Located in the heart of Seattle’s Central District, Pratt Fine Arts Center has been providing access to the transformative power of artistic expression for 50 years. This summer, the Frye Store is showcasing talented members of the Pratt community in a specially curated collection. Here, we highlight partners in life and art Sue Kim and Zeke Spier of Saze Glass.
by Caitlyn Edson
“Glass is working on the edge of chaos,” says artist Zeke Spier as he toured me around the flameworking studio he shares with his partner, Sue Kim, earlier this summer. You’d never know it from the outside but nestled just across from their midcentury Burien home is a studio where the couple dreams, learns, experiments, and creates with glass. I was eager to check it out and absolutely amazed at what they’ve made together in this awesome retrofitted workshop.
In essence, flameworking is a glass art technique where an artist uses a gas-fueled torch to melt and shape rods of glass. Zeke first got into flameworking at Pratt Fine Arts Center just before it had to temporarily shutter during lockdown in 2020. Undeterred and completely captivated by the medium, Zeke realized that if he wanted to continue pursuing glass, he was just going to have to figure out how to do it himself at home.
Despite his ambition, putting together a home flameworking setup was no small undertaking. An extremely good ventilation system is a must-have, as well as a multi-fuel torch, a propane setup and oxygen concentrator, hoses, hand tools, annealing kiln, and most importantly protective gear for your eyes. And that’s just scraping the surface.
After hours spent watching internet tutorials, reading forums, and scouring Craigslist for refurbished gear, Zeke created the first iteration of a flameworking studio that was safe and functional. And loud, very loud. "It's almost a little embarrassing to talk about," laughs Sue during our interview, "but I tried to get into glass and I was like, 'Yeah, I don't know, I'm not enjoying this.' And then we got a quieter fan. And I was like, 'I love this. I want to do this all the time!'"
In the latest iteration of their studio, Sue and Zeke have side-by-side torches and improved hood ventilation above where they work. There’s a huge oxygen compression tank in an adjoining room, with hoses and tubes connecting it to the concentrators and torches. Long, wand-like rods of glass are organized by color on floor-to-ceiling shelves, a nod to endless creative possibilities and future projects. It's a little mad-science-y and it's super inspiring. Before long, the two of them quite literally quit their day jobs to pursue glass full time, and they haven't looked back since.
A massive risk for some, the move to go all-in on glass actually seems like a natural path for Zeke and Sue, who share a strong DIY ethos and are completely scrappy and self-taught in their art practice. They tell me that glass art making has a rich history, and that the advent of the internet has made flameworking more accessible to serious artists and hobbyists alike. Even still, gatekeeping does exist in the culture at large, which the couple is able to navigate by being strong creative partners and finding genuine community among like-minded artists in the local scene.
Seattle, as it turns out, is a fantastic place to explore a path in glass. For decades, the Pacific Northwest has been considered a global epicenter for glass art. Pratt opened in 1976 with a hot shop and glassblowing classes, and because of its accessibility-driven programs, it's where many artists, including Zeke and Sue, got their start. To this day, institutions like Pratt, Pilchuck Glass School, and Chihuly Garden and Glass, not to mention countless smaller shops and home studios, continually set a high bar for education and boundary-pushing glass art making in the region.
While Sue and Zeke have each developed their own distinct practices, Saze Glass is their ongoing collaborative project. Their aesthetic is bright and colorful, and pieces are often imbued with whimsy and playfulness. With work inspired by slime molds, microscopic natural elements, and refracting light, "making the invisible visible" is a theme they say most often resonates throughout their work.
“Sue is a firehose of ideas," says Zeke, “and I’m the editor.” With Saze, they produce and sell beautiful glass chain link jewelry, vases of all shapes and sizes, drinking vessels, and charming fumed silvery ghosts, to name a few. They also love to challenge themselves in the hot shop, where they can produce work at a large scale, and, where they feel the most at home in their craft.
The hot shop, a specialized high-temperature studio equipped with large furnaces, is where that "edge of chaos" Zeke mentioned is really alive. Here, where artists pay about a dollar a minute to rent the space in 4-hour blocks, every second counts. The scale of the work necessitates a collaborator or assistant, so each movement has to be smooth, like well-rehearsed choreography. When the clock starts ticking, the energy is electric. The furnace is radiating unbelievable heat. It's intense, and it's not for everyone.
Zeke describes hot shop sessions as "excruciatingly painful, and emotionally and physically demanding," but is also quick to say that despite the rigorous nature of this work, "you just can't wait to do it again." Sue theorizes that the reason the glass community is so tight-knit is because many of them have seen each other at their most vulnerable in the hot shop, and sometimes at their lowest. "You're drenched in sweat. You're hyper focused and physically exhausted. I think it brings your true self out and it's vulnerable being perceived in those hard moments," she says.
"It takes a specific kind of personality because you have to really, really care a lot," says Zeke, "because if you don't, you'll never try hard enough to make it good." At the same time, you also have to be willing to keep pushing forward when work inevitably breaks, or plans change. "You have to be able to let it go," he says, as Sue chimes in that "Everyone's allowed 30 seconds" to gather themselves. Zeke agrees, "but then you gotta take a deep breath and start again because time's wasting and the furnace is on."
In many ways, Sue and Zeke's partnership puts them at an advantage in their glass art practice. They never have to scramble to find an assistant for a hot shop session, and they can ideate and lay out their plans together over dinner, in the car, or while working on smaller projects at home. They always have someone to decompress with after working in the hot shop; they can bounce ideas off one another, practice their craft side-by-side, and help each other grow.
Sue and Zeke are the first to point out that despite their eagerness to create, they have many years ahead of trying, failing, and learning before they can really feel comfortable in this work. The learning curve is steep, they say, and it takes a long time to really hone one's skills and develop their signature style.
Independently, Sue has ambitions to continue working on a larger scale. She is also beginning to develop distinctive ways to explore and center her Korean identity in her personal practice; to distinguish her creative voice. The painterly, calligraphy-inspired elements in her recent work are representative of the shift in her focus away from the abstract as she looks more deeply inward.
Even while taking on glass art teaching gigs, Zeke hopes to continue learning, with an emphasis on accessing "joy and discovery in the process itself." He endeavors to create beautiful, handmade things that inspire playfulness and delight in those who behold them. He's excited by the appetite for glass that art lovers possess in this region, and that it's able to sustain his and Sue's practice; that this work brings a little bit of wonder back into the world.
The Frye Store is delighted to feature Saze Glass as part of our collaboration, “In Community: Pratt Fine Arts Center.” Sue Kim and Zeke Spier's awe-inspiring networked sculpture will be on view until the end of the month, and stunning functional glass vessels will be available in-store while supplies last. Keep an eye out for Sue and Zeke at local festivals and markets, as well as in the Pratt hot shop. Find them on social media to view their latest creations.