The Daily World

Gravity brought them here

By Anne Radford - Daily World Writer

Saturday, May 5, 2007 11:21 PM PDT

DAILY WORLD / KATHY QUIGG Colorful glass art hand-blown by Frenchman Patrick Kolten is displayed at Verre de Mer Art Glass Studio and Gallery, which he and his wife LuAnn opened this spring at Grayland. At top, natural light reflects through vases blown by Patrick Kolten.
WESTPORT — Patrick Kolten can’t stop moving.

If he does, the invisible forces of gravity will move in, ruining the shape emerging at the end of his long blow pipe.

So the Grayland resident constantly keeps the pipe moving in his hands — twirling it, sweeping it in large arcs and rotating it as the hot, malleable glass on its end becomes a piece of colorful blown glass.

“You have to keep moving at all times,” he said. “If you stop, the glass just falls.”

Large tweezers called jacks serve as an extension of his hand as he works in the Verre de Mer Art Glass Studio and Gallery, a new business he opened in Westport with his wife, LuAnn, a few weeks ago. The business is located at 101 Bonge Ave. in Westport off Highway 105.

Periodic dips into the reheating chamber keep the glass prepped for shaping as he fights what was once his biggest nemesis.

“When you first start working with glass, gravity is your worst enemy,” he said. “But as you learn, it’s actually your best tool. You really need it.”

The 46-year-old artist learned this key lesson about gravity and glass during his 24 years as a glass blower. He has worked for several studios along the way, as well as owning his own.

DAILY WORLD / KATHY QUIGG

Staying creative

At Verre de Mer, which means “Glass of the Sea” in French, Kolten is able to get away from those studios’ emphasis on production. And the new Westport studio is a big difference from the times when he was directed to make 100 Christmas ornaments in 41/2 hours.

“Everything was a step,” he remembers. “You just kept going.”

So while the pair hopes to add some wholesale by October, the focus will always be on retail and helping customers select a meaningful piece.

“This is not a production studio,” his wife said. “We want to keep Patrick creative in his art.”

Wearing a uniform of shorts and a T-shirt, Kolten creates bowls, vases, ornaments and more in his studio.

“My favorite part is the instant reward,” he said. “It can take two hours or five minutes, but you get to see what the piece looks like instantaneously.”

LuAnn, 39, handles the business end of the studio: booking shows — her goal is 30 a year — handling bills and paperwork and setting up gallery displays. She also gives haircuts to the business’ shop dog, an apricot standard poodle named “Vivaldi.”

Kolten’s attire is a necessity, as a huge furnace holding 140 pounds of clear molten glass and its neighboring reheating chamber send waves of heat through the business.

Browsers will feel the heat too, as only a short wall separates the retail area from the workspace, allowing visitors to watch Kolten as he works.

The couple hope to welcome clients into the space by Christmas to give glassblowing lessons.

However, any potential prodigies should be aware that the learning process for Kolten’s craft can be a painful one, and the first few years are frustrating for all new artists.

“I got a lot of scars and burn marks,” he said. “You must always watch out for yourself and always watch for others.”

A look at the artist

Growing up on the French Riviera in Toulon, Kolten was always drawn to art and music. He painted watercolors and played the guitar, but it wasn’t until he moved to the United States that he was introduced to glass blowing.

He joined the staff at Mount St. Helens Volcanic Ash Glassworks — first as a glass technician, where he made the finishing touches on pieces, then making the hooks on the top of ornaments. Soon, he became a glass blower.

He met LuAnn in Chehalis 16 years ago while they were competing in a darts competition. They married a few years later.

Kolten was then offered a job in Bermuda as a production manager for a studio and the pair jumped at the opportunity. His wife worked as the gallery manager during their three-year stint in the tropical location.

She started getting into blown glass too, and at the new studio, she also serves as a glass technician, along with one of her three sons, Richard Mohrmann, 24.

“I married into glass,” she jokes.

After another year back in Washington, the couple spent eight years working in New Orleans. It was there the couple was rocked by the horrors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“We saw things that they don’t even talk about on TV,” she said. “It would shock people.”

A year after the hurricanes, damaging their home and making them witnesses to some unspeakable sights and situations, the couple made the move to Grayland with some family friends last October.

The pair vacations to Europe about once a year, and LuAnn invariably is drawn to blown glass works while they are away.

“We love glass,” she said. “I always find glass pieces no matter what.”

The studio and gallery are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. It is closed on Monday.

Anne Radford, a Daily World writer, can be reached at 532-4000, ext 129, or by e-mail at aradford@thedailyworld.com.