When I walked into Nate Nardi’s warehouse-turned-studio on
Freeman Street in Decatur, Georgia, and I knew immediately this was a man who
is passionate about glass. As I entered, my eyes were drawn to the noise and
glow of the blazing, burning orange furnace and “Glory Hole.” I saw the gray
metal blowpipes and pontils (solid metal rods for handling final stages of
blown glass) lined up on the racks with their glass-gathering ends heating to
hot orange in a rectangular heater. I noticed other unusual pieces of equipment
in the work area: the two welded iron workstations with wooden seats used for
rolling the blowpipes and for blowing and shaping the hot glass gather, the
large metal marver table for working the hot glass to shape before blowing, two
crack-off stations and three box-shaped annealers (glass coolers). And then, I looked up. All around me, hanging
on the warehouse walls and columns, stacked on tables and shelves, and hanging
from a huge mounted display board, I saw the incredible glass creations of Nate
Nardi. The colors! The shapes! The artistry! The ingenuity and uniqueness! It
was beyond belief.
As a young boy growing up in the small bedroom community of
Clarkston just outside Atlanta, Georgia, Nate loved to follow his Dad around
and watch him fix and build things about their home. As he watched, Nate
learned how to do what his dad did, and he learned that he loved working with
his hands! And he was good at it! He discovered he was gifted with the ability
to design and build. (He mentioned that his Lego creations were quite
extraordinary for his age!) Nate found joy, delight and satisfaction in working
with and making things with his hands.
Imagine what happened when this hands-on learner went to
school and had to sit still at a desk and listen to a teacher talk. No tools.
Nothing to take apart or fix. No wood to cut and nail together. No car engine
to work on. It was books, pencils, paper and lots of sitting still. It is no
surprise that school would prove to be a struggle for Nate, and within a few
years, he was labeled as learning disabled. He felt disconnected from the
traditional school situation. Luckily for Nate, his parents had him tested for
and then transferred from the local public school to a private high school that
specialized in educating children who needed an “out-of-the-box” educational
style.
In spite of his struggles, Nate graduated from high school
in 1999. With 12 years of education behind him, he had no thought of more school,
especially college, but the wisdom of his parents prevailed. And so, Nate found
himself enrolled in classes at Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia. Well,
it did seem like the next logical step that many kids his age took after high
school, and after all, he had nothing else planned and nothing better to do. But
the road ahead of him was still unclear. A nagging voice in his head continued
to question the value and purpose of this educational path he was on. His
quest for his true, heart’s passion
continued. Then the summer before his 3rd year of college, Nate
transferred to Jacksonville University.
Still searching for his passion, Nate took a variety of
classes at Jacksonville U, even art classes although he says that up until that
point, he never saw himself as an artist. He had no declared major because
nothing particularly inspired him. One day in 2001, the glass class instructor,
Jason Klein, popped his head into the art class where Nate was working and
asked if he would like to join him for a glassblowing demonstration. Nate could
have declined and gone to lunch or something, but he went and it would prove to
be the turning point for Nate’s life. He had never seen such an art form and he
was fascinated, hooked, entranced and compelled to get his hands on it and
learn to do it himself. The next semester, Nate signed up for his first
glassblowing class with Jason Klein, who would become a major influence and
mentor to Nate in his glassblowing career. Nate was every teacher’s dream! He
showed up early and turned on the equipment so it could be hot and ready for
the day’s work. Then he worked and experimented with the hot glass before
classes began. He worked hard during his scheduled glassblowing class time and
then stayed late as often as possible to practice the new skills he learned
during class and to experiment by trial and error with new techniques. Using
his hands to work the tools to gather, roll, blow and shape the glass made his mind
ablaze with ideas of designs, colors and shape like it had when he was younger
and worked with his dad. Nate had quite by accident found his passion.
Finding himself suddenly enthusiastic about something, Nate
became invigorated and focused. He graduated from Jacksonville University in
2004 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree with specialization in glass
art.
He was awarded the Excellence in
Art Award from the Dean of the University. Soon after graduation, Nate entered
graduate school at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio and, in 2009, graduated
with a Masters of Fine Arts in glass art. After earning his MFA in glassblowing
and, to further hone his glassblowing skills, Nate worked for and studied under many of the most renowned glassblowing artists in the world. He attended numerous craft school workshops for glass across the United States, including the renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Nate's glassblowing artistry and skill has been influenced by such greats as Jason Klein, Davin Ebanks, Karen Willenbrink-Johnson and Jasen Johnson, Elio Quarisa, Jeff Mack, Richard Jolley and Caroline Madden. When you see Nate's work, you know he has studied with the masters of this art form.
In 2011, Nate was invited by some fellow glass artists in
Jacksonville, Florida, to join them to set
up a glassblowing studio workshop, but he decided instead to pursue his dream
of owning and operating his own glassblowing studio business nearer to his home
and family in Georgia. Nate purchased an old machine shop warehouse (including
many of the machine shop tools) in Decatur, Georgia.
His business
and artistic endeavors have proven quite successful. Nate’s glasswork is on
display and for sale in his Decatur studio workshop as well in gift shops,
galleries and glass shops across the Southeastern United States. Nate also enjoys
sharing his love of glassblowing with others. He offers private or group
classes to those who want to learn more about this fascinating art form.
Throughout the year, Nate hosts entertaining
glassblowing events with live demonstrations by himself and other regional glass
artists. If his studio doors are open, he welcomes anyone who is interested to
stop by and see what awesome and creative things are going on everyday in his
workshop.
I was amazed at the whimsical
sculptures in a crazy variety of sizes, shapes and colors
His collection of glass sea creatures is particularly fascinating
because, as Nate so aptly put it, the fluidity of glass makes his sea creature
creations look so natural and flowing.
I loved his wildly
bizarre and intricately compelling abstract art creations like big-eyed bugs
and alien creatures!
Since opening his studio in 2011, Nate has
not only made glass art for sale in his own showroom and in galleries across
the southeast US, but he has also been commissioned to create unique glass art
for numerous private art collectors. Corporations
have commissioned him to create unique blown glass pieces for their employee
recognition awards. He has also been hired as an assistant for the installation
of several large blown glass displays for the public to view such as the one
set up in Times Union Center in Jacksonville, Florida, by artists Jon Christie
and Caroline Madden called “Lyrical Light” and the one by Jon Christie’s called
“White Palm” set up at the Davis School of Business at Jacksonville University.
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| "Lyrical Lights" by Jon Christie and Caroline Madden |
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| "Lyrical Lights" by Jon Christie and Caroline Madden |
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| "White Palm" by Jon Christie |
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| "White Palm" by Jon Christie |
So what inspires this gifted glassblower? He says the glass itself
is his #1 inspiration. He looks at the glass and can see the finished piece before
he even picks up the first blowpipe to take the first gather of hot glass. Nate
can see the entire process mapped out in his head. He has the mental strategy
and roadmap of when and where he will add colors and layers, when he will bend
and blow the glass, when he will roll or stretch it, when he will add heat and
when he will let it cool slightly. His personal challenge? Nate says he strives
to perfect the process and to create more and more intricate pieces that look
better and better with each successive try. Nate feels really challenged when a
customer comes to him with a random idea and says, “Can you make this ________
out of glass for me?” Such a challenge is a pure adrenaline rush of inspiration
for Nate.
In 2015, Nate married his sweetheart, Carli, and they recently
became the proud parents of a healthy, beautiful baby girl named Whitney. His
is a story of a young boy who grew up with the love and support of a mom and
dad who were there to help him find his way in life. It is the story of a man
searching for and finding his inner God-given talent and developing it. And it
is the story of a man who has found new love in his own little family. Today,
Nate is a well-known glass artist. His work can be found across the
southeastern United States and his name and talent is known far beyond that. While
Nate may decline to say he is a master glassblower, it seems fair to say he is
mastering his life.
(All photos courtesy of Nate Nardi via decaturglassblowing.com and myself)
