[Nick] This season on Blown Away…
-[whooshing] -[dramatic music playing]
…ten talented glassblowers from around the world
came to North America's largest hot shop.
Let's blow some glass!
[Nick] Armed with blow pipes, punties and paddles,
they battled it out for fame and fortune.
-Rest on the bench! -Oh, God!
Chaos!
[Nick] Glass got the best of Claire, Rob, Maddy, Brenna, Grace,
Trenton, Dan and John, as they were all asked to leave the hot shop.
[suspenseful string music playing]
With just one challenge left, only Minhi and John Moran remain.
[Minhi] Being Best in Glass would be completely life-changing.
It's been an emotional ride. It's surreal.
[Nick] Who will be named Blown Away Champion
and earn the title Best in Glass?
I'm Nick Uhas, and this is the season finale of Blown Away.
[hissing, sizzling]
[dramatic music playing]
Glassblowers, welcome to the moment we've all been waiting for.
[Minhi] The finale.
[in sing-song] Whoo! I did it.
[laughs]
I, literally this morning, just said, "I have a 50-50% chance of winning this."
It hasn't quite set in yet.
John, Minhi, you've bested eight other exceptional glassblowers
and overcome nine challenges to be right here, right now.
It's really still something I can't fathom.
I've given all of myself to this competition.
And now, for the final challenge.
Cue the gallery doors.
[intriguing music playing]
[Minhi] Seeing the empty gallery is like seeing a giant blank canvas.
I don't know if I like that or if that terrifies me. [chuckles]
You will each have eight hours to fill one half of the gallery.
[chuckles]
[Nick] The challenge is to create a cohesive,
original and immersive glass installation
that will blow everyone away.
[hopeful music playing]
The theme of your installation is entirely up to you,
but I will say that we expect you to produce a technical tour de force
with a strong, personal statement.
-Yeah. -[chuckles softly]
No pressure. It'll be fine.
[laughs]
Not only are you competing for a prize package valued at $60,000
that includes a residency
at the world-renowned Corning Museum of Glass.
The winning installation will also go on display at Corning.
Having work shown and installed at Corning is a lifelong goal.
It's like a bucket list item.
Today, you two have a chance to make that dream come true.
I want this so bad it's all I've thought about
from the moment that I applied for the competition.
Helping evaluate your installations
is the curator of Post-War and Contemporary Glass
at the Corning Museum, Susie Silbert.
[uplifting music playing]
[John] Susie Silbert is a big deal.
I look up to her so much.
That has me feeling a little starstruck.
I know how intense this moment is for you.
So I brought six stellar glass workers from our Corning Museum of Glass…
-Great. -…to work with you to create your pieces
and help you realize your vision.
For the finale, you'll be evaluated on design, concept,
and overall presentation of your installation,
as well as your entire Blown Away body of work.
-Ready to get started? -Yes.
Here we go. [chuckles]
Your time starts…
[suspenseful music playing]
…now.
[both laugh]
[dramatic string music playing]
This final challenge means a lot to me. I definitely feel more pressure.
Let's do it. I'm so excited to work with you.
A lot is being asked of us.
It's like, "Do the best thing you've ever done,
but you only have eight hours."
[clicks tongue] Good luck. [laughs]
[hopeful string music playing]
[Nick] So here's a photo retrospective
of John and Minhi's work over the nine challenges.
You know, John has stuck to what he knows.
I don't know as he's, like, pushed himself outside of the box
as much as Minhi has.
There's definitely been a progression
in how she's approached the material and each challenge.
Who do you think has the edge here?
Honestly, I think, once we get to the finale,
it's concept, it's design, it's technique,
all of those things,
and they both are really good in all of those areas.
So I think they both have a chance of winning.
I'd agree with that.
John really does have the lock on his particular sculpting
and on his shading, and all of that.
But, you know, there are things that Minhi's doing that are advanced
and very interesting, and she has spark.
I think it's really interesting to see how different these two artists are.
Using the floor, I kinda wanna make this like cobblestones
that will piece together.
Coming out, this will also be shrubbery, like little grass coming out,
make it look like it's pushing up through the ground.
The experience I want people to have
is to discover these moments of the white floor breaking apart
and revealing life underneath.
And we're just gonna go really big.
We're going to make it as big as we can so that it has this really big presence.
Lots and lots of color.
And we'll apply the color with murrine.
My piece is going to be this sphere
that represents a fire within the spirit that is lifting up.
It's like pulling up out of this tar,
out of this muck from many, many different places.
It's about rising from the ashes.
There's gonna be this stuffed toy rabbit that'll be here.
It'll be kind of, like, discarded.
The rabbit is supposed to be like a discarded child's toy.
But there's a flower growing from it. It's a symbol of birth and growth.
Is any of this gonna be on a pedestal or hanging from the ceiling?
No. The real idea for this piece is that it's all about the floor.
So everything will be down on the ground.
I definitely feel like it's a risk to not fill the space with a lot of objects,
but I feel like it's a calculated risk.
Nearing the end of the time,
I'm gonna have all of us, all hands on deck,
trying to make as much of this darkness to cover the floor.
-Well, looks like we got our work cut out. -[laughs] I think so. I think so.
-Let's do this! -Yeah. Let's do it.
[all chuckling]
-[timer ticking] -[fire whooshing]
-This is the fun part. -[woman] Yeah!
All right, let's do it.
[dramatic music playing]
[John] I'm incredibly pumped right now.
-Yeah, buddy! -Yeah! We're in it!
[exciting music playing]
I'm gonna manage the Corning team.
I'll show Tom and Eric how I would approach the brick.
And then let them run with it.
You want to texture this up more.
-Yeah. -Just kinda, like, hit the surface.
[Tom] Yep, yep.
I'm gonna work with Helen on making the rabbit parts.
[Helen] Is the stuffing gonna be coming out of the mid-body or the hand?
Yeah. The middle of the body a little bit.
I'm not very good at making rondels, so I'll have Eric do that.
I feel great.
It's been a hell of a run.
This challenge is super important. Everything I've done was to be here now.
It feels so good to be at this point in the competition.
My husband encouraged me to apply.
He lost his battle to cancer.
And so I said, "Okay, I'm-- I'm gonna do it."
And now, here I am.
Don't leave cold spots.
[chuckles softly]
Not promising anything.
[laughs]
Susie, do you have a prediction for who the winner will be?
No, I don't, because one of the things that's strangest
for me to be right here
is that I don't really think of there being winners at art.
To win at art is to get to keep making your work every day.
[elegant piano music playing]
When I first wanted to be an artist, I was a painter.
And the moment I walked into the hot shop,
I dropped everything and I never painted again.
Everything was just about glass from that moment on.
[Nick] So we say that this prize is life-changing.
How true is that?
I think it's incredibly true.
[John] The prize at the end would be something amazing.
I've been doing this for 20 years,
and I have no savings, no--
I don't own anything. I have no money.
To actually have money in the bank
and to be able to do a residency at a place like Corning,
like, a dream come true. [chuckles]
That is a huge, huge game changer for a lot of artists.
Hustle, hustle.
[exciting string music playing]
This piece represents my journey. It represents my will to carry on.
It's really important that the sphere is very colorful.
It's supposed to represent hope.
So I am utilizing warm colors.
Reds and yellows, showing this fiery spirit.
I decide to use a murrine technique.
I want to use murrine to make a pattern that is pretty uniform and round.
Seeing a lot of broken cane.
[assistant] It keeps breaking. And the other one did, too.
[suspenseful music playing]
That's not supposed to happen. [chuckles]
There's a reaction happening with the clear glass
that is causing everything to shatter.
Yeah. It's just a thing that happens sometimes, unfortunately.
So I have to make a decision to pivot.
I have lost two hours.
I'm just going to do the same plan,
just a different color palette and hope I have enough time.
[fire whooshing]
Right now, I am texturing this rabbit.
'Cause I want to make sure it looks like a stuffed animal.
-This will give it the fluffy feeling. -Right.
[John] So the rabbit is supposed to be like a discarded child's toy.
So it is about lost innocence.
My father died when I was ten.
It's not something I talk about a lot,
but I know that it's something that really affected me in my life.
This part of making for me is cathartic.
This is, like, how I process everything.
I think that's why I do it.
It's really, uh, what I was imagining.
[dramatic music playing]
[Nick] So this season, for the first time ever,
the winning installation goes on display at the Corning Museum of Glass.
How big of an impact is that for the artist?
I hope that it can have a really big impact.
The Corning Museum of Glass
is the preeminent museum of glass in the world.
-[clanging] -Beautiful.
This is an incredible platform that I think a lot of artists dream of.
It's like the whole thing's been leading up to this.
It's what you think about the whole time.
I haven't thought about the fact that this could be displayed at Corning
because I don't want to jinx myself.
[optimistic music playing]
I see, on John's team, they're spending a lot of time
putting texture on different pieces.
Like, a lot of time. I hope that pays off.
So far, I have made the bunny head.
We've made a pile of the bricks, and this is the body of the bunny.
Just a hare more to do. [chuckles]
-[exciting music playing] -It does take up time.
And I'm very particular about the colors, so I wanna make sure it looks right.
Wait, I'm like-- Am I making this backwards?
Hmm.
[groans]
It needs to go the other way.
Made the head resting on one side.
And when I sculpted the body, I made the body going the other direction.
Uh, I made a mistake. I'm fixing it now.
[Helen] There you go.
Luckily, though, I had the heat in the piece already,
so we just kinda flopped it the other way.
What we always say is, uh,
"What makes a good glass artist isn't what you can make,
it's what you can fix," so… [chuckles]
[Minhi] So, we ran into a bit of a compatibility problem.
[glass clattering]
The warm colors are exploding,
so we have to use a different color palette now.
I switch to cool colors like blues and greens and purples.
-[glass shatters] -[assistant] That's breaking too.
-That's not good. -[Minhi] Whoa. What is happening?
It's totally doing the same thing.
-[assistant] Shattering from the outside. -[George] Yeah, yeah.
[Minhi] That's so crazy.
[suspenseful music playing]
I don't even know what to say about that.
[John] Incompatibility happens,
but this is the same glass we've been using the entire time.
I think she used it in a way that we haven't done so far.
How you doing, Minhi?
[Minhi] Not good.
I don't want to win because Minhi wasn't able to make what she wanted to make.
I want her to pull through and make something awesome.
That's a lot of time that was wasted.
[dramatic music playing]
I'm feeling insanely overwhelmed.
[clattering]
I've totally shut down.
I can't think and I don't know what to do.
[inhales]
You hanging in there?
You got it. [pats back]
Just… Just get out of your-- get out of your own head.
-You'll be fine. -Okay.
You got it.
Having Katherine tell me that I can do this is exactly what I needed.
[intense music playing]
All right. Good luck.
At this point, I know I just need to move forward.
Instead of using color bar, which seems like it's not going to work,
I have to use frit.
So I switch from murrine to cane.
Well, at least we get our fire colors back this way.
[chuckling] This'll be all right.
[intriguing music playing]
There's four hours gone, and there's four hours left!
You're halfway through!
Okay, flash.
-[John] All right, go ahead and slack. -Yeah.
-Hi, Katherine. -Hi, John.
What are you hoping to accomplish with this installation?
I want to make a piece that is, like, immersive in a very different way.
So the piece isn't only about the glass
that's going into the-- the space, it's also about the space.
Do you think that's gonna be risky?
I am a little terrified by it.
But I feel like I've been trying to stick with my gut the whole time.
This final challenge means a lot to me,
so I decided to make, probably, the smallest piece
I've made in the entire competition.
[chuckles]
I'll leave you to it. And good luck.
-Thanks, Katherine. -All right.
[intense music playing]
[Minhi] Yeah, looks like fire to me.
In the making of this work
about rising above the challenges and the hardship in life,
I am actually going through that.
This is definitely a time for redemption.
This is where I get fierce and I power through.
My only other option is to just, like, curl up in a ball and give up.
And I'm definitely not doing that.
I'm rising.
[John] I'm assembling this bunny hot.
That's up.
I'm doing it this way because it's the way that it looks the most natural.
And it's important for this stuffed animal to look that way.
I like it.
He's laying the right way.
[Minhi] The colors look good. Cool.
[pleasant music playing]
We make the big sphere.
It's not murrine, but it's in my color palette.
And it's big, it's bold.
And in a lot of ways, this swirling mass is actually better.
So, I feel good about it.
[John] Okay, everybody lift and pull.
-[clacking] -Beautiful.
[clacking]
[Minhi] There it goes.
That's the only thing I have in the annealer.
I have to do everything else, literally.
[suspenseful music playing]
[hissing]
So I have this little flower I have to make.
It'll be, kind of, coming out of the inside of the rabbit.
When I first got here,
I was intimidated by all of the people who were here.
I want to prove to myself and the world that,
if I stay true to myself and I make the things that I believe are important,
then I can win.
I like this a lot.
[music fades]
So, we're all working on the darkness.
Together.
[dramatic music playing]
This is a tarry substance
that's trying to drown my main bubble that's lifting and rising up.
-[George] Got it? -[Minhi] Got it.
In the annealer, I just boxed the biggest, darkest black drip of the installation.
[laughs]
Glassblowers, there's 45 minutes left.
[George laughs]
[John] The most important thing will be to make all these little parts.
We have a lot to do and not so much time to do it.
So… I'm definitely nervous.
[intense music playing]
Flip.
[John] Okay, flash that for me.
Yes.
So, what makes a great installation versus just a regular piece?
You're thinking not just about the composition of an object
but you're thinking about how to use a space.
It's really difficult for most artists to work in the installation format.
[Katherine] You really have to, kind of, think of components or multiples
to kind of make a presence in the space.
The installation, honestly, in a lot of ways,
can be harder than actually making the objects.
It's one thing to put something on a pedestal.
But it's another to make the viewer feel like you're walking into an environment.
[intense music playing]
Go ahead. Straight down.
-Yeah. -[sizzling]
[John] These are the parts that go
between the bricks on the ground and stuff growing between them.
It's gonna be cool.
[Minhi] Already feeling the gooey black.
[suspenseful music playing]
There's 15 minutes left.
Let's get your final pieces into the annealer.
-[woman] Hot and drippy? -[Minhi] Yeah.
As time starts to dwindle down,
I feel like I have enough to see my vision.
[John] If it comes out the way I see it,
it'll be my favorite piece of the competition.
But I won't know if this is gonna work until it's installed. [chuckles]
Minhi, there's only five minutes left!
[clacking]
Beautiful.
-On its side is fine. -[John] Awesome job.
-[Helen] Good job. -Nice job, guys, seriously.
Ten challenges down. I'm gonna miss this place.
-[George laughing] -Go, team! You guys are awesome. [laughs]
Once I nail this installation,
I've made it.
I've made it all the way.
-[John] Congrats. -[laughing] Thank you.
[suspenseful string music playing]
[John] We'll start with laying out the bricks.
Then we'll start breaking glass and piecing that glass around it.
I've done installations before,
but, typically, those take months and years to create.
[chuckles]
We can build up some depth on it too.
I want the viewer, when they enter, to see this really serene space.
And then they discover these elements that are out of place.
The rabbit's gonna go here, yeah.
So it's this corner that he goes in.
[woman] So which one is hanging lower?
-This bottom? -[man] The black part hangs lower.
[Minhi] Without the sphere,
without that central pillar,
there is no piece.
All right, here we go.
So, that is my focus as I get started.
-I like that. I'll just tack it here. -Let's do that.
[John] What I'm concerned about in this installation
is that the rondels we made, they have to match and line up seamlessly
and appear like the broken floor.
It looks really cool.
-Yeah, and connect it here? -[man] You want to do that?
[Minhi] I have to think about how all of the pieces are gonna come together,
and I'm wanting to just fill my side as much as I can.
I won't move it at all. I'll squirt some glue in there.
[Minhi] It's getting a little bit precarious,
because since everything is literally connected,
if one thing shifts, it could take the whole thing down.
[assistants] Whoa!
[man] Watch the back of that.
[woman] Ooh! Ooh.
-[George] Be careful. -[Minhi] I am.
Living life on the edge.
I think this is my favorite piece I've made for the competition.
[Minhi] I feel that this is a great ending piece
because it's about hope and it's about looking forward.
You guys, we did it.
-[John] Thank you, guys. Awesome job. -Looks good. Yeah!
You all killed it.
Group hug!
-[George] All right. -[squeals happily]
[gentle piano music playing]
[clunks]
[Minhi] I hope the evaluators can feel everything that I've put into this piece,
the struggle and the accomplishment of working through that struggle.
I've gotten to the other side of something really dark,
and looking forward is so bright.
[John] The concept derives from the white space.
The experience I want people to have is to enter this empty space,
but that underneath of it, there's this life pushing through,
finding a way to shine.
Welcome to the grand finale gallery.
This is Minhi's side of the gallery.
I'm really thrilled to see that Minhi has pulled this off.
Totally impressed that she was able to take something that seemed
like it was going off the rails and bring it into a cohesive vision.
And I guess that's, like, what the piece is about.
Being able to pick yourself up
from a really hard time and still make something powerful.
[Katherine] I really am enjoying where these stringers or puddles of tar
are coming into contact with some of the surfaces.
The way this one, kind of, folds over,
I feel like that animation really helps propel her idea.
Yeah. She's using the space,
and she's using the things in the space pretty effectively.
[Katherine] Yeah, definitely.
You know, one thing that I do really love
is the real contrast between the brightness and lightness of this form
versus, like, just the inky blackness of all of these other forms.
I'm not sure that this solution with those stripes
is exactly what she was aiming for at the beginning,
but there is something about that shape
and those colors that does convey the feeling
of, like, a hot air balloon rising up.
So in that way, I think she's bringing her concept forward
in a way that's also pretty visually pleasing and engaging.
Mm-hmm.
But, I am trying not to see
the silicone in different places.
[Katherine] You know, I don't know if that's just inexperience or time.
You know, there could be lots of reasons, but I feel like…
I would have wished that that was done with a little bit more refinement.
[Nick] How hard is it to make multiple pieces
and bring them all together for an installation?
[Katherine] It's really hard.
And usually people spend months prepping and planning,
making parts, making sure they're gonna work.
To try to do all of this
in such a compressed time frame is really challenging.
-Which is impressive. -[Katherine] Mm-hmm.
[intriguing music playing]
[Nick] This is John Moran's side of the gallery.
"Tossed aside, the abandoned stuffed bunny,
though torn and broken, is the source for new life."
He is doing something interesting playing with the space.
The white, broken tile is pretty interesting.
Like, it's burst through. And I dig all the greenery in there.
Seems like that must have been a lot of time torching together frit.
But I'm not…
I'm having all sorts of feelings… I guess that's good.
-[both chuckling] …that I wouldn't have expected.
And I'm not sure that I have a total conclusion yet
about how I feel like this is working.
Would you maybe say that John was going the less-is-more route?
I don't see this as being less-is-more.
Because what he does have here is kinda dense.
There's a lot of detail, there's a lot of color and texture,
a lot of realism.
Like that bunny looks like it's soft,
and it looks like it's been loved and dropped out of the stroller,
and maybe hit by a car.
-[laughing] You know? -Oh, jeez.
I mean, that's a lot.
That's not just giving the idea of it,
that's really embodying it,
so I-- I think he's kind of a maximalist,
uh, when you look at it.
[Katherine] I think it's interesting that it's activating the floor.
-That's original. -That is original.
Seems like the jury is still out whether it paid off or not.
[Nick] What are your thoughts and feelings about this smaller piece
where the grass is kinda poking through?
You know, I actually love that.
I mean, I feel like that encapsulates everything he's trying to do.
It's a lot more humble than what he's got going on over here.
I'm sure he would not feel comfortable just presenting us with that
when these stakes are so high.
But I actually think that is really successful.
[gentle music playing]
[Nick] Two very different artists. Two very different art installations.
[suspenseful music playing]
Deliberation time.
Who made better glass? John or Minhi?
I feel like there were fewer issues in John Moran's piece, technically.
Minhi's concept was definitely a little bit more clear
and more clearly articulated in her piece.
There's a lot going on in John Moran's piece
that, I think, muddies the waters a bit,
but at the same time, maybe,
opens it up for, maybe,
some other kinds of interpretations as well.
Throughout the competition, which artist do you think grew more?
John did come in at a high level of skill.
He's shown us that that skill is real,
and that he can do that over and over again.
Where Minhi started,
with that, sort of, Venetian-mirror-looking thing,
to where she is now,
that shows an incredible progression, a real willingness to experiment.
It's pretty incredible.
So you've both made a decision.
Yes.
[dramatic music playing]
[John] This has been one of the best experiences of my life.
No matter what happens, I've done everything I came here to do.
And I'm definitely leaving this competition
as a better artist and, I feel like, as a stronger human being.
[Minhi] When I first came here,
I thought that I was doing this for my husband, Jesse,
but now I realize that I'm doing this for myself.
I genuinely couldn't have asked for more than that.
Minhi, John, you are two very creative and determined glassblowers.
I'm impressed and pretty proud to see what you guys have put together.
Both of your gallery showings were incredibly ambitious.
It's pretty incredible.
Thank you.
John, this season, you were one of the "heavy hitters,"
but you never took that for granted.
Time and time again, you came out swinging.
You never rested on your laurels.
You found a way to deliver and still be true to yourself.
And that is why you made it to the finale.
Thank you.
-Minhi, our wild card. -[intriguing music playing]
You showed up shaky.
You were raw with grief and seemed unsure of yourself.
But throughout the competition,
we watched you use the hot shop as a way to heal.
Minhi, we believe in you,
and I hope now, you believe in yourself too.
I do.
[Minhi and John chuckling]
We have come to a decision.
[suspenseful music playing]
This season's Blown Away Champion is…
[music building]
[music fades]
John.
[pleasant music playing]
-You're awesome, Minhi. -[both] Mm.
So happy to be here with you.
Congratulations, you are officially Best in Glass.
Thank you so much.
-Thank you, guys, for everything. -Oh, congratulations.
I'm incredibly proud.
I'm… I don't think I've been more proud of anything in my life.
When I came here, I was excited and hopeful,
and now I am the Blown Away Champion, and, uh, it's still very hard to believe.
-Great job, Minhi. -[chuckles]
I have learned that the struggle is real.
But if you open your eyes and look around,
I promise that there is something to smile about.
Thank you, guys, for everything. Really.
-I don't know what to say. -[all laughing]
You're awesome. [laughs]
I have no idea what's next.
I'm gonna keep going, making some new work.
And I have some new ideas,
so I'm excited to-- to go back to the studio, actually.
[closing theme music playing]