Discover Delmarva Arts: Jason Giusti

BERLIN, Md. — Glassblowing takes patience, creativity, and precision — and Worcester County artist Jason Giusti has spent years practicing those skills, creating colorful glass pieces while helping the next generation of artists learn the craft.

“We start with a molten tank, so it’s like a big ceramic bowl that we melt the glass in and when we get to around 2,000 degrees, we’re able to gather it out of there to form the pieces,” Giusti said.

Giusti says he’s always enjoyed creating, and that his passion for art eventually led him to study glass blowing at Salisbury University. Today, he works as a technician in the university’s hot glass studio, where he creates his own work while helping students learn the craft.

“We offer beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes. So, you can actually major in glass blowing at the studio. . . It’s really hands on and you have to be in the moment the whole time to do it, so it just kind of drew me to that.”

Working with molten glass requires patience and attention — Giusti says that’s what he enjoys most, being completely present when he creates. “You just have to focus there. It just takes you away from everything else. . . I don’t think about anything else when I’m in there besides what’s right there on the end of the pipe.”

Before a piece even takes shape, Giusti carefully builds its color — he says the different patterns and shades come from a process that’s just as important as the blowing itself. “You start with the clear and then I roll it up — they’re like pencil thin strands, and that’s how you get the stripes, and then I swirl it with the tweezers to get that swirly pattern.”

And just like anything else, practice makes perfect. “It’s kind of like happy accidents sometimes. . . It’s just like an instrument — you just got to keep practicing to get good at it.”

To learn more about Giusti’s work, visit his Instagram profile, @Jagglass.