In mid-December, the website of the John Burton Program, a new online course aimed at educating flameworkers about using borosillicate to create fine art, went live. This online educational initiative is named for the Los Angeles-based physicist whose interest in flameworking in the mid-1960s laid the groundwork for the creative use of borosillicate in the United States. Considered the father of American creative flameworking, John Burton (1894 – 1985) garnered media attention for his technical and artistic breakthroughs, and word of his accomplishments inspired scientific flamewokers such as Paul Stankard to pursue a creative direction. Now Stankard wants to return the favor with a new 15-week online course he is teaching through the John Burton Program.
While Burton developed a university course offered at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles from 1968 – 1973 called “The Art of Glass Design,” much of the developments in the material have been in more functional directions, with a large market for glass marijuana pipes providing the income for many full-time flameworkers. The John Burton Program, founded in part by Stankard, is hoping to inspire highly skilled pipemakers, and others who have developed their skills in a functional direction, to apply their talents in more creative endeavors.
“One of the main objectives of the seminar is to encourage the people in flameworking to reach a little higher,” Stankard told the GLASS Quaterly Hot Sheet in a telephone interview. Stankard is one of the founders of the program
The program’s mission statement reads as follows:
The John Burton Program is a grassroots, educational, self-help organization established in 2009 to celebrate excellence in flameworked glass. Beginning as a resource web site, this non-profit entity exists to promote independent studies through on-line courses, seminars, and its growing internet library. The John Burton Program will facilitate and document juried exhibitions of art work for exhibit and sale. John Burton, our name sake, was a physicist whose interest in creative flameworking inspired the 1960’s glass community through his teaching and techniques to hand color borosilicate glass. The program is dedicated to educating and inspiring creative people in the art and science of flameworked glass.
The keystone of the program is a 15-week seminar led by Stankard that includes a reading list, online forum, and weekly conference calls. The tuition for the program is $150, and the first seminar will take place on Monday, January 11, 2010. With nine students already signed on, the courses still has a handful of spaces available.
More information, as well as free resources for the flameworking community, is available at the John Burton Program website: www.johnburtonprogram.com.