ICC Gallery to “Blow” Away with Glassware

EAST PEORIA — The 306 art gallery at Illinois Central College is currently displaying a collection by Jeremie Draper, a local glass artist and educator. Her collection features items made by the hand blowing method, including glass vases, pots and bowls. “Since I learned to hand blow glass,” she writes in the collection’s introduction, “I have been enthralled with the amorphous nature of the medium; its potential to breathe and flow with the rhythms of the artist.”

A passionate teacher and craftswoman, Draper has studied and worked with early processes of Roman and Egyptian forms of glass blowing. She also attempts to honor the traditions of Italian color decoration in all of her works.

For the collection at ICC, Draper primarily features vases and bowls, which are visibly influenced by the Italian color decoration tradition. In her biography, she cites artists Lino Tagliapietra, Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslave Brychotva as primary influences. Like the work of said artists, the collection Draper uses many shapes, patterns and color schemes to make dynamic glass pieces that serve a practical purpose.

Draper received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Glass from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2002. Later, she spent years traveling and working with other glass blowers in Oregon and Washington before moving back to central Illinois, where she’s from.

Draper’s work can be viewed locally at Studios on Sheridan, The Moon Dancer Grand Prairie, Exhibit A Gallery, Junction City and The Main Statement on Main. Her work can also be viewed by appointment.

Draper also offers courses in glass art, where students get a hands-on experience to create the form of their choice. The courses vary from $65 to $300 and offer a variety of  techniques, which Draper refers to as “experiences.” If interested, inquiries can be made to jeremie@ jdraperglass.com.