Members of the public are invited to get their glass over to the Benton Harbor Arts District next week for an opportunity to drink beer out of a a fresh-forged glass and support a nonprofit helping at-risk youth find direction through art.
Benton Harbor nonprofit Water Street Glassworks and The Livery microbrewery are teaming up once again for their Hot Glass, Cold Beer event next Thursday, March 30 from 5-8 p.m.
The evening offers the first opportunity to purchase newly created beer glasses from the WSG 2023 collection. Interested patrons can stop by WSG Gallery to choose from an array of contemporary and historical glassware designs created by their team of glass artists, and also watch glassblowing demonstrations from the catwalk viewing deck.
“Since the pandemic, we’ve kind of shifted from the historical side of glass cups to more modern designs as well,” said WSG Studio manager and Production Designer Eli Zilke. “We’ll be showing how to make each of the styles, and also blowing a big beer mug-shaped cage that will be about 30-40 pounds of glass.”
With the drinkware in hand, people can then head over to The Livery to test out their new mug. The brewery is is offering $3 pints of standard rotation beer for the first fill of any beer glass purchased at the event. All mug sales go directly to supporting WSG, while a portion of beer sales will be donated to the nonprofit.
Giving Back
Water Street Glassworks is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to teaching community members how to create glass and metal arts. It’s flagship program is Fired Up! – a tuition-free weekly after school program for at risk youth in the community.
“Everything we do is to support this program,” Zilke said. “These production items like the mugs and pumpkins in the fall, it mostly goes back into the program. While they’re only here once a week, all of our week kind of builds up to that. It’s the thing I’m most proud of.”
Zilke, a Lakeshore High School Graduate, was a student of the Fired Up! program 19 years ago under the tutelage of WSG founder Jerry Catania. Zilke continued working with Catania until taking a position at Hot Shop Valpo in Valparaiso, Ind.
“I started when I was 12 years old, and fell in love with it immediately,” Zilke said. “I asked to hang around and sweep floors and do whatever I could. Jerry really took me under his wing and showed me kind of the whole process from teaching to making a lot of his work and later in his life. It was the right place at the right time, for sure.”
Catania, who passed away in 2020, was a student of master glass artist Dale Chihuly. He modeled the Fired Up! program after Chihuly’s Hilltop Artists program, and set out to teach underserved area teens teamwork, focus, patience, and trust through glass blowing.
Zilke returned to WSG in 2018, and has since taken over the Fired Up! program. The classes include anywhere from 12 to 20 kids who learn the art of glass blowing, practice marketing skills, go on field trips and participate in regional exhibitions culminating in an exhibition at the Krasl Art Fair.
“It’s the heart and soul of this place and everything else that we do,” said Zilke, of the Fired Up! program. “It’s part of the reason I’m back here. It feels good to be able to show them that there is art access in the community. They’re not getting it at the high school. They’re not getting it elsewhere. So, the fact that we can do it at no cost to them is a huge thing.
“Had it not been for this place, I wouldn’t be doing it. So it feels really good to give back.”
For more on the Fired Up! program and the Hot Glass, Cold Beer event, visit waterstreetglassworks.org.
