A Joint Venture Exhibition

April 16, 2025 - May 2025

Exhibition Overview

The Pacific Northwest is an epicenter of innovation in glass art. Joint Venture aims to shine a spotlight on the flameworkers who are pushing the boundaries of functional glass – more commonly known as pipes.

Adapting hot-glass techniques used in scientific glassmaking to create pipes began in the 1980s, when flameworker Bob Snodgrass (American, born 1946) began making small pieces to sell at Grateful Dead concerts. This community of makers has developed largely underground for the last forty years, often operating under pseudonyms, not unlike some street and graffiti artists.

Over the last decade an increase in commercial interest has helped push past the stigma attached to the functional glass scene. These makers join the arena with other torch-based sculptors who use the same tools to create paperweights and marbles.

Joe Tsoulfas’s collection, displayed here, shows how this complex and once taboo artform has evolved thanks to the creativity and ingenuity of this community. These contemporary flameworkers are bridging the gap between form and function, creating works that honor pipemaking’s psychedelic origins, while simultaneously creating complex sculptures with substantial technical merit.

You might even say they’re dope.

Artists Featured:

Annealed Innovations, Arik Krunk, Bob Badtram, Banjo, Bigspin Glass, Freeman Corban, Cowboy, Niko Cray, Hugh Glass, Jason Lee, JD Maplesden, Mothership Glass, Brian Padilla, Yvonne Padilla, Rad Glass, Softserve Glass, T Funk, Cameron Tower, Ethan Windy

Join us for Joint Venture in the Hot Shop →

Featured Images

Ethan Windy_The Lover and The Fighter.jpg

Image Credits

Annealed Innovations. Untitled, 2020. Blown and sculpted borosilicate glass; 4 1/2 × 5 × 5 in. (11.4 × 12.7 × 12.7 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Banjo and Cowboy. Sherlock. Blown-borosilicate glass; 3 1/2 × 5 × 3 1/2 in. (8.9 × 12.7 × 8.9 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Banjo. Darkness Motorcycle, 2006. Blown and sculpted borosilicate glass; 5 × 15 × 5 in. (12.7 × 38.1 × 12.7 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Cam Tower. Classic Side-Car, 1995. Blown-borosilicate glass; 2 1/2 × 6 × 3 1/2 in. (6.4 × 15.2 × 8.9 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Cowboy. Faceted water pipe, 2018. Blown-borosilicate glass; 7 1/2 × 4 × 5 in. (19.1 × 10.2 × 12.7 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Ethan Windy. The Lover and The Fighter, 2022 and 2023. Blown and sculpted borosilicate glass; 7 × 4 × 6 in. (17.8 × 10.2 × 15.2 cm) and 7 1/2 × 3 × 5 in. (19.1 × 7.6 × 12.7 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
JD Maplesden and Bigspin Glass. Wormhole, 2023. Blown-borosilicate glass; 7 × 5 1/2 × 4 in. (17.8 × 14 × 10.2 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Niko Cray. High Times, 2021. Blown and sculpted borosilicate glass; 6 × 4 × 4 in. (15.2 × 10.2 × 10.2 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Niko Cray. Hammerhead, 2020. Blown and sculpted borosilicate glass; 3 1/2 × 6 × 3 in. (8.9 × 15.2 × 7.6 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Niko Cray and Cowboy. Rainbow Snake, 2019. Blown and sculpted borosilicate glass; 6 × 2 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (15.2 × 6.4 × 8.9 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Niko Cray. Sharky, 2020. Blown and sculpted borosilicate glass; 6 1/2 × 5 × 4 1/2 in. (16.5 × 12.7 × 11.4 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.
Yvonne Padilla. Classic Hammer, 1998. Blown-borosilicate glass; 2 1/2 × 6 × 1 1/2 in. (6.4 × 15.2 × 3.8 cm). Collection of Joe Tsoulfas.