Hot Shop Hot Nights with Dan Friday
Date
Friday
Dec 15, 2023
Hot Shop Hot Nights
December 15, 2023 | 5-8 PM
The Hot Shop at Hilltop Heritage Middle School
During their week-long residency, renowned artists from the glass community set up in our hot shop, creating their own works, sharing with our students about their processes and experiences, and collaborating with Hilltop Artists.
The week culminates on Friday for our Hot Shop Hot Night, when we welcome our community to see the visiting artist and our young artists in action.
At Hot Shop Hot Nights, expect to see a professional glass artist working with and mentoring our advanced production students and alumni, creating spectacular collaborative pieces. The Gallery is open for shopping, and tea, hot cocoa, and coffee will be available.
This December, Dan Friday is in residence at Hilltop Artists!
Daniel Joseph Friday is a Native of the Lummi Nation and a lifelong resident of Washington State’s Puget Sound region. Drawing from cultural themes and using modern processes, Friday’s work is contemporary in format while maintaining basic Native American qualities.
Dan has spent the past two decades working with artists such as Dale Chihuly, Paul Marioni, and Preston Singletary. Friday lives in Seattle, where he maintains an independent glass studio. His work can be found in collections around the world.
Artist Statement
Creativity was fostered in me by my family from an early age. Living without TV and knowing our rich cultural heritage of the Lummi Nation, meant that making things with our hands was a regular activity.
I typically work with simple themes and forms, and often employ subtle silhouettes when making my totems. It is a pleasure seeing inanimate objects taking on a life of their own. The more narrative work is usually a personal expression or a means of processing a life event, often with a underlying statement.
When I saw glass blowing for the first time, it felt as though I grew an inch! That is to say, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. I had finally figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up. This was no small feat for someone who, as a youth, was rebellious and misguided. Glass altered my life. In spite of my colorful past, and by the grace of a loving community, I found my passion in glass.
Living as an artist may not be directly saving the world, but perhaps we are saving ourselves and hopefully, in the process, making the world a better place.
