After an extended residency in Ontario, a pair of glassblowers will be returning to their home province of New Brunswick to open a glass-blowing studio in Uptown Saint John. Curtis Dione and Charlotte Macleod of Glass Roots have received an outpouring of support through a Kickstarter campaign to secure a studio and equipment for their continued creation of artistic glassworks, to the tune of nearly $75,000.
Glass Roots was first established in New Brunswick in 2008 by glassblower Curtis Dionne, and throughout nearly a decade and a half of creating glass art for the community, he and his partner Charlotte Macleod have yet to find a secure and ideal method for the continued creation of their work.
Dionne goes into list the hustle he’s had to maintain to keep his business moving: “I have managed to keep the company afloat through residencies, studio leases, working abroad, working seasonal labour on fishing vessels, employment with other glass operations, participation in trade shows across the country and through a decade of effort with wood-fired glass furnaces.”
And despite the constant efforts, the equipment to establish a devoted glassworks facility has been “prohibitively expensive” and remained out of reach. Dionne’s aforementioned wood-fired method has allowed Glass Roots to serve a customer base, but with the near-constant monitoring necessary to execute work with it, the company has found themselves quickly burnt out with this method.
While still maintaining its own gallery of glass art featuring artists from across the province, the company has found a high-traffic location in downtown Saint John and has launched a very successful campaign to secure the necessary furnaces, ovens, and inspections to have a fully operable location by summer 2021. The new home to Glass Roots will be, appropriately enough, at the recently renovated Union Station, formerly known as Fire Hall #3.
As of February 12, Glass Roots has already surpassed their first campaign goal of $25,000 and has reached $30,000. As the donations pour in, it’s clear that the community values the beautiful work that Dionne and all involved in the company create. While it’s surely a great help, the current projection for the endeavour sits just short of $75,000. With forty-four days still to go, here’s hoping that Glass Roots gets to see more and more support from across the province.
If you’d like to donate to the Glass Roots Kickstarted campaign, click here.