Check Out Brianna Pearch’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brianna Pearch

Hi Brianna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always had a fascination with art and have delved into quite a few different mediums. I originally studied traditional oil painting. I think having that base training really helped in understanding form, proportions and composition even when transferred to the 3D sculpture world. Oddly enough, I picked up lampworking on a whim. I saw someone demoing and thought it looked fun. I took a workshop, experimented a ton, picked up tips from whoever would teach me, and eventually worked with a group of lampworkers touring around the USA. It’s been eight years and I’m still in love with the medium. I probably get burned more than the average artist, but I was right. It is a lot of fun.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No artist’s road is smooth. I know that’s a blanket statement to make so instead I will say I have never met an artist whose journey was without bumps along the way. You have to be a little crazy to live this life. Anyone can and should make art. We start out coloring crazy on walls and dancing in circles. It’s a beautiful, universal part of the human experience. But turning art into a career is as whole other animal. We have to learn to shove a business brain into our artist brain. We have to make a living while continuing to be creative and authentic. We have to fight to not lose the love of the medium after we’ve made the same sculpture five hundred times. So much of the artist goes into the art they make. It can be a very personal experience. Showcasing that to the world makes you vulnerable. It’s easy to end up equating your value as a person with your artwork. It is also a very volatile career. You might do great at one show and horrible at the next. Learning to navigate the show circuit and your own self worth within it takes time. Luckily the artist community is one of the most supportive I’ve seen. We watch out for each other, share tips and tricks with each other, and help each other out constantly. I think we all have a little bit of the same streak of crazy and that makes fast friends.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I create intricate glass sculptures. Lampworking is very similar to glassblowing. I have a table torch that goes to about 3000-5000 degrees. I melt glass rods to molten and form them mid air to control how they cool. Every movement has to be precise and fast. It takes years of practice and each piece is either good or trash. There is very little in between I can work with. Not many people in the glass field specialize in sculpture, but I love it. I love creating movement in my pieces and the expressions I can get in different characters. Dragons are one of my favorite things to create. They trigger everyone’s imagination and give me a lot of leeway to play around in. I can experiment with different color mixes and movement. They can be fierce or dopey and they are still a dragon. I’ll also create intricate flowers, aquatic scenes and dancing figures. I get bored easily so I do a bit of everything.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I’d say take a couple classes at local art centers initially to see how much time you want to put into this. There you will find people who do glasswork for fun and people who have glass take over their life. Glassworkers are a pretty small community. Whatever speciality excites you that you want to hone in on, if you ask around enough, you will find someone who knows someone who has dedicated their life to that specific thing. Finding someone to apprentice under is so important with glass because so much of it relies on learning certain techniques. I’d say just start. Start and be open to learning from anyone who will teach you and see where it goes. When I was starting out not many people knew how to make sculpture. I experimented a ton, but also would hunt down the sculpturists. I remember driving a couple hours to a tiny fair because I heard from someone a lampworker who did sculpture would be there. We ended up talking for a couple hours and he demoed different designs for me. Like I said, you have to be a bit crazy to do this….but man it’s fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bripearchglass.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classylassglass/?hl=en