The Muse: Joanne Lyon

There is an honorary support member of the Spiro Lyon Glass team that needs mentioning: Joanne Lyon. She was an amazingly brilliant woman, gallery owner, art connoisseur, Lee’s wife, and my idol.

Joanne championed Lee in his new endeavor as a glass artist.  She also never thought twice of a 23-year-old woman becoming her husband’s sidekick.  Joanne was my mentor on how to be your authentic self.  She had no personal interest in the glass studio. To her, that was Lee’s realm.  While Lee was discovering glass, Joanne was creating a volunteer program for the local National Forest Service that still thrives in the Roaring Fork Valley to this day. 

I recall a time when we were working on some glass gifts for Lee and Joanne’s 50th wedding anniversary.  We were making glass hearts with guest’s initials on them.  I said to Lee unfathomably, “How can anyone be married to the same person for 50 years?”  Lee said, “We are not the same people.  I have changed, Joanne has changed, and we have always supported each other through those changes”.  Brilliant! 

Chakra Installation

Last year I had the great opportunity to create and collaborate with Eaden and Deva Shantay, owners of True Nature Healing Arts in Carbondale, CO, on a commission for their home.

It was a beautiful light filled space in a home full of loving and fantastic energy.  Eaden and Deva wanted something to represent the 7 Chakras and 5 Elements.  I took dimensions of the space and proceeded to sketch out some ideas.  The elements part came naturally, but fitting the chakras in proved to be more of a challenge.  My mind was stuck on "linear" and the space had no place for this.  At first, we had the glass globes floating throughout the space.   Then we found a path up the center where they fit well.  It was Eaden who came up with the idea to have the globes snake up the center in a spine-like curvature.   Brilliant.

The installation of this piece was challenging.  We set up scaffolding in a finished home that the Shantay's were living in.  The install required taking out the ceiling wood planks and creating metal support from which the glass would hang.  We added wiring for lighting as well.  We struggled with "hot spots" in the LED strips that are placed between the glass and metal supports.  I think we set up and broke down the scaffolding 4 times before we were able to complete this, but it was well worth it in the end. 

Eaden and Deva were so patient and gracious.  They were aware that art installations can be a process, and getting it right is the most important part.  

Our First Gig

A few weeks prior to hiring Jacque, Lee had already secured his first commission.  It was an outdoor sculpture for The Gant condominiums in Aspen, Colorado. 

Knowing it would be a huge undertaking, Lee pulled together some additional craftsmen to make the piece happen.  He contracted Carey Bringle, an artist in residence at Anderson Ranch Arts Center/ mechanical engineer/ construction manager along with Phil Carter, a retired Houston real estate developer living in Aspen. Looking back, it is fair to say that none of us had a clue about hot glass or what we were doing, but we were doing it! 

We worked in the studio day after day experimenting with color, ladling glass, cooling glass, and all things glass (that we knew of).  We all had an incredible time teaching ourselves everything there was to know about the art and science of hot glass.  We managed to complete and install the commission that stood proudly in Aspen, CO until 2011 when the Gant underwent a huge renovation.

The origianl Sprio Lyon Glass team in front of the Gant Installation

Great project

Commissions Swirl Glasses

Visiting Spiro Lyon Glass studio can often be inspiring.  Guests are stimulated by the hot glass process and will often want to create something for their home.  These glasses were the product of such a visit.   Friends from Potomac, Maryland came to visit SLG studios while they were vacationing in Aspen.  They absolutely loved the unique style of Dylan Balderson's hand made glasses.  They selected a color scheme and asked Dylan and I to design a set of varying sizes using ambers and blue/green.  Here is what we came up with.  The client is enjoying these in Potomac currently.

The Beginning

The Master, Lee Lyon

     A few months back, my dear friend and mentor, Lee Lyon passed away at the age of 91.  I have been reflecting a great deal as of late of my time as Lee’s student, business partner, adopted daughter, drinking buddy, and much more.  It seems appropriate now to share the legacy of Spiro Lyon Glass, and fantastic story of an inspiring man and his ever-grateful protégé.

     In 1990, after retiring from his family’s hide processing business and post photography dabbling, Lee was working as a freelance Ceramicist.  He had a commission for a ceramic fountain wall.  What he wanted was a red glaze to use on the wall, but could not find a true red.  That was when he decided to enroll in a glass casting class taught by John Lewis at Pilchuck Glass School. 

     Lee imagined he would find a red glaze (glass) that he could use for his project, and that be that.  Instead, something incredible happened. Lee fell in love with molten glass.  “Bitten by the Glass Bug,” you might say.  He returned home, finished his last ceramic project and immediately turned his ceramic studio into a hot glass shop.  Trouble was, hot glass casting is not a one-man job. 

     Lee set out to find a strong young man to assist him in the studio.  He reached out to several brawny prospects that he knew, but all were busy with other things.  One prospect Lee had petitioned, Mark Haas, told Lee that he knew someone that might be available.  Enter Jacqueline Spiro, 23 years old, and as Lee would say “100 pounds soaking wet”.  Not exactly the big strong assistant Lee had in mind, but nonetheless, it was the beginning of a 25-year partnership and the birth of Spiro Lyon Glass.