Spotlight: Western Art Glass

It's been far too long since I've had a good dose of testosterone in the Spotlight, so today's artist oughta hold us over for awhile, meet Brian Western of Western Art Glass. A slightly rumpled, self taught master in the art of beer swilling, he puts his waste to good use by creating awesome works of art from the empty bottles along with reclaimed antique glass he finds tromping through the boondocks on Minnesota.

Read on to learn more about how he got started, his affinity for cilantro, Tripel Karmeliet and Chef T's Dumplings and his dilemma of "front or back?". You can also enter to win one of his stained glass originals!

Brian in his favorite Xenotee

Where are you from - originally and currently live?
I was born on the prairies of Saskatchewan (I’m not an alien from outer space, as some have spuriously suggested)...actually in a hospital, that has since been (pronounced bean in Canada, eh?), transformed into a nursing home–potential cosmic end-play? I currently reside in the bowels of South Minneapolis in the hinterlands of Minnesota–I’m no longer a resident alien, but a naturalized American–just act natural...

How long have you been selling on Etsy?
Through the twists and turns–from a female deer tick to a blue ginkgo leaf pendant to a cacophony of colored circles to an elm leaf mobile from amber beer bottles–it’s been since the end of January 2007.

Do you sell on Etsy full time or do you have a day job?
I’m a burly Teamster by day...moving and stacking 4000 lbs. rolls of paper with a clamp truck, or pallets of 23x35, 25x38, etc. paper into three story high racks with a reach-truck, singing at the top of my lungs in a Satchmo Armstrong voice, or careening through the sample room in Groucho Marx style.

What, if any, formal training have you had in your craft?
I’m basically self-taught in the art of beer swilling, quaffing, and slurping. My older brother Will is my stained glass mentor–he recognized that my style of drawing would translate well into stained glass (not to mention stained underwear–that’s another story for another time), and instructed me on the fine points of glass cutting, leading, foiling and soldering–he’s also well versed in Ecclesiastes and gone crazy dance steps!

What made you decide to open up shop on Etsy?
My best friend, and neoneanderthal hops aficionado (Bill is also the fabled originator of the cult classic "Swim Suit" edition--I have a couple of 'em squirreled away--at Tac N Togs), scrawled etsy.com on a serviette at Fat Lorenzo’s while we nibbled a Slim Combo and downed a few Bell’s Two Hearted Ales...the rest is an intriguing seat of the pants experimental (or is that extraterrestrial?), exercise in chasing after the so called wind.

Where did your shop name come from?
The original Western Art Glass of Winnipeg, Manitoba, was owned by a couple of lads from Ireland (one produced the designs while the other noodled the paint–mostly church windows, eh?), where my brother learned his glass chops, and subsequently took me under his so called wing. After the lads passed on, it seemed a logical name for my endeavors (plus art rhymes with fart, dontcha know?).

What inspires you?
Memories of my father, “You’re breaking your mother’s heart...” bellowing, “Fathead off!” cilantro, the shape of my wife’s toes, laughing with my three lads ‘round a family platter of hand cut fries and various fake hotdog concoctions at The Wienery, Tolstoy’s parables, Dostoevesky’s Grand Inquisitor, and ultimately the creator of the universe–whhheeeeeeee!

What do you like least about your craft?
Hangnails (or is that hangover?), and occasionally lobbing off chunks of finger flesh–“Start the car, which urgent care is open?”

Do you have any advice for other sellers on Etsy or those thinking about pursuing their craft?
From Vasari’s Lives of the Artists...“...it is my opinion that design, which is the foundation of both arts, and the very soul which conceives and nourishes in itself every part of the intelligence, came into full existence at the time of the origin of all things, when the Most High, after creating the world and adorning the heavens with shining lights, descended through the limpid air to the solid earth, and by shaping man, disclosed the first form of sculpture and painting in the charming invention of things.” I like limpid air and fried foods...what was the question?

Five Etsy Shops you love
fricdementol – Ana’s use of line and colour result in total enjoyment to the senses–plus her English wordplay is delightfully clever!
Sarah Hornik – Sarah has a knack for the sardonic interplay, and her beads and cobble-togethers have endless looks to ‘em!
Vilte – Contemplative swirling designs–I like what she says about the process of thinking and working slow.
Experimetal – Vic dishes up tactical wonder–plus incorporates fidget factor into many of her pieces!
Xenotees Noelle is seriously engaging with her brainy playful uber cool haberdashery offerings.

Five things you love
God
My neighbor as myself (even though his pine tree drops all its needles into my yard!)
Chef T’s dumplings
cilantro
hope

Five things you don’t
bullies
greed
longing
decay
separation

Where is the coolest place you have ever been?
In my wife’s arms.

What is your favorite leisure time activity?
In my wife’s arms.

Favorite kind of beer
A Belgian Tripel Karmeliet with proper drinking glass!

Favorite food
Tabouli salad, sour cabbage rolls and spinach pie from Emily’s Lebanese Deli!

What is the strangest thing that has ever happened to you?
When I was about eleven or twelve, the girl next door (a year older than me), said, “Do you want to look down my swimsuit?”
I said, “Sure.”
“Do you want to see the front or back?”
Now this was a dilemma...”I don’t know...”
“There’s nothing to see in front, do you want to see my butt?”
“Sure...okay.”

...and so it goes...

Share some of your favorite music
Mademoiselle Karen,
Ojos De Brujo
Mozart’s Piano Sonatas & Concertos
The Band...Music from Big Pink
Brahms Requiem

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?
Charlie Chaplin...or if he wasn’t available, I’d go with Buster Keaton!

What makes you angry?
Injustice.

What would you like to learn to do?
Glass blowing and dance the tango.

What does the future hold for you and your shop?
The dance will continue...I will express my view of the world by way of transforming discarded beer bottles into leaves and mobiles (wrestling a barn landscape from scrounged pieces of antique glass or realizing someone’s desire to have a chicken, or anatomical heart nibbled from stained glass hanging from a little corner of their contemplative cosmos), and see if anyone responds by enjoyment and head nods (collecting in Canadian)...

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Brian is offering one lucky winner his/her choice from the following designs:

A made to order leaf such as this Elm or Aspen

Any pair of Beerings

A Cala Lily

A Honey Bee

or a Northern Pike!

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:
Please leave a comment on this post with your favorite item from Western Art Glass AND ALSO what new designs you would like to see.

You may enter once per day and YOU MUST INCLUDE your first name -AND- etsy username or email address with every entry. (If you are worried about email spam, you can spell out the 'at' and 'dot' rather than using the standard email format.)

Receive additional entries (one each) if you:

Follow or subscribe to this Blog, my Facebook or my Twitter

(You DO NOT need to leave separate comments, just mention which apply!)

You have until Sunday, May 30 at 10 pm (est) to enter and I will announce the winner Monday morning. Good luck!