Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Coffee.
Hi Claire, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Claire Coffee and I’m a glass artist who’s currently working on building a small business. I’ve been working in glass since I was 14. I found Foci MCGA through a research project and my dad took me one night when they were demonstrating glass for the public. I fell in love with the community and signed up for classes or worked for local artists to continuously build my skills. Jenn Justad was my first instructor. I eventually got hired to work for the studio and began teaching and developing classes for both glass blowing and torch work as well as working for the Corning Museum of Glass as a demonstrator and currently attending the Glass Making Institute in New York State while continuing to develop my small business making custom glass pieces/jewelry and my own artistic work. One of my favorite parts of the job is to work at the many art fairs that Minneapolis offers like the Arboretum’s Pumpkin Patch and get to make connections and have conversations with the community. I’m really grateful to have been taught my art through the community and feel glass has given me a home wherever I am. Glass has taken me all over the country and even overseas and I can’t wait to see where I go next. It’s given me the chance to make and assemble a chandelier in Kansas City, commission a custom urn for a family who I admire to the fullest or make a strawberry with one of my favorite artists in England all while making work for someone to find and want to use. Talking with people from all walks of life and being able to communicate my love for the world of glass brings me great joy and continues to inspire me to keep working towards my goals.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think anyone’s road is smooth. I’ve faced challenges be it personal or within the work force and strive to make a change even if it makes waves. The world of glass and the arts in general is difficult to navigate. Burnout is real and I started working in my field much younger than most so I’ve been either dismissed at times for whatever reason or experienced isolation at times. The arts are also in a rough patch and it can be very discouraging. I draw power from focusing on the family I’ve made in glass during the low moments and strive to create a positive environment wherever I go.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m in the process of developing my own work and only recently decided to pursue my art as my career. I think I’m known for being positive and inviting in the studio especially when I’m teaching classes. There’s a joke that the hot shop is quiet when I’m not in it. I really draw power from making everyone feel good and orchestrating a good time because glass is such a difficult medium to learn especially in a short period of time but my students still leave feeling upbeat and excited. I’m most proud of the people skills I’ve learned throughout my training as an apprentice. I’m capable of making a piece of glass while simultaneously talking about the process and field of glass.
My work usually includes botanical or anatomical imagery. I love finding patterns that reoccur in nature and our bodies and am working on telling stories with these motifs. I find women’s or female bodied stories so inspiring because we always face challenges because of that but we always find ways to over come. Flowers and butterflies are threads you’ll find in my work because they are objects that are ‘delicate’ or ‘fragile’ but if you dig a little deeper, they have a silent power, resilience, and strength capable of unimaginable things. I want my work to also look deceptively fragile.
At the end of the day, I love making pieces for people to use. I can’t describe the feeling I get when a person picks up an item a made even if it’s a cup or pumpkin and smiles and tells me exactly where it’s going in their home. That’s my biggest compliment is when my work evokes an emotion. I like to make people smile even if it’s during a dark time. I always get a kick when people are too scared to pick up my work because it’s fragile. I always tell them, “Go for it, hold it, touch it, use it. It’s just glass it’ll break but that means you used it to the fullest”
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I have a whole world of people to mention but I was gifted the most supporting parents and sister. My parents would drive me to the studio before I had my license and have always been in support of my unconventional path. The Foci Minnesota for Glass Arts and it’s community have also been pivotal in my life
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @fireflyglassarts
