September 16: Third Friday FREE Party, 6 - 10 p.m. A Night To Glow! Hot Glass, Cool Entertainment

Sumner New To Fuse Creates New Zoo Panel

Blow Your Own. Bash It Up. Have A Ball.

October 21: Third Friday Party, 6 - 10 p.m.  FREE 

Celebrating 9-Mighty-Fine-Hot Years Blowout Bash

SEPTEMBER 16: THIRD FRIDAY PARTY, 6 - 10 P.M.  FREE   

A NIGHT TO GLOW! HOT GLASS, GREAT ART, COOL MUSIC, AND MORE...

See the glass glow. See glassblowers blow. Blow, blow, blow.  Make hot glass go. 

DRINK OF THE MONTH: Apple Jack. Jack + Apple Schnapps = Apple Jack. New next health drink? Um...It does make you feel better.

Buy a beverage and receive a FREE ticket for the Feelin' Lucky Glass Lotto.  Tickets drawn at the top of the hour for selected glass pieces by Third Degree artists.  You win, you take it home. 

FIVE FUN TO-DO'S BEGIN AT 6 P.M.

Sign-up at the Front Desk for a DIY Glass Adventure:

1. Paperweights.  In the Hot Shop.  Age 10 & up.  $30
2. Glass Beads.  With torch and flame. Age 10 & up.  $30 
3. Fall Glass Tiles.  Any age.  $20. 
4. Fused Jewelry.  Bling it up! Earrings or pendant. Any age.  $20
5. RePurpose Your Wine Bottle.  Bring it in - NO LABELS - our magic kiln will make it useful again.  $10 for regular size.  Larger wine bottles can be RePurposed for an extra cost.

Note: All paperweights, fused jewelry, glass beads, and flattened bottles are ready for pick-up by the following Tues. - Sat., 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

• 6 - 9 p.m.  Fun to Fuse Open Kiln Nite.  Yep, you make it on Third Friday and we'll fire it up for FREE.  You bring glass and kiln paper.  We supply basic hand tools and kiln space.  Limit: Max. project: 12" x 22" x 1/2". One per artist. 

TAPAS-STYLE SMALL PLATES AT SMALL PRICES

Mmmm.  Chef Heidi knows we like: Mixed Green Salad with Blue Cheese & Candied Walnuts, Pesto Shrimp Bruschetta, Chicken Spedini, Penne Alfredo, Something Yummy. Dine in the gallery or courtyard. $2 - $8 each.

3 HANDSOME GUYS ARE HOT!  8 P.M.  A killer 90's through today cover band, 3 Handsome Guys knows how to amp it up, ramp it up, and connect. These guys rock the best of popular music, from Beatles to Bruno Mars.  You may have heard them at the Sky Music Lounge, Jammin' at the Zoo, Summertime Rock n Bash, and around town. No cover charge...ever.

AT THE GALLERY: SEPTEMBER 16 - OCTOBER 18

Reflections: ArtFiber Saint Louis. Art quilts, sculptural works and stitched constructions that play with the theme of reflection - both emotional response and the unique quality of glassworks, in particular stained glass.  The pieces utilize disperse dye, reactive dye and other surface design techniques and a variety of construction techniques. Artists featured: Carol Neumann, Carole Braig, Deb Lewis, Drew Donnelly Benage, Marianne Axboe, and Pat Owoc. 

Reflections is held in conjunction with Innovations in Textiles 9, a biennial collaborative event investigating the state of contemporary textile arts. More than 20 arts organizations across the St. Louis region have joined forces to present exhibits related to fiber art, created by local, national and international artists.  In addition to exhibitions, programs include gallery talks, workshops, bus tours, and more. To find out what, when, and where, click Innovations In Textiles 9.

Gallery 'Hood Hop Sept. 16?  Collect your art BFFs, indulge in Fiber Art. In addition to Third Friday opening of ArtFiber's Reflections, treat yourself to receptions at these galleries: Art Saint Louis, Craft Alliance (Delmar and Grand), Dane Reed, and Regional Arts Commission.

FIERY THEATRICS WITH FIRE TECHNICIANS PERFORMANCE TROUPE
Starting around 8 p.m. they fan the flames.  See them spin it, breathe it, juggle it, and hoop it. 

September 16. Free and Family-Friendly. A Hot Happening with Cool Entertainment. Glassblowing.  3 Handsome Guys Band.  Contemporary Fiber Art. Fire spinning. Feelin' Lucky Glass Lotto. Cash Bar.

SUMNER NEW TO FUSE CREATES NEW ZOO WATER FEATURE PANEL

Glass is in Bill Sumner's DNA. For more than a century his family has designed and created stained glass windows. Sumner continues this tradition through Sumner Art Glass, creating stained glass windows and displays for hundreds of commissions across the U.S.

Recently Sumner was commissioned by the Saint Louis Zoo to create a “water feature” glass panel for the 1904 World’s Fair Flight Cage Cypress Swamp.

The zoo had worked with Sumner previously to create the stained glass birds in the displays of the 1904 Flight Cage. But Sumner knew that the constant flow of water would damage the panel if made of leaded pieces and paint.  In fact, he had a better idea…Fused Glass.

It would be his first fused glass project.  It involved hundreds of glass pieces, some as thin as a blade of grass, cut with a water-jet cutter. And it needed to be large: 35” x 60”. 

“With fused glass I knew I could control consistency and thickness of the piece, use colors of glass as my palette instead of paint, and make it as one piece without reinforcing bars,” he explains. “I also knew I could add surface texture so the water flowing down the panel would look more interesting.”

When his design was approved Sumner called Denver Glass Machinery, a supplier of large kilns, to see if they knew anyone in the St. Louis region who had a large enough kiln to fuse the panel. They sent him to Third Degree.

“I’m so glad I found Third Degree as a resource. I felt I was in very knowledgeable, capable hands,” he says.

The panel took two firings. The first one created a base that looked like water. Then Sumner and his assistant carefully placed tiny slivers of glass “grass” following a detailed color layout. The process took days. Then the panel was fired a second time, melting the glass pieces into the base.

In July, Sumner’s glass panel was successfully installed, enhancing the Cypress Swamp landscape in the 1904 World's Fair Flight Cage.

Going to the zoo? While you’re admiring Sumner’s beautiful glass panel and his stained glass bird displays at the 1904 World's Fair Flight Cage Cypress Swamp, check out the brightly colored glass signs made by Third Degree.  These rounded pieces replace the engraved stepping stones that Third Degree had created for the zoo’s Cypress Swamp in 2005. The zoo recently decided to rework the pieces and move them from ground to table height, integrating them into the landscape.  We created them in the Hotshop and then slumped 'em in the kiln studio. When they cooled, we engraved them with literary quotes using our in-house engraving equipment.

BLOW YOUR OWN.  BASH IT UP.  HAVE A BALL. 

Sept. 24, October 1, 29, or 30, Blow-Your-Own-Glass-Pumpkin. A 30-Minute Workshop, $65
Help kick off our Nine-Mighty-Fine-Hot Years Birthday Blowout in October with Blow-Your-Own Glass Pumpkin workshops. No experience necessary! Select your workshop date and register online or call. Registration is limited. Students will be contacted by phone or email and given a specific 30-minute time slot between 10 a.m.– 1 p.m.

October 1, Pumpkin Patch Bash, 4 – 7 p.m.,

$5 Adults, Children under 12 FREE

Tickets available Sept. 14
Every year the glass geniuses offer a new take on an old favorite: the glass pumpkin. This year we’re fanning the flames with our very first Glass Pumpkin Patch. Come on down and check out our glass pumpkins and gourds of all shapes and sizes, lovingly created by some of the best glass artists in the city. Inspired? You can sign up to make a glass paperweight or other glass items (prices vary). Tickets available Sept. 14 at www.BrownPaperTickets.com

October 1, First Annual Pumpkin Patch Ball, 7:30 – 10:30 p.m., $100 VIP, $50 Gen. Admission

Third Degree is having a ball! We’ve got delicious treats, amazing fire spinning, burlesque and aerial performances. General Admission ticket ($50) gets you into the Ball where you’ll receive $5 towards a gallery purchase made on that night and $5 towards any class registration made that night. A VIP Ticket ($100) gets you all that plus one free Witch’s Brew Cocktail, 1 blown glass pumpkin from our complimentary VIP patch, and one raffle ticket to win a piece of glass created by our very talented artists. Tickets available NOW: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/195433

OCTOBER 21: THIRD FRIDAY PARTY, 6 - 10 P.M.  FREE 

CELEBRATING NINE-MIGHTY-FINE-HOT YEARS BIRTHDAY BLOWOUT BASH

The Big. The Bad. The Bash of the Season.  You're invited to the see-and-be-seen annual PAR-TAY where we heat up the night in a BIG way. Be amazed with Death Pumpkin Match (their fate is in your hands), the Largest-Created-Before-Your-Very-Eyes-Blown Pumpkin (you could win it), and more... 

Work with our instructors and make orange beads, fused jewelry, ghostly glass tiles, or paperweights. ($20 - $30). Gallery presents Branching Out: Arlene Ligori and On Fire: TDGF Instructors.

My Chef Heidi serves up tapas-style small plates for in gallery or al fresco dining. Hear fab music by Salt of the Earth. Fire Techs Performance Troupe flames it up with a special performance and dance sequence based on Michael Jackson's Thriller Album. WooHoo!

Third Fridays are free, family-friendly and handicapped accessible.  Thirsty? Cash bar.