Couple’s blown-glass “stones” are a healing fixture in hospitals
Thor and Jennifer Bueno combine their talents to striking effect.
Photo by Colby Rabon
After completing a three-year residency at Penland School of Craft, Thor and Jennifer Bueno established their blown-glass studio nearby. They specialize in making colorful pieces that resemble river stones, creating abstract installations on the walls of private homes and public spaces, including downtown Asheville’s Momentum Gallery.
Thor, who holds a BFA from the University of California at San Diego and an MFA from Alfred University in New York State — home of the Center for Glass Innovation — calls his glassblowing approach “planned spontaneity.” He adds, “I follow chance like a compass — I don’t blow glass like anyone else. I’m frenetic, while Jennifer is more contemplative. I move too fast for deep thought.”
“He just makes it like a surfer,” Jennifer observes. “He moves and lets the glass spin. He’s 65 and has 20-year-old assistants and he just runs them in the ground.” Jennifer herself was an academic speed racer who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in glass, then earned two MFAs within three years, one from Bard College and the other from Alfred.
When it comes to teamwork, Thor compares the division of labor to an artist doing a painting. “We do our research and development of colors together, and set out a palette. Then I make the brushstrokes, and she makes a composition out of them. I layer glass and blend it on the surface of the object. Then she takes those objects and makes something sculptural out of them.”
These “objects” are glass bubbles shaped like river stones, and each one weighs approximately the same as an empty Coke bottle. They line the shelves of the Bueno Glass studio, and are made in an astonishing array of colors — gold, silver, bronze, aqua, “reverie” — in an unlimited palette. Patterns are organic, from squiggles and blobs to concentric rings and wild ribbons, and they come alive with layers of depth. Some pieces have a matte look; others end up with a brightly shimmering, silvery metallic surface that requires more than a dozen chemical rinses in a labor-intensive process. The artists design configurations of 15 to 200 or more of these carefully handcrafted stones for spacious, eye-catching, wall-mounted installations for corporations and individual clients.
The first installation they did at a hospital was at Blue Ridge Regional in Spruce Pine, almost 20 years ago. But a couple of years later, Jennifer recalls, “The game changer for us was when we partnered with Skyline Art Services, an art-consultancy service that lots of hospitals and other corporations use.” The company’s website boasts that it “shapes environments that inspire, heal, and connect.” Neurology research is involved, based on measuring data about the brain with the goal of healing and calming. “They have databases of information,” says Jennifer, “about how colors, surfaces, shapes, and textures affect people — and can promote healing and lower stress and cortisol levels. The goal is to understand what kind of artwork promotes healing and calming.”
A realistic depiction of nature can remind patients that they’re not in nature, but in a hospital, and that’s stressful. But abstracted work taps into the subconscious mind. While it subtly references nature, it doesn’t mimic it. Thor describes, “It’s very meditative and helps get you out of your head without even realizing it. I never knew blown glass could be so interactive.”
In terms of solo projects, Jennifer studied special effects in college, and is currently doing magical-looking “pond sculptures” in a small pond she built at home, using components such as paint, blown glass, and plastic. “I can create otherworldly aspects when the light in the water affects the glass and plastic, for a sci-fi effect — creating something that doesn’t exist in the real world.” She’s always been interested in ecology and sustainability, and this most recent installation beautifully examines the human emotional response to the natural environment.
Thor is busy this year with a documentary about his old group The B Team. “We were the first glass performance team, [starting] in the ’90s,” he notes. They toured, doing dramatic live choreographed events where glass was poured, swung, spun, blown — and sometimes shattered.
“We never sold anything, but won some awards and had a show at Urban Glass in NYC.” The Corning Museum of Glass, near Alfred University, is producing the new feature-length film, due to be released later this year, featuring interviews and rare archival materials.
“Because of the documentary,” adds Thor, “the band got back together after 20 years.”
Bueno Glass, Momentum Gallery, downtown Asheville, 52 Broadway, momentumgallery.com. (To learn more about the B Team, see bteamglass.com)