Art Hohl: Glass, Water & Island Life

Art Hohl: Glass, Water, and Fifty-Some Years of Island Life

Step into Art Hohl's studio on Lummi Island and the first things you notice is the shelves: green-trimmed cubbies stacked to the rafters with sheets of glass, jars of frit, molds, and tools. The second thing you notice is Art himself, perched on a stool at his workbench, pricing a fresh batch of glass earrings and happy to tell you a story or two.

Art has called this island home for 53 years. In that time he has been a sprout farmer, a water operator, and, for the last 35 years or so, one of the island's most familiar glass artists.

A tent, a cabin, and an unlocked door

Art grew up clear across the country on Long Island, New York. After wandering a while, he decided he wanted to live on the West Coast, where you could see the mountains, and enjoy nature. When he and his family found a piece of property on Seacrest, they pooled their money and bought it, even though, as Art puts it, "We didn't have any money, but we didn't think that was going to stop us."

That first winter, they lived in a tent, with a landline phone they used to coordinate the free university of Bellingham (free classes offered to the community). Partway through, neighbors offered for him to stay in one of the old reef-net cabins from Legoe Bay, complete with a little stove. It was, he says, "quite an interesting start."

Fifty-three years later, Art still counts himself lucky. "The island has developed quite a bit," he says, "but it's still a great place to be."

Taking care of the island's water

Art came to the island with an academic background, including an advanced degree in geology and two summers spent living in a tent while mapping 25 square miles of mountains in southern Utah. Island life took him in other directions. For nearly ten years he ran Island Sprout Works on Seacrest Drive, growing alfalfa and bean sprouts by the ton and getting them into supermarkets at a time when most people had never heard of them.

Later, and until about three years ago, Art worked as a state-licensed water operator, caring for island water systems at Isle Aire, Marine View Estates, and in his early years, with Scenic Estates. It was steady, part-time work, and it had one big advantage: "I could still be doing the glass work."

How the glass began

Art's glass journey started about 35 years ago at Camp Colton in Oregon, the studio of one of the three founders of Bullseye Glass, which is still the glass Art uses today. Five long days of learning the techniques of kiln-formed Glass.

He went home to his own kiln and "just kind of fiddled with it." Thirty-five years of fiddling later, with multiple kilns in his studio and gallery, Art's Glass, Lummi Island Originals, is full of his work: wall pieces, mirrors, sea stars, garden stepping stones, and jewelry. He resisted jewelry for years, but people kept telling him he had all these neat little pieces of glass and should be making it. Now it's one of his best sellers.

Frogs, lizards, sea stars, and snakes

Ask Art where his ideas come from, and he'll point to the animals: lizards ("some people call them geckos"), lots of frogs, a turtle, and snakes. One standout, Ebony & Ivory, is of black-and-white checkered serpents that coil across a shimmering, iridescent panel.

"I design it all myself," he says. "I don't use any patterns. I make my own patterns." What he enjoys most is starting something new, working out the technical puzzle of how to make it. Most pieces are one-of-a-kind or made in very small numbers.

His cast-glass sea stars are a good example. Art made the molds himself from real sea stars he found washed up and dried out on the beach. The casts are different colors, and some drip organically down over the shelf edge.  "Everything I make is made here," he says. "So keep coming back, because there's always something different."

Why the island

For Art, island life is about quiet and nature right outside the door. When he gets stuck at the workbench, he says, "I just step outside, and I feel okay again to come in and do some more." He has sea-kayaked at Lummi Island, San Juan Islands, and Vancouver Island, and he sums it up simply: "Nature, you know, I love it."

A Studio Tour original

Art has been part of the Lummi Island Artists' Studio Tour for decades. He recently came across a hand-drawn map from the 1994 tour, when only about eight artists took part. His current studio, the third he has had on the island and "the best one," sits right on the main road, and he's usually there working on something new.

Come visit Art!

Lummi Island Artists' Studio Tour: Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15th

 Stop by Art's Glass, see the sea stars, frogs, and snakes up close, and say hello. As Art says, "Come visit, it's always fun."

Harvest of the Heart exhibition: One of Art's pieces is on display at the LIH&W Harvest of the Heart exhibition through December at the LIH&W Resource Center, open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to noon.