A Clear Story

A little bit of history before our up coming Celebration.....

2011-11-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

Burlington Glassmakers Craft a Community

State of the Arts

By Megan James [11.24.10] for Seven Days.

Once you fire up the furnace in a glass workshop, you can’t just shut it off. You might turn it down a bit once a year to give the beast a rest — from its scorching 2100 degrees — but for the most part, it rages day and night.
Glassmaking is a hot business, and pricey, which is why Tove Ohlander and Rich Arentzen, owners of Arentzen & Ohlander Glass [1] in Burlington, are trying out an unconventional way to keep afloat in an unforgiving economy: a CSArt [2].
“The CSA for agriculture makes so much sense,” Ohlander says of community-supported agriculture. “It resonates well with us; we invested in all this, we believe in what we do. We want to spread the passion, the joy of what we do.”
The CSArt works like this: Members can invest at different levels — from $300 to $1500 annually — and four times a year receive a selection of seasonal glass art, from vases and ornaments to wine glasses, salad bowls and pitchers, or take glassblowing classes.
“This is a serious business,” Ohlander says. “There’s a big overhead. The furnace has to be on all the time. To be able to plan our production is amazing, it takes off so much pressure.”
To encourage the public to engage with the glassmaking process, the married artists are consolidating their business — which also includes glass production, a shop, glassmaking classes and events — into a single workshop in the Howard Space behind Speeder & Earl’s on Pine Street. The new space will be called Clear Story Arts.
On pick-up nights, members will be treated to an artist demonstration at the workshop, and Ohlander says she might toss some pizzas into the annealer, the oven used to slowly bring down the temperature of a finished glass piece. The one at Clear Story is painted to resemble the flag of Ohlander’s native Sweden, where the couple met.
The studio, with its brick walls and vine-covered windows, will be open to the public five days a week so visitors can see how the glass is made and feel the furnace’s heat. The new space is small but airy, thanks to the row of clerestory windows along a raised section of the roof.
Those windows are also responsible for the workshop’s new name. “I was seeking some clarity last summer, sitting in Sweden overlooking a lake,” she says. That’s when her husband called and told her about the space. The architectural term is pronounced “clear story.”
Working on glass with Arentzen “is a little bit like dancing,” Ohlander says. “You’ve got the flow of the moment, you only have a certain amount of time, you have to trust the other person.”
To create a piece of graal — using a Swedish technique developed in the 1920s and one of the couple’s specialties — Arentzen begins with a small, colored glass egg. His wife then covers it in protective matting and carves an illustration onto the surface of the egg. Then she gives it back to Arentzen, who reheats the egg, blowing it up like a balloon until it “hatches” as a bowl or vase.
It’s difficult to know exactly the size and shape the piece will take, and how the illustrations will expand, until the moment he takes it out of the furnace, Ohlander explains. So they make decisions quickly. And they don’t always agree.
These artists came to glass from different perspectives. Arentzen began as an apprentice to Alan Goldfarb in Burlington, working from the start on elegant, Italian-style wine glasses.
Ohlander learned her craft at Sweden’s Orrefors Technical Glass School, about an hour from her hometown in the heart of what she calls Sweden’s “kingdom of glass.” The place served as a kind of pipeline for the local glass factory. Students were told to “their artistic dreams on the shelf,” she explains.
Now the couple’s dreams — using their art to create a community hub — are center stage in Burlington. “There have been signs of a lot of glassblowers quitting,” Ohlander says of the tough economic climate. “For us, we’ve been lying low, but we didn’t want to give up.”

Source URL: http://www.7dvt.com/2010burlington-glassmakers-craft-community

Join the Halloween Bikers!

2011-10-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Halloween Bike Ride Sunday, October 30th: Shared Streets Not Scared Streets

Join hundreds of riders for a rolling Halloween costume party! The police escorted parade begins at City Hall Park at 2PM, winds through downtown and the Old North End, and ends with a Halloween party at Maglianero Cafe, 47 Maple St. (approx. 3 - 5pm). This is a family friendly, all ages event and open to bikers, walkers, skateboarders and in-liners. And new this year…the Halloween Bike Ride will feature a costume competition! The judges will award prizes in the following categories: Best Costume - Adult, Best Costume - Child, Best Decorated Bicycle and Best Group Costume (friends, neighbors, co-workers, get your game on). In addition a King and Queen will be chosen from those present for the ride to wear the coveted "Shared Streets" Crowns for the parade. Judging will be conducted beginning at 1:30pm at City Hall Park. Winners will be announced at the post-ride party at Maglianero.
For more information: www.localmotion.org/halloween and on facebook. Brought to you by Local Motion and the BTV Bicycle Cluster. Big thanks to our generous lead sponsor, Old Spokes Home with additional support from the Ben & Jerry's Foundation and Northfield Savings Bank.

OPEN hours

2011-10-28T10:28:00.001-07:00

1st order blown, signed and packed at AO Glass.

2011-10-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

24th of October. Finally, the AO Glass Studio has finished the first order since we lit the furnace on the 4th of October. the 48 Snow Folk in glass are all going to the VT Life Magazine. Lukas is showing our second most popular item: the glass Polar Bear. More about them soon.

Thank You Burlington VT!

2011-09-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

What A Fantastic Evening! Art Hop 2011 got an amazing start with fantastic weather and SO many people. We worked real hard this week to get everything up and running. 20'clock this afternoon though I had to stop the team to change gears and move into "social mode". The glass blowing is then postponed to next week. We did meet and greet with I believe over a Thousand people this afternoon and evening! We had kids doing face paint outside and there was music from many directions. For example the magical self playing Piano at Justin Rose's cool piano tuner shop....It was inspiring to see all the happy people out today.
I have to recommend a really talented yoga teacher we are lucky to have in our town, Jane Jarecki. See http://www.janeyoga.com/tag/vt/ She helped me to keep my cool this afternoon : I had a yoga class with her in the middle if the day and she had put together a practice that was really grounding and helped me to focus happily on today's event. It worked.

Front Porch Forum

2011-09-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

http://frontporchforum.com/ Read about a very cool, humbling and heart warming way of being neighbors. I hope this idea can spread to many other "hoods" in the world.

The founders of FPF just needed to communicate more with their new neighbors after moving to a new address: and created this whole wonderful community creating and embracing system of sharing local information- about local and international matters and issues!

Lucky are all of us who have this foundation to build our neighbor relationships on. Thank you Front Porch Forum Burlington!

Embrace! at the Emigrant Institute of Sweden.

2011-09-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm very honored to be a participant in the cultural event Embrace! organized by the Emigrant Institute in Växjö.

Read About Embrace Here

Opening day is September 14.

Maglianero- my favorite Cafe' and Cultural hub.

2011-09-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

I don't have enough describing dynamite words for my all time favorite cafe and meeting place that I ever stepped into.

And then I've experienced a lot of cultural environments that are about drinking something envigorating and having a chat, in between ultra charming old ladies Tea houses in New Zeeland through anarchistic Cafees in Malmö to the old style espressobar in San Gimignano, Italy. They are all about stopping and taking a break to get a chance to look up from what you're doing as an individual and be present with other people to share moments.

Maglianero's staff, coffee, hot chocolate, knowledge & spirit is a gift.

Use it!

http://blog.maglianero.com/

Something's cooking at the AO studio: Countdown to fire in the furnace.....

2011-09-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

What's today a very cold and empty glass melting furnace...

-will change this 2011 Art Hop week.

With the massive creative energy and support gathering up this week, we'll work relentlessly to get the glow we need.

Click Here to Contribute

Thank you.

Thank you

New AO Glass Photographer: Dok Wright

2011-09-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to be back in Burlington after a summer filled with memories. We are ready to execute work inspired by the many people we met on our travels, old friends and new ones.

Thank you to photographer Dok Wright for helping to create the new look of AO Glass.

Dok is organizing the VT Cares Auction at Art Hop at the Maltex building. AO Glass contributed with several pieces. Best of luck!

AO stays Cool......

2011-07-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

We heard today that Polar Bear International are ready to open their web store. All the P.B.I. profit goes to give Polar Bears a better chance on this planet. AO glass will be supplying P.B.I with glass sculptures. Their web store will even have the first Polar Bear Ornament available soon!

Extreme Glass Sale ! Saturday June 25th. 10-2.

2011-06-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

It's a hood!

2011-05-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Hood of Hoods is up. Installed by Kirk Williams, made by Metalworks. It's a beauty. The hanging lights are made by us at AO glass.

Air plane parts or Hood?

2011-05-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

With this hood design we will look like on of our favorite millkshake spots..the Spot. It's the West coast look.

new sketch

2011-05-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday the 24th

2011-05-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

A hood was made and delivered to AO glass. The Pionees bush is flowering in our yard and that usually means it is summer soon. I don't understand, mentally it is hard to believe since we had so much rain... We started planting flowers outside the studio. A Banner is ordered for the outside. Biz information is going out to all local companies possibly interested in pre-order for glass, classes, demonstrations or team building events. New this time around is the option for corporate gifts. AO will be AOK. In the meantime check out Ralph at www.hit-the-bottle.com

A Glass Studio coming up.

2011-05-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

An upcoming book

2011-05-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

The first copy will be test printed this Friday. For more info, wright me at info@aclearstory.com

An update of AO! glass:

2011-05-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

Hi, you are the Glass Artist at AO! glass. How is it going with the work shop?

-well, I couldn't just sit and wait for Burlington City to give us our Permit. So I took on a job as a Bread Baker in town. It warms up my glass blowing muscles and I'm enjoying being with a great team in a hot environment.

So, what is happening at 416 Pine st?

-we are installing hoods and fans to make it a real safe place to work and visit. We just launched the Action for Glass Alive! By a $20 Yellow Ticket and help AO! glass to open up our doors.

What can a Yellow Ticket get you?

-oh, it gives you 20% off any next purchase of glass, orders and classes. We make lighting, table ware, hand engravings and we organize demos and wedding events. Get a ticket and come in and be creative with us!

How do I get one?
-just email info@aoglass.com and ask for a printable Yellow Ticket.

We are all looking forward to see you in action, blowing art glass. Thank you.

Burlington Yoga Conference 2011

2011-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Burlington Yoga Conference starts this Saturday and I'm so glad to have a chance to promote A Clear Story's first book series: I Love Yoga, by Tove Ohlander and Yoga teacher Susan Cline Lucey.
See www.burlingtonyogaconference.com

one picture says more than a thousand words.

2011-04-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

2011-04-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

AO! Glass has a permit today!

2011-03-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

AMAZING!!! AO! Glass finally has the permit to start blowing glass at their new location on 416 Pine st. in the South End of Burlington. We are happy to be able to provide a safe and healthy glass studio environment both for workers and visitors. Thank you Burlington City for the approval of equipment, space and airflow! We will light the furnaces and keep you posted about our when we expect to have our first day of blowing glass. Thank you to all of you that waited so patiently for glass classes. In the meantime you would love to read about this couple and their work in Denmark at http://studiostrange.dk/ Pernille and Theis, your work is unbelievable - I'm so inspired, thank you!

2011-02-16T08:09:00.001-08:00

I went with Champlain Elementary School to visit one of the worlds largest COMPOSTS at the Intervale in Burlington. I had no idea it could get as hot as 175 degrees in the centers of these piles.... This place, in my book, is a worthy tourist attraction and it is an incredibly strange that they are forced to move the whole operation to Williston. Personally I believe this goes hand in hand with the spirit of what is underneath the grounds and it would be interesting to hear the opinions of the Abenaki people.

2011-02-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

Yes! I was contacted by Pia Sjolin, another glass artist. She is organizing an exhibition in Utvandrarnas Hus, the Emigrant Institute, in Växjö, Sweden, on a very interesting topic: humanity, how to celebrate inclusiveness. To be continued.

We are still awaiting our permit from Burlington City.

Have a great Valentine's, Alla Hjärtans, Day Everyone!

2011-02-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

I listened to "the Porters" at Skinny pancake this Saturday, http://www.myspace.com/theportersmusic. What a great band. I really recommend their new CD. It's like...wow, indie folk & classical and very inspiring. Life is good in Vermont. The weekend ended with another hugely inspiring event: Bill Mc.Kibben at Main st. Landing. 350 degrees, as a movement and a tool to act on climate change. Look up http://www.350.org/ , forward it to your friends and coworkers and act!

2011-02-03T03:26:00.000-08:00

We are on track again. After a snowy, eventful and thoughtful beginning of the year I'm picking up where I left you at Lucia. A trip to Sweden was included where we said goodbye to our beloved Grand Mother. She was an amazing woman who was always there for you. I would like to recommend a book "Loving Kindness", the revolutionary art of happiness by Sharon Salzberg
inspiring the importance of being there for each other, family, friends and all of those you don't know yet. With new found strength and a firm belief in working through our creative processes with open hearts, I hope to share with you the results here at A Clear Story in 2011.

2010-12-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it was Dec. 13, the day to celebrate the St. Lucia. We hosted the celebration at our glass and art studio on Pine st. this past weekend. It was an amazingly talented and brave chorus this year. Thank you to all our participants in the inaugural Lucia celebration at our new location! The candles were lit inside and Lucia carried her crown majestically out to the crowd, wich was all touched by the strength and presence of a nine girls chorus singing about light and love as it grew darker around us on the courtyard outside Clear Story Arts.

2010-11-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, it is the last day of November. I'm posting a few photos from when photographer Ben Sarle was in our studio trying to catch us on the lense for the article in the Burlington Free Press last weekend. OK, time to take a long breath and try to take it easy all of December......

2010-11-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all of you that has worked hard to help us create our work space, Clear Story Arts.
Thank you, I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving! Cheers, Tove.

2010-11-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

Wow! We are thrilled with all the enthusiasm we meet as we introduce our new business model. Thank you to all you inspiring B-town's people. We are definitely going to be open on this Saturday for Small Business Saturday. Read this weeks article in Seven days:

http://www.7dvt.com/2010burlington-glassmakers-craft-community

2010-11-22T19:51:00.000-08:00

Serenity. What a beautiful photo this is. It portrays both the patience in waiting for our business to get started, and the feeling you get when a lot of the work is done, ones children are settling in to Thanks giving break and after a weekend dancing at a great party & knowing near and dear and far away, people celebrate.
Thank You! Enjoy this special week.
Tove.

2010-11-08T18:16:00.000-08:00

YES ! We connected with Polar Bears International and we will start a cause marketing campaign with our small Polar Bear glass sculptures. A percentage of sales of each cool sculpture goes directly to Polar Bears International starting today. Learn more about this passionate organization at www.polarbearsinternational.org/

2010-11-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU everyone who visited us on Friday !
It was a great "dress rehearsal" for our Grand Opening(coming up the end of this month). Also, congratulations to SEABA, that had a successful first art opening! We are thrilled so many people like the idea of an Art C.S.A. And, Yes it does make a lot of sense. With support we can run an active downtown glass studio. Education, recreational glass blowing, rental time, custom orders, events...It is all possible. Please come to 416 Pine st. and find out more. There are still membership spaces available. We will officially be open from tomorrow, Tuesday Nov.9. Opening hours are 10 am to 2.30pm until Thanksgiving. To reach us at other times, just call 802 540 0223 and we will meet you at the studio.
I just have to add Namaste today, we are very greatful. It rains outside and it is getting colder. But in a few days there will be a warm glow at Clear Story Arts in the South End Arts District and we hope to see you all in there.

Namaste!

Tove.

CSART

2010-11-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

PRESENTATION OF OUR COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ART MEMBERSHIP MODEL.
We have chosen to create a membership model at our new glass and art studio that is based on the local agriculture version. Pete's Greens is a great and popular example of a Burlington CSA. We offer shares of seasonal glass art 4 times a year. This will give you a discount at 25%, opportunities to enjoy live glass demonstrations at pick up evenings, and a chance to support our first start up year as a new business.

NEW NAME.
Our glass and art will still be signed Arentzen & Ohlander, but our studio and store is now named
Clear Story Arts. We are located in the courtyard behind S.E.A.B.A. and Speeder & Earl.

EVENT:
Friday November 5 we will be open on First Friday Art Walk. Between 6 and 8 pm we will talk about our CSArt Membership, Glass Classes and other opportunities.

We hope to see you there,
Tove.

Samson Svenson waiting for heat

2010-10-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mascot Samson Svenson is patiently waiting for the glass studio to get hot...

Polar bears for VT Life Magazine

2010-10-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Our first completed order so far this fall. The VT Life catalog features our Polar Bears that arrives in couples. These were created by Rich in a rented glass studio. We hope to switch on the equipment in our studio 2 weeks from today.

2010-10-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

file:///Users/toverich/Desktop/CSArt2.spub/

Glass studio up date

2010-10-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Under construction: the fasade of our new location. Today is a beautiful warm day with some of the last yellow leaves on the trees brightening up the sidewalks of the South End. Today Vermont Energy is working on hooking up the gas for us. The equipment outside the doors are sandblasting machines that will go to the left of the entry way.

2010-10-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

These are examples of coming work. These express thankfulness for amazing shared summer experiences. Thank you to all family, friends and supporters.

2010-10-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, we did put them to work. Inspecting visitors after we had a professional sheet rock worker do a great job. The walls are finished and the sales desk is in.

2010-10-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

Happy fall feelings to you all. This was the most inspiring artist work I found at The Space Gallery. (Bt VT) Hearts cut out of leaves......

2010-10-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

We had a great team build us the essential American social spot, the front porch. By the way if in Burlington VT please join the Front Porch Forum. It's you best source of neighborhood info. We did celebrate with double Key Lime Pies.

2010-10-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

New mascot, his name is Samson. Eats everything, we think he may be a goat.

2010-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

The "Swede" enters the studio. Our annealing oven where the glass pieces cool down over night.

2010-10-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

The furnace has arrived.

2010-09-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

AO! glass shot glass with late summer flowers

2010-09-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

It was quite rewarding to power wash the bricks ! This used to be a very neat black smith workshop, but a little make over had to happen.....

2010-09-09T06:16:00.000-07:00

An inspiration, the Dala horse.

2010-09-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

We signed the lease on our building yesterday. Power washed the inside brick wall all day, painted interior and exterior today. Only 2 days until we will be hit by the South End Art Hop visitors in thousands......

Louis Boston Vases

2010-08-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

Our AO! pop vases at Louis Boston's restaurant Sam's'

2010-08-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

Fantastic! I can print.

2010-08-26T16:51:00.001-07:00

2010-08-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

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2010-08-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

2009-12-28T13:04:00.000-08:00