DIY Network

Ultimate Glassblowing Workshop: Loretta Eby From "Special Presentation" episode DMUW-S

Glass Art from a Chicken Coop

Loretta Eby and Jeff Jackson
Watkinsville,Georgia

Once she got to art school, Loretta Eby quickly realized she wanted to be a glassblower instead of an illustrator. Now, after creating glass art for 27 years, Loretta knows she wants to make glass for the rest of her life.

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	Loretta Eby, glass artist.
	What was once a chicken coop is now a glass-art studio.

For the first few years after getting her BFA in Glass from the Cleveland Institute of Art (1981), Loretta didn't have her own studio. She went on to continue her education at the Penland School of Crafts, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Pilchuk School of Glass. She also managed a gallery or two.

But in 1987, Loretta and sculptor/husband/partner Jeff Jackson picked a place that used to be a chicken house in rural Oconee County (Georgia) as their studio. The chicken house was part of a farm full of artists known as Happy Valley Pottery.

At first, Jeff and Loretta rented only the front half of the building that had, at one time and another, housed four other artists -- potters, a blacksmith, another glassblower and even a pewtersmith. (Loretta describes the floor plan as "kind of like a rabbit warren.") Soon after Loretta and Jeff started to work on their new studio, Loretta was in a serious car accident that resulted in facial reconstruction and her inability to blow glass for almost a year and a half. During that time, though, Jeff and Loretta partnered on (non blown) glass and steel sculpture designs. These creations proved popular and the line continues today.

As their popularity grew, Jeff and Loretta annexed more and more of the old chicken house, until they took over the entire building. Most recently, an entire area of the building was built out for shipping.

Some of Loretta's blown-glass pieces.

Over the years at Happy Valley, Loretta has built and rebuilt her furnace three times. Her current furnace is nearing the end of its useful life and Loretta has begun plans to rebuild the furnace in the near future. At that time, she hopes to increase the furnace's capacity from around 130 pounds to 170 or 180 pounds of glass.