Vermont Glass Guild

In working with glass we have the opportunity to manifest the human spirit and wonder and curiosity of life.

We absolutely love to work with glass! This material has the possibility of conveying so many human emotions.  Rich is the art appreciator and the master in Hand Blown Glass skills and Tove isa strong creative force operating more with guts anda sense of human activism. We both are passionate about our trade and are grateful for all the glass teachers we have had individually and as a team: our work represent all of our influences and opportunities to carry on the glass craft traditions and tell our story.

With our different backgrounds of Swedish and Italian glass traditions, we connect our skills to a mix of contemporary glass art, lighting and functional ware. Some work reflects on important issues of today and are linked to a non-profit organization.  This initiative is called Creative Glass Giving.

Our furnace is full of molten glass at 2,100ºF that we master with experience and gratitude. We sculpt and blow glass by hand and use colored glass as decorative or storytelling elements.  The quick decision taking combined with the heat and flow of the molten glass makes it intriguing to work with techniques both like simple stripes, and the complicated grail technique where a pre-cut graphic design stretches out in the creation of larger bowls, vases and lamps.

Rich Arentzen was inspired by his aunt Glenda Arentzen, an important American studio goldsmith, and her partner glass pioneer Rick Harkness. He has been at the Penland, Haystack and Pilchuck glass schools, Murano and at several Scandinavian glass studios, where he learned from many masters and workers.

Tove Ohlander was sledding on the hill by the Swedish Glass Museum and the Swedish Emigrant museum as a toddler.  Growing up in the Glass Kingdom, studying at the Orrefors glass school and the Danish design school, glass is her medium. She eventually choose to emigrate to America.

Together they ran a glass studio in Oslo Norway for 9 years.  The relocation to Burlington Vermont has meant access to a larger audience and opportunities to create work in greater volumes.