Throw sand, lime and soda into a 2,000 degree Fahrenheit furnace,
and you get liquid glass.
Skilled glassblowers gather the molten mixture using hollow pipes.
And when they blow,
glass inflates to form a bubble to shape and sculpt.
The tools and techniques date back to Roman times,
but we're about to
turn up the heat.
We're back at North America's largest hot shop
to watch ten exceptional artists…
…fight fire with fire.
And now the fun begins.
Go big or go home.
And with great risk…
-Oh, God. -Rest on the bench. Rest on the bench!
-I always come out swinging. -…comes great reward.
Yeah, baby! -Whoo!
If they can survive our fiery competition,
they'll win a life-changing prize package
that will establish them around the globe as Best in Glass.
I'm Nick Uhas. Prepare to be Blown Away.
Glassblowers, welcome back to the hot shop.
Coming into this next challenge, I'm just trying to do my best.
And hopefully it's better than the worst person.
It's not gonna be easy.
Now that there's five of us,
it is real in the sense that, hey, you're gettin' closer.
Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, only one of us can take this.
For centuries, artists like Degas, Renoir, Matisse,
have been inspired by the circus and its bright colors,
bold patterns, and big personalities.
One of those great artists, as I'm sure you know,
is Venetian Maestro Pino Signoretto,
and his amazingly-crafted glass clowns.
Pino Signoretto is one of the godfathers of glass sculpting, I would say.
His series of clowns have so much movement and emotion in them.
They're really incredibly sculpted.
Uh, definitely not making a clown. I don't like clowns.
For this challenge,
we want you to take the over-the-top energy found under the big top
and create a circus-themed piece of art.
To help Katherine evaluate your work is aerial acrobat
and circus company owner, Miranda Tempest.
Seeing the guest evaluator, she just looks so lively.
And I love what she does for a living.
The circus and the hot shop are all about taking risks
and creating a spectacle.
Plus, we both get to play with fire.
You wanna play with fire? So do we.
Dancing with fire,
even though it's about five feet away from us,
you can still feel the heat coming off.
That kinda makes us glass artists right at home.
All I can think is that she's about to catch her hair on fire.
For this challenge,
we will be evaluating you on design, concept and technical skill.
The winner of the challenge will be named Best in Blow
and will receive the very last advantage of the competition.
-Oh, nice. -Okay.
I want the advantage, but really I just want a win right now.
I just-- I-- I need a win.
The artist that does not blow us away
will be shedding the tears of a clown,
and asked to leave the hot shop.
Glassblowers, you have four and a half hours for this challenge.
Your time starts… now.
I love this challenge.
I'm making a bearded dragon, which is also a bearded lady.
This is paying homage to Annie Jones,
who is one of the most famous bearded ladies in history.
She advocated for shifting the norms about what is considered a freak.
What I'm making is a seal.
It's on a pedestal, and it's jumping through a ring of fire.
The ring of fire symbolizes hoops that we all have to jump through.
Everyone that came here
had to jump through a lot of hoops to get here.
And we sacrificed a lot to be here.
Yeah, I left my girlfriend back home.
That's not easy.
But she's my number-one supporter, and she wants me to win.
Until then, I'm just trying to make it to the next challenge.
I'm making a walrus named Walter.
He's auditioning for the circus, but things aren't going super well.
He keeps popping the balls
that he's supposed to be balancing on his head.
He's gonna be really cute.
You know, it's the circus, it should be fun. Kind of…
You know, it'll be good.
I'm gonna make a clown of sorts, but it's in the bear form.
I've definitely got some bear in me, if you know what I mean.
It's just like the Russian dancing bear.
He'll have a small fez cap on top of his head.
Ever the performer.
As artists we take a lot of risks and expose ourselves publicly,
and we bare a little bit of ourselves to the audience.
When I thought about the circus, I thought about the political circus.
I'm gonna make a clown-inspired elephant.
The elephant has an orange toupee and it has orange face paint.
Take from it what you will.
All right, so the theme is "circus."
-Here we go. -Here goes nothin'.
So it's gonna be a lot of bits, a lot of flashing.
-We'll make a walrus. His name's Walter. -Love it.
-Whoo!
Now we're gonna sweat.
I think if I was a circus performer, I would like to do the human cannonball.
That would be awesome, like, flying through the air.
Mm…
I think he's too small to be a cannonball.
I would want to work with an exotic animal,
like a tiger or a lion.
Get back in there.
Minhi's the only one that could pull off the trapeze.
Looking good, Minhi!
-Excuse me? -Hey! Whoa-ho!
Oh no, my girlfriend's watchin'.
There's moments where the hot shop is like a circus.
We have to be quick, think on our feet, and we get to play with fire.
Miranda, what is it that you like about working with fire specifically?
I mean, the work itself is pretty inherently thrilling,
and yet, as literally combustible as it is,
it's actually quite predictable in how it behaves.
That really is a lot like glassblowing,
using the heat to work its magic with the material
is something that glassblowers do all the time.
Yes, that's the shape I want.
We're, like, playing with fire,
and we're juggling this molten material.
I-- I think we all belong in the freak show.
Uh, starting with the bear, the dancing bear.
I'm making a circus bear dancing on a ball, wearing a fez cap,
and crying.
Miranda, so I feel like every kid sort of, like, has this
fantasy of, like, running away from home and joining the circus.
So, what's that like?
Sometimes touring can be a bit on the lonely side.
But the nice thing about the circus, the community will have your back.
Oh, my gosh, that is totally another parallel.
You know, artists are rooting for each other.
Even in this competitive environment, they all want to see each other succeed.
I want to win, and they want to win, but we don't want to beat each other.
-Looking good. -Thanks, man.
Glassblowers are supportive of each other because, you know, it's a team sport.
So I am making the head of the elephant right now.
I'll add the trunk later.
We're gonna make the bow tie.
Putting a nice, big bow tie right on Walter's chest.
Do bow ties have anything in the middle?
I've never tied one, I only do clip-on.
Katherine, typically I'd ask you what you would do for this challenge,
but, as I sort of understand, you've already been there and done that.
A little bit.
My best friend and I collaborated on a body of work based around clowns.
How do you bring the circus to life with your work?
Color is extremely important.
I would expect to see these artists use a lot of it.
You know, Olympic Color Rod has provided this hot shop
with frit and powder and bar.
-No clowning around. -No clowning around. Nope.
Awesome.
Aw, that's not bad.
I figured I'd start off with a ring of fire.
I've never made a ring before.
I had my assistant bring a bit of orange glass,
and I wrap it on the ring to kinda create some flames.
Gotta be really careful.
It's really fragile, and if you air it too long,
it can create stress cracks.
Don't have time to make a new one.
We're gonna be racing against the clock, dude.
I see Dan's bear is really coming together.
It's a motif that Dan has used before
as a representation of his indigenous culture.
So he might have a little bit of a leg up
in being able to make a bear pretty well and pretty quickly.
He's dancing for his dinner, just like me.
Is the bear me? No. I'm not the bear.
But I-- You know, I definitely have bearlike qualities.
My family, the Children of the Setting Sun,
are the descendants of Heiltsuk, is a bear family.
Well, you can see, I've been wearing my bear necklace this whole time,
and that's, uh, the crest of our, uh, family.
You know, always remember where you come from.
Ooh, those eyes look good.
I am making a bearded dragon lady.
Nice. Okay, we're ready for the lids.
I'm thinking a lot about me being the last female here in the competition.
This piece challenges gender roles.
A woman can have a beard, a woman can work in a hot shop.
But that doesn't make her any less of a lady.
I'm gonna shoot for the stars.
I expect to miss, but sometimes I hit it.
I'm working on the flipper fins of the walrus.
Flash.
I'm not a full-time artist, I have a job.
But I do have another side. I do make artwork.
To possibly have the opportunity now to, like, be a full-time artist,
especially if I win this whole thing, that would be pretty life-changing.
-I'm really excited about it. -That's awesome.
So I'm making a little elephant that has kind of a political caricature to it.
Right now I'm putting the eyeballs in
and just giving a little bit of, uh, texture in the eyes.
It's all about the sculpting in this challenge,
and making sure that I get the personality in there.
Otherwise, the piece doesn't really have much to say.
It's gonna be the fake hair.
So the hair, I'm layering a couple different oranges and yellows
to get, like, streaks in it.
I'll heat it up and use a wire brush to just scrape some, um, texture into it
which will give it layering and depth.
Yeah. That's what we like to see.
Hey, guys, we got two hours left!
Two hours left!
Struggle bus. Anyone need a lift? There's a spot for everyone.
I just need to get going a little faster, I think.
It's really interesting.
John Sharvin's making a walrus, and Trenton's making a seal.
It's like, were they looking at each other's notes?
-What happened here? -Right.
There is a concern that, like, John and I's pieces are kinda similar.
Now we're just gonna add a whole bunch of fat rolls to this guy.
There's me and Trenton that haven't won one yet.
And that puts us in the bottom two.
But in the end,
this is a competition mainly against yourself and what you can produce.
Best flipper forward, for sure.
Turn… Stop.
Right now, I'm working on the pants. So they're red and white striped pants.
Kind of a little bit Uncle Sam-ish.
I'm drawing stripes on the pants with the red cane,
because that's what's gonna give it this, kind of, clown circus-y feel.
When I thought of Uncle Sam,
I immediately thought it's kind of like this clown costume, in a way,
and it would be perfect for the elephant.
Okay, quick flash.
Hi, Dan. You want to tell me what you're workin' on?
-Yeah, a dancing bear. Spelled "B-A-R-E."
Baring your soul for the masses.
Is that what you feel like you're doing here?
A little bit. You know, you put a lot into these, uh, challenges.
Every one of these challenges, you really have to dig deep.
The turnaround is really quick.
That is really taxing on your creativity.
Do you feel like you're becoming a better artist here with all these challenges?
Every time I get into the challenges,
you peel away the layers of the onion a little bit,
-and a little more is revealed, I feel. -Yeah.
I haven't won a challenge since the first challenge.
I'm not gonna lie, I could use a win.
But you gotta lose some to really want it.
Hoo! I knew it was gonna be tight.
Right now I'm making some tusks for Walter.
We're about to attach the beard.
It makes me nervous
because anytime you have bits that are sticking out really far,
it's fragile.
Oh, boy. That's gonna be a problem.
This glass can crack at any second,
and if I'm not careful then that's gonna be the end of me.
That's my fear.
I need a flash.
Flip.
It's a flipper, get it? Yeah. All right, flash.
One hour left, everyone!
One hour!
Ticktock, ticktock.
Okay, flash.
This competition really takes a toll on everything.
Emotionally, on my body.
Must go on!
You win and you have the next challenge.
So you're constantly in this, like, rotating emotional and mental place.
It is very tough.
Watching from home, and you're like, "Yeah, I could do that."
You get in there, you're like, "Oh, I gotta do that."
Let's get this done.
I mean, honestly, part of me wants to go home sometimes.
All right, I'm sweating now.
School of hard knocks, baby.
-Lift. You got it? -Yeah.
Oh, flash. Flash, flash, flash, flash.
All right, that's good.
-Flip.
Ooh! Nice catch.
Artists, time is flying. There's only 20 minutes left!
Ah!
Time to hustle.
I am making the garment to the head.
I only have 20 minutes to make the apparel portion of the piece.
It's go time. I don't know if I'm gonna make it.
Time is my only enemy.
I still have to add the trunk,
which is the last element that brings the elephant to life,
because now it looks really strange.
But I'm definitely running out of time.
I need you to flash on this for me, please.
All right, last flash. I'll meet you over there.
Ah! Dammit.
All right, that'll have to do.
Artists, there's five minutes left! This is your five-minute warning!
Ah!
Ready?
Just going slow and steady.
Get under it.
You got this. Take it.
One, two, three, go. Yeah, beautiful.
Take it.
Here we go.
Left side!
Take a deep breath.
Gently, gently, gently.
Hell, yeah.
-High-five. -Nice.
We got something done.
Yeah, dude.
-Whoo! Whoo! -Whoo!
For this challenge, we had to create a piece
that is inspired by the circus.
I'm really thrilled with how my piece turned out,
but I don't control what the evaluators think.
As artists, we use our artwork
to process things that we're going through or thinking,
and, uh, sharing a part of yourself with people,
for better or worse.
Everyone in life goes through challenges
and has to jump through hoops.
You know, you've just gotta push on through
and hope that you make it to the other side.
I hope that the evaluators get the references.
I hope it gives them a laugh.
In the end, it's not a specific political statement.
It's-- It's kind of a-- a viewpoint of politics in general.
I hope the evaluators smile and maybe see a bit of themselves in it.
And, you know, art doesn't have to be serious all the time.
I-- I hope it makes people happy, I guess. Yeah.
Welcome to the fun house.
This is John Sharvin's piece.
-It's so good! Look how the skin looks. -It's really great.
He's done a really great job on the walrus.
And the little details of the deflated balls,
I think, look great too.
When I think "circus," I don't necessarily go to a place of the walrus.
Do you think, perhaps, that that's the whole point?
Is that this animal doesn't fit in, necessarily, to the circus?
I mean, this seems so representative
of John Sharvin's tale of just trying to become a glassblower,
coming from an engineering background and now succeeding as a glass artist.
I do feel like there's something that's really, really endearing
about what he has here.
This is Trenton's seal.
"The ring represents the opposition
that stands between us and where we want to be."
You know, I like the narrative that he's implying here,
the challenges and obstacles
that you need to surpass to get anywhere in life.
I really love the use of color in this one,
the gradient of color in the seal.
I just wish, maybe, a little bit more time had been taken
on the design of the ring and stand.
I think he did a nice job on the flames.
The rest of the construction, I feel like, seems a little rushed and not as careful.
I'm very confused why there's a spoon below the ring.
Mm.
Me too.
So does this get your seal of approval?
-You really dropped the ball on that pun. -Oh, there we go.
This is Dan's piece.
It looks to me like this is all, like, one piece of glass.
The whole body is all one piece of glass.
And then the balls and the little fez are separate.
But all attached hot, it looks like.
-So, all done all at once in the hot shop. -Wow.
Technically, that's a lot to be juggling.
I probably could have done without the tears.
The tears?
Oh, I didn't even see the tears.
You know, I think there's already, kind of, this sadness and poignancy
about, you know, the bear with the hat,
and having to dance and sing for its supper, kind of thing.
Maybe the tears just are a little too heavy-handed?
Time to talk about the elephant in the room.
This is John Moran's piece.
I think I have a hunch who he is referencing here.
You don't say.
The texture in this piece is really great.
Everything from, you know, the folds in the elephant's skin, and the hair,
the fabric of his very rumpled Americana suit,
does a lot to add to, sort of, the overall vibe
of, like, the political clown.
He's really outdone himself here.
I think this closely aligns with John Moran's work that he does.
Always, you know, has, maybe, a political message to it.
Politics aside, this is just a really well-done piece.
I would agree. Yeah.
This is Minhi's bearded dragon lady.
Bearded dragons are some of my favorite, like, lizards.
-Oh. Oh. -Uh, they're very cute.
The texture is really great.
I'm not sure, just from a purely aesthetic place,
I'm a massive fan of the shapes used in the beard.
I do love the eyes, though.
And just the general sculpting of the face is really beautifully done.
I'm not super crazy about the look of the skirt.
I feel like it's a little bit distracting, maybe even a little bit overpowering.
It takes some of your attention away from the sculpting she's done on the head.
I don't know, I-- I-- I disagree with, like, everyone.
-Oh, no. Okay. -I think it's so great.
The combination of texture and color…
This skirt reminds me of, like, a clown collar.
To me, it feels very, like, fun and playful, like the circus.
-Mm-hmm. -True, yeah.
So what do you say? Is it time to bring in the glassblowers?
So glad you didn't say, "Send in the clowns."
I'm nervous going into this.
I'm nervous going into every one. As an artist, I put myself on the line.
When I'm trying to make a piece to convey a certain message,
it can either hit it out of the ballpark
or just be a total flop.
It wouldn't feel great to go home right now, but I did my best.
And that's all I can ask for.
Artists, you certainly brought the circus to life with your pieces in the gallery.
I was really impressed with all of the very vivid, bright colors
and definitely recognized a lot of really classic, traditional circus motifs.
Great job.
Dan, tell us how you approached this challenge.
I decided to kinda just lean into more of my personal experience.
Especially in this atmosphere,
it's a little more of a spectacle than I usually work underneath.
Had you thought about putting the stripes of the larger ball,
maybe, at an angle to give it, like, a sense of motion?
You know, I really wanted to put the bear
right at the center of what we call the termination of the canes,
and I just thought that would bring the design together.
You know, I think you did a great job on the bear
and all of the different accessories.
I was curious, though, about the-- the tears.
Well, it's kind of like the tears of a clown.
Although the bear loves to dance,
he's disappointed that he has to wear a fez cap.
Thanks, Dan.
Trenton.
The fire was really great-looking.
I liked it a lot.
At the top of the ring there's a joint.
How do you feel about the connection on the ring itself?
Uh, it could have been a cleaner connection.
It looks like the stand for the ring of fire is a spoon.
Can you talk a bit about that?
It has to do kinda with myself and, like, where I started.
You know, I don't come from a background that, uh…
-A silver spoon in your mouth. -Silver spoon.
And so this piece represents that.
But I think that's what makes us a great community,
is we come from different cultural and economic backgrounds,
but we speak the same language, which is glass.
Thanks, Trenton.
Thank you.
Minhi.
I really love the texture in your piece.
I'm wondering why you went with, like, the pointy protrusions.
I was thinking about, sort of, standing your ground
for the things that make you different,
and the bearded dragon, in particular, will puff up when it feels threatened.
-Thanks, Minhi. -Thank you.
John Moran.
I wanted to be able to create, like, a-- a caricature of a politician
but bring a lot of the motifs that you would have from circus imagery
and make a little bit of a commentary on the political circus.
When you make a piece like this,
do you worry at all about, like, alienating certain people?
Whenever I make most political work, it's always about starting conversation.
So, uh, I don't believe it's alienating.
But, of course, that's not up to me to decide.
-Thank you, John. -Thank you.
We'd love to hear from John Sharvin, AKA Walter the Walrus.
I wanted to kinda portray Walter as this guy
who just really wants to, you know, actually succeed,
but he just keeps failing.
And actually taking that to heart,
and not giving up, and persevering through his downfalls.
Probably for your industry, glass, and for mine as well, the circus,
you're going to fail a lot.
You're gonna constantly have people saying you can't do a thing, or you're too old.
Your walrus resonates with me.
-Thanks, I'm glad.
You know, I feel like the execution on this piece
is probably the best that we've seen from you.
Are you happy with how the piece turned out?
I appreciate the compliment.
Um, and I'm-- I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Yes.
Thank you, artists. We're gonna take a moment to discuss.
We had a walrus and a seal. It's hard to not compare them.
As an artist, you want to win a challenge, but I just want to make it another round.
I feel like I've done the best I can do.
And hopefully, the evaluators feel that way too.
Good intention maybe didn't land where it needed to.
If this piece sends me home,
I take solace in knowing that I stood my ground,
artistically speaking.
Thank you for waiting. We've reached a decision.
Today's Best in Blow is…
John.
-Sharvin.
-Thanks, guys. Oh, that's great.
It's taken a while.
But, uh, it's nice to actually put some of my best work forward
and have that be appreciated.
I feel good.
We've been waiting for that one.
John Sharvin, you have won the very last advantage in the competition,
and that is
going to be revealed at the next challenge.
-Per uje.
And now, the artist that did not blow us away
and must leave the hot shop immediately is…
Trenton.
Thank you. I agree with that decision.
Please say your goodbyes and exit the hot shop.
This competition, it's definitely not for the faint of heart.
I came here and, uh, I was quickly humbled.
-There you go, brother. -Ah.
-Huy ch q'u. -Huy ch q'u.
Dan gave me one of his-- his custom pendants.
A big huy ch q'u to him.
It means a lot to me.
Receiving something that someone's made with their hands
is almost worth more than money to me.