“Between air, gravity and 2300 degrees, flows the art
of liquid. It keeps three men taking breaths and turning
for another attempt at perfection in the age-old art of
glass blowing. At The Glass Forge in Grants Pass, natural
gas and pressurized air mix. Ignited, it hisses fire,
turning a deep yellow in the furnace filled with molten
glass. In this handmade, metal-and-brick box, the
hypnotizing, sun-filled liquid burns a vision, deep into
the cerebral cortex, as the men dab their blow pipes and
weld their tools.”
-Tom Peterson
The Daily Courier
The three men - Lee Wassink, Nathan Sheafor, and Maurice
“Butch” Kreuzer - met in the San Francisco Bay
area four years ago while working for the Nourot and Smyers
Glass Studios. Wassink had tutored under John Vruwink and
assisted Mike Nourot. Sheafor has studied under Vernon
Brejcha and Dimitri Michaelllides. Kreuzer had been a
student of Marvin Lipofsky and John Elias. With a
collective 30 years in hot glass, Lee, Nathan, and Butch
shared the dream of someday opening their own studio. In
1998, dream became reality when the three renovated a large
warehouse on Grants Pass’ Historical “G”
Street and opened The Glass Forge Gallery and Studio. Next
door the 100-year-old Rogue River Brewing Company building,
now home of The Brewery, thrives as a favorite old-town
restaurant. The Glass Forge, along with neighboring shops,
The Laughing Clam, Blind George’s Java House, Blue
Pine Brew Pub, The Yellow Pages Used Books and eleven
buildings listed in the Natonal Register of Historical
Places, is returning “G” Street to the lively
kind of destination it was in 1883- when the first train
came roaring through town.
“In tandem, we move together, gathering from a
crucible of molten crystal. Our teamwork is a symphony of
skill, practice, knowledge and experience. Always, we have
a plan. Always, the glass tells us what to do. Though we
manipulate it with man-made tools, we must be ever
attentive to the influence of Nature’s Laws of heat,
gravity and centrifugal force. Evolving together in THE
GLASS FORGE is a dream come true. This is our favorite way
to play.”