Unearthed

1020 15th Street,Denver CO 80202

26 June, 2021

Description

This ticket will grant you access to the VIP-Pre Buy hour and will also come with a show Poster When you throw all of yourself into a project or endeavor, you are bound to succeed. Like many passionate craftsmen, this is true for Tim Farrell. Tim is a Colorado-based glassblower committed to making glass art and facilitating the consumption of cannabis. Despite having a college degree in another field, Farrell knew that art was his calling and will go to any length to make the dream come true. Tim Farrell a.k.a. Artist Stylie started blowing glass in 2015 after being inspired by M. Slinger’s documentary “Degenerate Art”. In the winter of 2015 Tim met a kid named Cameron who was blowing glass in an RV that he had converted into a small glass blowing studio. “He let me play around on the torch for a bit and I instantly fell in love with melting glass” explains Farrell. “ I ended up staying for a week to learn some basic glassblowing techniques from Cameron. During this experience I decided I wanted to blow glass for the rest of my life”. Tim returned to school and applied for a research grant to document glassblowing culture in Massachusetts from the perspective of a novice glass artist. He ended up receiving the grant and for the next three months it paid for him to work on his technical skills at a local studio while also forming connections with more experienced glassblowers in the area. After college Tim moved to Colorado hoping to solidify his career as a glassblower. This path appealed to Tim for a few reasons. “First, in college I became aware that I had no interest in joining the mainstream American workforce. I was a Political Science major with a double minor in Chinese and Asian Studies working on publishing a 120-page thesis when I was introduced to glassblowing. I graduated cum laude and my honors thesis was well received by my peers and professors. Even with these affirmations, I felt unhappy spending so much of my time focused on political theory. I realized I wanted to base my career on personal happiness. Making art seemed like a great fit because it is incredibly therapeutic for me. Second, I observed the trend in legalization as something that would not lose steam. As smoking became more socially acceptable there would be more of a demand for pipes, production and artistic ones alike”. In his daily life, Tim keeps a sketchbook for journaling and manifesting new ideas. “Before I started blowing glass seriously, I played around with a lot of different mediums. For a while I lived in a warehouse and got into spray cans and painting. During college I took a couple art classes such as printmaking and life drawing which was pretty cool and taught me some basic techniques. Nowadays I still pick up a paintbrush from time to time and make weird abstract shit or flow my patterns from carving onto the canvas.” When asked, why did you decide to start blowing functional glass for cannabis consumption, Farrell replied: “When I decided to become a pipemaker, I did so with the intention of creating unique work that could stand alone as a piece of art but also function as a ceremonial tool. I wanted to prove to nonsmokers and the fine art world that pipes deserve recognition for their aesthetic beauty and functional purposes alike. For many of us, smoking cannabis is a special activity and it has been an important part of cultures around the world since the early days of human history. I am honored to create vessels that people use to reach that state of mind. Furthermore, I enjoy the challenge of being a degenerate artist trying to alter the perspective of people who don’t look at pipes in the same way as me”. At the beginning of his career, Tim focused mainly on making sculptures out of glass. More recently, he has focused on combining his sculptural and etching skills. The result is a unique blend of techniques that come together to create the body of work for this showcase. Tim describes his style as falling somewhere between ancient and psychedelic. He explains “I lean towards earth tones that give off a muted or laidback energy but sometimes I’ll get loud with it and incorporate colors like turquoise, orange, red and yellow. In regard to the patterns I use, etching has given me a way to incorporate natural imagery that appeals to me such as mountains, trees, fire, and the sun. Nowadays, etching leads me into a meditative state of consciousness where abstract patterns stream out of my mind and onto the glass”. We are excited and honored to work with Tim and display his newest body of work for his show “Unearthed”. Tim’s glass blowing matched with the unique style of his carving makes his finished pieces feel like relics that have just been pulled out of the ground, hence the name for the show.