Oatka Glass

NOTE: Earlier this year, the Chamber of Commerce published its annual Genesee County Tourism magazine and for the second year in a row, The Batavian participated in the publication by producing photos and stories. Today, for our Sunday reading, we're publishing four of our stories. For more on why Genesee County is a great place to live and to visit, click here for VisitGeneseeNY.com.

It's a little studio with a big reputation.

Lance and Amanda Taylor opened Oatka Studio in 2007 and now attract students and teachers from the world over.

"We’re fortunate we know many, many world renown glass artists," Lance said. "We’re able to bring those people to Batavia and that is something that sets our school apart from many smaller glass studios."

The Taylors both have a long history in various art forms, as well as business and science backgrounds, that evolved into an interest in glass.

Lance started with stained glass in the 1970s, went to ceramics in the 1980s, woodworking in the 1990s and then back to glass.

Amanda was a geophysist who pursued art on the side, including metal smithing, ceramics, photography and welding.

Lance is from Le Roy and Amanda is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The husband and wife team met at a glass conference in Corning in 2006.

Oatka Glass is located in the historic Harvester Center, a 150-year-old former tractor factory in Batavia that is home to a variety of small businesses, including a community theater, photography studio and two art studios.

Much of the current studio is centered around kiln glass -- melting cut or crushed glass in a kiln until it becomes a single piece and then shaping the glass with molds or cutting and sanding -- but the Taylors also offer glass blowing glasses and are expanding that part of the studio.

"People might be surprised that we have a world-class glass facility right in Batavia," Lance said. "Anybody in the area has a phenomenal opportunity to work with masters in glass and use some of the best equipment that is available."

The studio has become popular with groups, Amanda said, from business executives looking for team building exercises to Girl Scouts trying new craft projects.

"We are expanding that part of the business," Amanda said. "We want to get more of the local community involved."

Typically, classes run three or four days, but there are one-day classes, multi-week classes and artists can rent studio time to work on projects. The Taylor's also offer one-on-one instruction.

Basically, the Taylors can fashion an instruction or studio experience to fit the needs of an individual or group.

Just recently, Oatka Glass started a lecture series featuring well known glass artists that are free and open to the public.

"A lot of the instructors who have taught here love coming here," Amanda said. "What we offer is unique and a little more personal."

For example, Amanda said, for daylong classes, Amanda cooks gourmet lunches.

"We don't just send out for sub sandwiches or pizza, and we can cook a lunch to accommodate vegetarians or any dietary health issue," Amanda said.

"It's all very personalized," she said. "This is a small place so a lot of attention is paid to each student."

Did you know that people come to Batavia to make landscapes out of glass?

Well, sort of...

A student of Amanda Taylor's four-day "Painting Images and Landscapes in Glass" course gets her creative groove on at the Oatka School of Glass on Harvester Avenue...

...while (left to right) Tessa, Sheba and Shiloh look on.

This is only one of many classes offered by Le Roy native Lance Taylor and his Canadian-born wife, Amanda. They both run the OATKA School of Glass and Glass Studio out of their work-and-home space in the Harvester Center. In these classes -- open to all ages -- they teach people how to paint using glass powder and "frits" (ground-up glass) as well as various other ways of turning glass materials into works of art (including bowls, cups and glass mosaics).

Lance and Amanda teach many of these classes themselves -- together and individually -- but for some of them, they bring in internationally renowned artists to teach.

"Some of our instructors have an international following," Lance said, "so we're able to attract people from all over the United States and from different countries. Soon we'll be offering a class taught by an Italian artist named Mirriam de Fiore. This is the only place she'll be coming to teach here in the U.S."

Many of the courses are for beginners. However,  a lot of people have said that their expectations for what a beginners' course should be were far surpassed by the Taylors' teaching styles.

"All too often you see a 'shotgun' approach taken in teaching beginners' courses," Lance said. "In other words, students do a little of this, a little of that, and they don't really learn anything. We do hands-on activities where, for example, instead of doing many different things, people learn to do one particular thing very well."

Lance and Amanda are the perfect team when it comes to coordinating these classes. Lance approaches glassmaking from a technical standpoint, Amanda from an artistic one.

"The great thing about glass is that it's both artistic and technical," Lance said.

This week's class -- which began on Tuesday and extends through Saturday -- focuses on replicating photographed landscapes in the form of glass art. It is being taught, appropriately enough, by Amanda, who often looks to nature for artistic inspiration.

"A lot of times when I go for walks, I'll collect things like tree branches, rocks, etc.," she said. "I also try to be attentive to things that most people don't notice because they don't take the time to slow down and really see it."

Lance and Amanda are always interested in doing classes based on special interests, provided that requests come far enough in advance. For more information and to see a schedule of upcoming classes, please visit the OATKA Glass website at: www.oatkaglass.com.