G'day mates! As HotHaus starts to ramp up and we are in the pleasant situation of finding ourself with a FULL HAUS of working artists, we thought you might like to get know your local glassies a bit better? So, each week we will introduce a new haus mate to you in the form of a little interview.
So put the kettle on, grab a bikkie and settle in for the first instalment of; "Know your Haus Mate". This week we are kicking it off with one of the bosses, meet glass artist, Amanda Dziedzic.
1. Introduce yourself! Give us a brief run down on who you are and what you do.
Halo! My name is Amanda Dziedzic and I am one of the co-founders of HotHaus Glass. I live in Rezzy with my lil family of x1 husband, x1 small boy (almost a 3year old! Say what?!), x1 smell hound, Elwood Blues Dawg and x1 cat Mont Log. I never really thought I’d be running my own hot glass studio but it really is my total dream studio, I bloody love it! I’m so proud of all the hard work Laurel and I have done, it is almost astonishing if you think about it too hard…Ive done residencies at Northland in Scotland and Tokyo, taken classes at Pilchuck, Penland and Corning.
2. How long have you been in the game?
Oh god, if I count it back…I finished my fine arts degree in 2007 then I went straight to JamFactory and had the time of my life. (Jammer for life, yo). So I guess, like a long time. I can’t count…BUT I really do feel that I am only just in maybe the last three years really starting to hit my stride now.
3. Biggest glass inspiration?
That's tough, I’m going to give you three; Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen, Tom Moore and I gotta say Chihuly. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I payed some serious homage to this man in my early days as a glass blower. Karen is just the most generous, gifted and knowledgeable artist I have ever met. Taking her class at Pilchuck changed my working life. She is the Janis Joplin of glass blowing. And Tom Moore? Well that dude is incredible. I undertook my associateship at the Jam when he was head of production and I learnt so much from him. I remember seeing his work in gallery 2 for the first time and I couldn’t stop smiling. His work is both technically and creatively bonkers, I LOVE it.
4. Fav snack?
Dried Mango
5. Tool of choice?
I love my Maruko Jacks.
6. Fav jam to blow glass to? (If you have it you can link me a spotify playlist if you’re so inclined…)
I HAVE MANY. Music is my driver in the studio I will link my favourite playlist at the moment for the studio here… My other jams include; 93 til infinity, B.O.B by Outkast for production, I guess I like me some hip hop like Pharcyde and J5 but then I went through a serious Tom Petty phase last month mixed with Zepplin. Sorry, you can’t pidgeon hole me…I’m all over the shop…Old school funk NEVER goes astray either..actually James Brown is probably my all time favourite..
7. Colour of choice (ie Kugler 0023 etc..)
Kugler, Bernstein Gelb
8. Pilchuck or Penland
Penland
9. Top of Bottom opener?
Top
10. Early Bird or Night Owl?
Middle bird?? No I guess I like early, Cassius has been an early riser since forever so I guess I have to jam to his groove.
11. How many sheets of paper in your paper pad?
9
12. Worst Burn?
Ugh, when I was a first year associate I picked up a pipe someone had dropped which had hot glass on the end, I was walking away, pipe head down, someone called my name and as I looked back I caught hot molten glass across my achilles… youch.
13. Knock off beverage?
A Venom golden ale tastes pretty nice after a full day blowing glass, paired with chipies if you got em of course, gimme that salt!
Tune in next week to get to know another Haus Mate!
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