Mary Beth McClure is using grant money from CreateHere to purchase equipment to polish thick glass pieces like the face pictured here. Photo by Katy Mena
Warm glass artist Mary Beth McClure said she is looking forward to perfecting her creations using cold working equipment she is purchasing with MakeWork grant money from CreateHere.
“It will let me work a lot thicker than I have been,” said McClure, who makes plates, ornaments and votive vases using fused or warm glass techniques.
McClure said the cold working equipment, which includes an 18-inch horizontal lap wheel and sandblasting equipment, will enable her to refine the finishing processes on her pieces, such as polishing.
“It just opens a lot of windows and avenues I haven’t been able to,” said McClure, who explained that she was borrowing time on fellow glass artist Bruce Benefield’s sandblaster prior to receiving her grant. “Being able to go thicker will just open up so many design elements. You’re able to have that optical finish, that high-gloss polish.”
McClure, who has been working with glass for roughly 40 years, said that she is prepared to hold up her end of the MakeWork grant project by producing glass items to showcase and sell. She has already created a collection of pieces to polish and said she looks forward to completing them with the new equipment.
She said she will also be happy to share her shiny new equipment with area artists who are interested in renting time with the tools.
McClure said she is impressed with the gifts CreateHere has given the community by presenting MakeWork grants to so many talented artists seeking to further their careers.
“(The grant) advances your work in the level of art in the Chattanooga area,” she said. “I do think the grant makes people more aware of what goes into the work of an artist.”
McClure is a member of In-Town Gallery. She lives on Signal Mountain with her husband, Larry.
