. After taking a class, if you decide you want to continue working with glass, WSG offers open studios as well as incubator space, where artists rent an area of the studio to work on their own projects.

This Saturday, the Washington Glass School will be open from 12 to 5 p.m. as one of over 50 artists participating in the Gateway Arts District Open Studio Tour. In the same building, visitors will also be able to stop by the studios of Margaret Boozer, Ellen Weiss and Laurel Lukazewski. Down the street, the new Brentwood Art Studios will be open, as will H and F Fine Arts.

At Artomatic, Washington Glass School’s Tim Tate will be leading Sunday Glass Tours featuring the eighteen glass artists exhibiting on May 18 and 25, as well as June 1 and 8 at 2 p.m. starting in the lobby.

The Washington Glass School is located at 3700 Otis Street in Mt. Rainer, Maryland.

Photos of Submergence of Ophelia and Michael Janis courtesy of the artist.