((L) Jeff and Heather Thompson, (R) Sea Turtle 2021 by Jeff and Heather Thompson | Photos courtesy of Red Chair Gallery)
The husband and wife team of Jeff and Heather Thompson have been creating beautiful blown glass together for two decades. Their colorful sea creatures and tall striped vases are sold in several galleries all over the US and business boomed during the pandemic. Their work is showcased in March at Red Chair Gallery.
The Thompsons’ collaboration has been a key to their success. “We work as a team on all our projects,” says Jeff. “We both have an easy-going nature and we enjoy working together,” he explains, noting that he and his wife employ an “unspoken type of communication” when creating their glass pieces.
After Jeff graduated from Bend Senior High School, he attended the University of Oregon, where he took a course in making glass beads and marbles. That whetted his appetite for more glass making skills and he later studied at Pratt Fine Arts Center and the Pilchuck Glass School (founded by Dale Chihuly and others) in the Seattle area. He then traveled to different glass making shops to work and gain more experience. About a year after he began blowing glass on his own, wife Heather began to work with him. Her role has grown ever since.
Working with blown glass requires a variety of skills — scientific knowledge of the chemical changes in the glass making process, physical strength and dexterity to manipulate the hot glass and impeccable timing to complete all the required steps. Not to mention the technical knowledge and mechanical ability to set up a glass blowing studio. Originally, the Thompsons had their studio in Corvallis but moved to Bend in 2005 to be nearer to family. Jeff built all of the equipment in their studio, including a Crucible Furnace, a Glory Furnace and the Annealing Lehr (kiln).
The process starts with the Crucible Furnace, which holds up to 350 pounds of clear glass at 2100 degrees and is the source for the molten clear glass. The artist grabs a glob of hot glass on a metal rod from the Crucible Furnace and then works it into a shape and colors in the Glory Furnace, which reaches 2,300 degrees. Finished work is loaded into the kiln and held at 900 degrees. At the end of the day this kiln gradually cools down, preventing the glass from cracking.
The Thompsons have a particular affinity for making sea creatures: gliding sea turtles, flamboyant octopuses, subtly shaded trout, and cresting dolphins. Jeff attributes this to the fact that glass is very like water. “It flows and glistens and reflects light like water.” But they also make tall striped Gessato vases and stylish tumblers with murrini patterned glass. Their pastel-colored roosters and hens in multiple sizes have been popular at Red Chair.
The Thompsons’ sea life pieces are sought after at several galleries in coastal areas, including California, Florida, New Hampshire and Hawaii. They are also represented at Icefire Glassworks gallery in Cannon Beach, and the Artists’ Gallery in Sunriver.
For more information, go to thompsonstudio.com or on Instagram, enter thompson.studio.glass.