Lawrence Friesen - Lampwork Pioneer

My father, Lawrence Friesen ( 1922 - 2003 ), was quite a colorful and amazing glassblower and man. Back in the early days of lampworking, he was one of only a handful of about 9 "Bohemian" or "artistic" glassblower/flameworkers in the entire United States. He got his start as a high school art instructor and recieved funding through the school system that enabled him to teach the rare art of flameworked glass to his students.

As an early adopter of the trade, Lawrence and our family (5 children who eventually all did flameworking) went on to teach what what I would estimate into the hundreds of students, in the classroom as well as apprentices in our flourishing art profession.

The article below from 1963, is interesting in the perspective of todays burgeoning glassblowing-lampworking community that now thrives into the hundreds of thousands of glass artists. It's quite to thrill for me to see how far the equipment, tools and techniques have come in these 50 plus years since my dads time. Congratulations dad, to your large contribution in getting the art of glassblowing into the educational system and the public.