Oak Park Newspaper

Free Readers Ensemble

Wm. B. Sullivan Realty & Co.
Estate Planning and General Law

RAVINIA
"A Great time in a
Wonderful Place" SJC

Adopt a Pet, Come for a Visit

CAGIS Archaeological
Consulting Services

© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

Prodigy Glassworks Inc.
Oak Park's Art District Has One
of the World's Masters of GlassArt
Performing Miracles for the Delight
of Patrons.
review by Ed Vincent

I had the distinct pleasure of spending a couple of hours with
Oak Park's Master Glassblower Matthew Kwilas. Matthew
began his love of glass blowing watching a friend of his working on small projects in his garage, nothing fancy but something
new and something that fascinated him. Prodigy Glassworks
is one of Oak Park's top art locations, a gem on Harrison Street.

Matthew Kwilas is working the furnace on top at about 2200 degrees Fahrenheit, right above are some blow pipes and puntys for working
with the glass.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photos

Glass began to be worked by people some 5700 years ago
but not how we know of it today. In the beginning the glass
was first recorded to be used as a glaze for existing pottery.
This glaze was applied by the Egyptians. The Egyptians were
casting metals into tools and jewelry. This process of glazing over pottery perhaps led to the application of a glass glaze
over a cylinder shape yielding a blue glass cylinder as art about
2600 B.C..

Mesopotamia is given credit for the techique and tools for pressing the molten glass into open molds about 1200B.C.

Matthew Kwilas is stretching, bending, forming. the glass art
and adding more heat when required to keep the material malleable
enough to be worked.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photos

The blowing of glass has been found in the Middle East along the coast of Phoenicia (modern day Lebanon) around 20 B.C..

When glass had begun to be blown by gathering the molten mass on the end of a blowpipe and then blown, it could begin
to form art, and other items of beauty and use like vases,
bottles and bowls to mention a few. Items like these, and window were found in the ruins of Pompeii.

Matthew Kwilas is cooling and shaping the hot glass.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

If you want to learn and see more I would suggest that you
go by and see Matthew Kwilas for a visit. Have a look at
his beautiful art, watch him create glass pieces, ask some questions and maybe even take a class. His studio has been working with kids and adults for a time now. The kids don't blow glass but they can create mosaics and have them fused in the kilns and when they get older they can come back and play in the fire.

Matthew Kwilas is the featured artist for this wonderful garden in River Forest during the Oak Park and River Forest's Annual Garden Walk.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photos

Matthew Kwilas and his studio are waiting to see you, take a
class, buy a gift and meet a nice young man with a grand
artistic vision.
Prodigy Glassworks Inc.

Matthew Kwilas
207 Harrison Street
Oak Park, Illinois 60304
708-445-8000
info@prodigyglassworks.net
www.prodigyglassworks.net

Have a Look at Matthew Kwilas' work in River Forest during the Oak Park and River Forest's Annual Garden Walk.

Dale Chihuly Chicago Exhibit in 2001
Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass 2001
Photographed at Night

Prodigy Glassworks Inc.

Matthew Kwilas
207 Harrison Street
Oak Park, Illinois 60304
708-445-8000
info@prodigyglassworks.net
www.prodigyglassworks.net