S01.E01: Snapshot

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Inspired by emotionally meaningful photographs, the artist craft poignant glass pieces that provide illuminating snapshots of who they are.

Original Canadian air date: 2/20/19
Original U.S. air date: 7/12/19

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Mr. EB and I took a one day glass blowing workshop together several years ago. It was fun but challenging, so I was really excited about Blown Away!

One of my common complaints during reality shows, especially in the first few weeks, is that I can't remember all of these new names and faces so I really wish the show had made the effort to put the contestants' names up every time they did a talking head interview or were shown individually.

My biggest gripe about this show is that I am not a glass blowing expert so (1) I wanted to see more of the process and (2) I wanted to hear more specific criticism from the judges about the technical skills. I know the show is only half an hour away, but I'd much rather see more of that and less of the artists frantically running around the hot shop.

I liked when the guest judge looked at Deborah's piece and said how difficult it is to create a hollow pipe, especially when it's spiraled around. That is the kind of thing I want to hear more of because I don't know squat about what they're doing.

Each of the artists wrote a statement about their piece that the judges read, so I wish we had heard all of them so I could understand the connection between their photo and what they created. Benjamin had a touching story about his dad's dementia but I wanted to know how his sculpture reflected that.

The piece that Janusz created with his son inside the glass vase that represented him was a great story as well as a great visual piece.

Heh, as a germaphobe, Leah's shared breath piece was interesting in theory but not something I would have wanted to try out. Hers was one of those pieces that I needed an explanation for. If she hadn't explained it, I would have thought it was just a thing with two holes.

I liked the colors in Annette's vase (and I loved the look on her face in the Venice photo). The little butterflies were a bit twee but I get including them.

The head judge mentioned that Alexander's tear collector had several technical aspects that were done really well but she didn't elaborate any further. I really wanted to know more!

Edgar's hand holding a globe was pretty ambitious. I didn't love it, but I appreciated the work that went into it.

I really wonder who the judges would have sent home if Kevin hadn't broken his piece. I'm guessing Patrick since the head judge seemed to hate his gift shop orca.

Not at all surprised that Alex won this week. It looks like he is one of the top contenders. I'm guessing that he and Janusz make it all the way to the finale.

Nick the host is kind of annoying so I hope they keep him to a minimum.

Edited July 12, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Aulty]

Thanks so much @ElectricBoogaloo for recommending this show. I love it, even though I have to agree with your review. It would be nice to get into all the finished pieces, the contestant's description and judges' opinions as well as some technical information on glass blowing.

It is a very nice mix of contestants. It took me a while to figure out why Janusz looks so familiar, he reminds me of Scottish blacksmith Kev Paxton (Money for Nothing and Flipping Profit on the BBC).

I really enjoyed watching the glass designers sketch out their designs either on paper, on the floor, on glass or the table.

[Rickster]

I read about this show in The NY Times and just watched the first episode. It’s both fascinating and frustrating. I think I really wish they had done 45-60 minutes per episode to really focus  in on how the pieces are created, because all we seem to see are blobs of glass going in and out of the furnace, yet at the end we see these complex pieces of art with no idea of how at least the complex ones were made.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

45 minutes ago, Rickster said:

I read about this show in The NY Times and just watched the first episode. It’s both fascinating and frustrating. I think I really wish they had done 45-60 minutes per episode to really focus  in on how the pieces are created, because all we seem to see are blobs of glass going in and out of the furnace, yet at the end we see these complex pieces of art with no idea of how at least the complex ones were made.

I agree. It clearly takes a lot of skill to produce these pieces but we got no explanations or really much footage of it. One of the things I really appreciated about the Great British Bake Off was when they explained how something was made and they highlighted the technical issues so that we could get at least a basic understanding of what the bakers were making and why it was tricky. I know here the artists are all making different pieces and using different techniques but I wish the show had given us the tiniest bit of guidance or info about what any of them were doing. I’d even take a time lapse of the pieces during the process of making them. 

[Aulty]

I would like an additional challenge like they had in the Pottery Throwndon.  Focus on one technique and explain what they are doing.

They also mention Italy a lot as the centre for glass making, and some snippets about the history of glass would be nice too.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Aulty

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, Aulty said:

I would like an additional challenge like they had in the Pottery Throwndon.  Focus on one technique and explain what they are doing.

They also mention Italy a lot as the centre for glass making, and some snippets about the history of glass would be nice too.

I would love both of those things! I can already tell that there are a lot of different techniques and that not everyone does the same kind of stuff(and that they're given pretty broad parameters for the challenges), so I would love to see some kind of basic technical challenge that would allow us to see how well they each do at something very specific which would allow us to see something that we could compare across the different competitors.

And I would definitely love some sections on the history of glass. It really makes me wish this show had one hour episodes. I feel like they're so rushed with the half hour format.

[Door County Cherry]

I agree.  I wish there were more description of what was involved.  I love the technique challenge idea.  

As it is, we see a lot of twisting and blowing but there's no close up of what is actually happening with the glass.  A slow mo close up would be nice. Sometimes we see the blowing without even showing the glass. Then they jump to someone new.

I've seen a few eps so I'm not sure if this is the one but I think Alex's piece was hard to see on TV. It probably played better in person.

I wonder what happens to all of the pieces made.

[justmehere]

Definitely should have been hour-long episodes. There's so much more they could have shown. How they add color, for instance, especially in patterns, or what swinging it over their heads does vs. blowing into the glass. 

I hope that maybe, like GBBO, there's more detail as there are fewer contestants. As is, I didn't feel like I even saw everyone's creations - and certainly not during judging. They also should have flashed a still photo of each person with their pieces, since we don't know them well yet. 

I agree that some sort of technical challenge would be good, but unless one episode is dedicated to that, I'm not getting my hopes up.

When I was a kid, maybe 9 or 10, my family went to Colonial Williamsburg for a vacation, and I saw a glass-blowing demonstration. I was completely fascinated and wanted to watch forever. (That and the blacksmiths.) Though I've had little exposure, since, I've always loved blown glass. Hearing the artists say they'd been working with glass for decades, I was so jealous! But I think what I'd really like to see is more of a long-form documentary series about the craft and different techniques. Same with blacksmiths. I watched some of that competition show and was really disappointed. More often than not, the competition aspect really turns me off. Especially when they get into crazy challenges. Even GBBO has started drifting.

This had enough to keep me interested, but I really hope they get into more detail as it goes. I can't fathom why they only made it half an hour!

[GaT]

On 7/12/2019 at 2:15 PM, Rickster said:

It’s both fascinating and frustrating. I think I really wish they had done 45-60 minutes per episode to really focus  in on how the pieces are created, because all we seem to see are blobs of glass going in and out of the furnace, yet at the end we see these complex pieces of art with no idea of how at least the complex ones were made.

I agree, this should have been 1 hour episodes so that we could learn about how they actually do things. I would love to see how Edgar made that hand.

Why do they throw the glass on the floor? Why do they have some kind of trash receptacle for people to put it in?

The twelve year old in me kept giggling every time somebody said "glory hole"

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

The twelve year old in me kept giggling every time somebody said "glory hole"

Ha, same here!

[yourmomiseasy]

On 7/14/2019 at 12:13 AM, GaT said:

Why do they throw the glass on the floor? Why do they have some kind of trash receptacle for people to put it in?

I think maybe it just goes on the floor until it cools down enough to go into a receptacle to avoid surprise fires.  I'm not sure though.

I've always been mesmerized by glass blowing.  I love going to the Tacoma Museum of Glass and just sitting in the hot shop and watching them work.  One of my best days was when I went to Murano and Burano (I a deeply involved in fiber arts, so the lace galleries of Burano are also magic for me).  It was a really expensive day though 🙂  When my parents die I get a glass sculpture that cost nearly as much as my car.  

So needless to say, I am into this show.  I agree with all the criticisms though.  I want it an hour long and a little more like old school Top Chef, but without the off duty scenes.  I want a "quick fire" where they all work on a technique followed by the more open ended brief, more shots of them working, I want a more involved "judges' table" too.  They probably didn't think it would be popular enough to invest in an hour long show though.

[Iseut]

Hubby and I just started watching this a few days ago when we wanted something in the background, and now we're really into it! We also live within a daytrip's distance of the Tacoma Museum of Glass, so we have seen the process in action a few times and find it fascinating. 

I also like the head evaluator, Katherine Gray, a lot...she is pretty much the picture perfect example of an academic art professor, very no-nonsense, but with a few fashion and accessory choices that show she's arty, and a practiced way of "evaluating" the art while pulling more information out of the artist.

Anyone know why they use the term "evaluators" instead of judges? Does that appeal to artists more? Just curious.

[aradia22]

I was looking for something to watch where I could pay attention to something else 75% of the time and I wasn't in the mood to watch Nailed It. This works. It's not as charming as Bake Off or as loud as Nailed It so I can just let the boring parts wash over me and then check back in once they've finally made something.

I will fully admit to being biased against the white guys on the show since they only seemed to talk about the OTHER white guys on the show, seemingly not even seeing anyone else as competition.

Also, obvious but... glory hole. It's weird every time they say it.

It's amazing that some of them worked so hard to make a thing... and they clearly did it the way they wanted to... and yet I looked at the finished products and thought... WTF is that? The first two were... what? Benjamin's was okay but could have also be crinkled cellophane. I think there was some difficulty to Patrick's but he played it pretty safe. 

Likes... "Shelter" by Janusz. It was like highly abstracted Russian nesting dolls. But at least it looked clean and polished and I understood the concept.

"Joy" by Annette Does it look more like something you'd display in your home? Sure. I don't think making something commercial is bad. It uses color well and it's pleasing to look at. It's like everyone else did weird modern art and she did a landscape painting. I still like it. 

"Lachrymatory View" by Alexander was not my favorite but I was impressed by the technical skill in the way the pieces fit together. Less impressed with the way he kept impersonally referring to "the dog."

Edgar's confused me. I don't know enough about glass to evaluate it. Was it rough and could he have worked harder to refine it? Or was it impressive to make that out of glass? I feel like the color is doing a lot of the work and that wrist is awfully thick.

[dleighg]

On 7/12/2019 at 8:54 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Heh, as a germaphobe, Leah's shared breath piece was interesting in theory but not something I would have wanted to try out. Hers was one of those pieces that I needed an explanation for. If she hadn't explained it, I would have thought it was just a thing with two holes.

just discovered this, so late to the party. Now in "covid-time," the shared breath is even more distressing! Agree with all the comments about needing more technical discussion!

 

On 7/12/2019 at 8:54 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I really wonder who the judges would have sent home if Kevin hadn't broken his piece. I'm guessing Patrick since the head judge seemed to hate his gift shop orca.

I had the same reaction about the whale. I've been to several "art glass" shops, and that was so unimpressive. I thought that they spoke first to the bottom three (the orca, the broken piece, and the one with the father-sons. They didn't really say that that was what they were doing though.

[Bruinsfan]

I thought Janusz's piece was very evocative and powerful, even if it was apparently simple (though I'm not sure that nesting one object inside another is actually that simple).

I did take an immediate liking to Katherine Gray—she reminds me of my best teachers in college, being knowledgable and up-front in her assessments, yet kind and encouraging. I bet being a student in her classes is awesome.