Staunton under glass

"This year's festival, the only one of its kind in the country and the only Virginia show where glass is the only media, will feature artists who will display many different ways of working with glass," said Doug Sheridan, glass blower and artist.

"We will be expanding the glass jewelry that was new last year," he added. "There will be 20 different jewelry making artists at the festival."

Many different forms of glass making will be represented at the festival.

"There will be several styles of flame beadwork represented," he said. "There will be cast glass, which is where the hot glass is used. There will be flat glass that is melted just a little and fusing, where stacked glass is melted. With hot glass, a couple hundred different items are made out of taking melted clear class and adding it to colored glass."

Glass blowing is an old art form, said Sheridan.

"Glass blowing is over 2,000 years old," he said. "Some go to art school to get an art degree in glass blowing, but it's a form that takes about 1,000 hours to learn. The technique is very old."

The festival itself is expected to draw a crowd of tourists, said Sheridan.

"The artists are coming from all around - Wisconsin, South Carolina, North Carolina and Maryland," he added. "Some of the artists return every year, but we try to feature different artists."

A portion of the booth fees at the festival and the sales from the finished work that the artists sell in the gallery during the year will be donated to the Staunton Augusta Art Center.

"Visitors are encouraged to watch art happen at our studio," Sheridan said.

Bead making, flame working, traditional blown glass, sand casting and fusing will be demonstrated at the festival.

The festival will be held indoors and Sunspots is handicapped accessible.

Artists that will be featured at the Virginia Hot Glass Festival include glass blowers Phillip Nolley, Neil Duman, Scott Dunahee, Stefan Baum, Glen Randle, Charles Hall, Bill Hess, Minh Martin, Devin Burgess, Greg Fidler, Tom Fuhrman, Tom Veirs, Kim Clanton, Eric Schneider, Dan Scogna, Parker Stafford, Michael Peluso, Brad Pearson, Justin Williams and Doug Sheridan, along with Art of Fire artists Josh Ries, Michael Hermann, Todd Hansen, Keith Daly and Bruce Ferguson.

Sponsors for the festival include Gallery G Glass/Hot Block Tools, Starr Hill Brewery, Cutting Edge Tools and Jim Moore Tools.

Sunspots Studio is located on the corner of Lewis St. near the train station. For more information, call Sunspots Studio at 885-0678 or check out their Web site at http://www.sunspots.com.