Perceiving her role as a record keeper, artist Jen Blazina captures the essence of lost memories and forgotten voices. Through her work, she holds onto fragments of personal history, transforming common objects into poignant relics of the past. Her visual narratives express universal concepts of memory, inviting audiences to connect with the stories she preserves.
Blazina states: “Memory is embodied in everything around us: in our culture, beliefs, objects, and ourselves. Discarded objects and those passed down to me become personal keepsakes and icons of the past, rather than overlooked or regarded as useless. My collections represent a sense of holding onto a place in time. By re-creating these keepsakes, I re-cast their history into my own voice.”
A sculptor and printmaker who uses glass as her primary medium, Blazina currently resides in Philadelphia where she is a working artist and professor at Drexel University in the College of Media Arts and Design. Blazina’s work can be found in multiple collections such as the Neuberger Museum of Art, The Imagine Museum, The Cranbrook Museum of Art, and the Corning Museum of Glass, to name a few.
The artist has been awarded numerous residencies including: the Corning Artist in Residency at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York; GAPP Residency at Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, OH; Bezalel Art and Design Academy in Jerusalem, Israel; and the Creative Glass Center of America in Millville, NJ. She has also been awarded prestigious grants such as the Bessie and Louis Stein Fellowship; Independence Foundation Grant; and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. Nominated for the 2022 Pew Fellowship Award, Blazina received her M.F.A. in printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art, her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in New York and her B.F.A., cum laude, from the State University of New York at Purchase College.
Blazina is represented by Habatat Detroit Fine Art in Royal Oak, MI; Blue Spiral 1 in Asheville, NC; Vetri Glass Gallery in Seattle, WA; Kittrell Riffkind Gallery in Dallas, TX; Bullseye Projects in Portland, OR; and Koelsch Gallery in Houston, TX.
In 2025, Blazina will have work on view at the Bergstrom Mahler Museum of Glass, Neenah, WI, in New Art on the Block: Selections from the Permanent Collections, October 31, 2024 – April 6, 2025; in Object Memory, Jen Blazina and Ash Smith at 20*20 Gallery, Lansdowne, PA, February 22 – April 15; in Through a Window Darkly, The Works of Jen Blazina at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass, April 24 to October 5, 2025; in Collections at Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, Asheville, NC, May 2 – June 25; and in Glass 53: International Glass Invitational at Habatat Fine Art Gallery, Royal Oak, MI, May 1 – September 6. She will teach Alternative Approaches to Printmaking and Glass at Corning Museum of Glass Studios, Corning, NY, June 16 – June 21; and In Pursuit of Light: Kiln Casting at Glass Furnace, Istanbul, Turkey, August 25 – August 29.
Says Blazina: “As an artist, I am intrigued with the idea that what is precious to one person will be discarded by another. My work is influenced by commonplace possessions, familial vignettes and photographs. These evoke an ephemeral sense of past memories. Whether found in a second-hand shop or passed down from my family, I am often attracted to and captivated by the lost beauty of subtle images and materials. By re-creating and casting momentos in glass and metal, I can capture and hold on to another time in the past. Photographs and chosen objects allude to narratives of fleeting moments.”
UPCOMING EVENTS
New Art On The Block: Selections From The Permanent Collections
Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass
Neenah, WI
Dates: October 31 – April 6, 2025
Object Memory, Jen Blazina and Ash Smith
20*20 Gallery
Lansdowne, PA
Dates: February 22 – April 15
Through a Window Darkly, The Works of Jen Blazina
Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass
Neenah, WI
Opening: April 24
Dates: April 24 to October 5
Collections
Blue Spiral 1 Gallery
Asheville, NC
Opening Reception: May 2, 5 – 7 pm
Dates: May 2 – June 25
Glass 53: International Glass Invitational
Habatat Fine Art Gallery
Royal Oak, MI
Opening: May 3, 8 pm
Dates: May 1- September 6
Alternative Approaches to Printmaking and Glass
Corning Museum of Glass Studios
Corning, NY
Dates: June 16- June 21
In Pursuit of Light: Kiln Casting
Glass Furnace
Istanbul, Turkey
Dates: August 25 – August 29
Nothing short of inspirational, Martin Gerdin’s journey through crafting wild fish in hot glass is inextricably tangled with his evolution to mental health and sobriety. Beginning during the pandemic, the artist has hand-blown dozens of meticulously detailed trout, salmon, redfish, and other revered gamefish from his glassblowing studio, Gerdin Glass in Crawford, Colorado. The dangers, volatility, and physical labor of blowing glass are symbolic of the challenges he faced and conquered on his pathway to sober living.
For some, fly fishing is a pastime, something fun to pursue on a long weekend or camping trip with friends and family. For others, it’s a calling, a religion, lionized in the literary creations of Ernest Hemingway and Norman Maclean among many others. Gerdin clearly falls into the latter category. He states: “Some say fly fishing is an art. I spend my days on our stunning Colorado river systems catching beautiful wild trout, and I spend my nights in the studio recreating them in glass. My life is a confluence of passion.”
Gerdin’s father, a professional skier for most of his career, decided to raise his family as far away from civilization as possible. In the Rocky Mountains, some 8,500 feet above sea level, his son’s community was built around skiing, conventional fishing, and dirt bikes. Gerdin’s mother played a central role in his early angling and artistic exploits. “There were two archetypes in my home growing up — the super athletes and the artist fishermen, and nothing in between,” he states. Gerdin and his mother connected through time spent fishing their local waterways while other members of the family were focused on more physically demanding recreation on the mountain. When not on the water, his mother would create complex beaded and woven patterns in her home art studio.
Raised in the wilderness, Gerdin’s childhood fostered a love for the natural forms and colors that surrounded him during his youth, especially those in the rivers. He began blowing glass in 2008, when he discovered the hot shop at his high school, Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Basalt, Colorado, headed by Dave Powers and after Gerdin graduated by Jose Chardiet. Fascinated by the material, he spent every spare moment learning and absorbing as much as he could. Being an avid fisherman, blown glass fish were a natural progression in his artistic journey.
As Gerdin grew, he lost his way. Addiction clawed its way into every aspect of his life, and he lost his vision for the future. Doing craft shows and drinking enough to prevent seizures due to alcoholism became the norm. On May 13, 2020, he decided enough was enough. After addiction treatment he fell into a crowd of young, sober fly fishermen. With a clear head and a fresh perspective, the artist strived to bring the beautiful wild salmonids he saw to life in glass. Since his sobriety date, Gerdin has made more than 700 fish, making his own tools and trying to push the limits in sculpting realism. His collectors are many and include the likes of other fly fishermen such as Kevin Costner and Jimmy Kimmel.
Moving into the next iteration of his craft, Gerdin is pushing his technical and creative skills to realize a new series of trout, which he calls Naturalisms, stemming from the philosophical idea that everything arises from natural properties and causes. At age 31, his journey is just beginning.
From March 7 -9, Gerdin will demonstrate his processes and techniques at Third Degree Glass Factory, St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 2002, it is a multifaceted venue for year-round exhibitions, classes, events and studio rental. Register for the Glasma Conference at studioglassbatch.com.