Mark Your Calendars for Glass Craft & Bead Expo

The dates for the 2009 Glass Craft & Bead Expo will be Wednesday April 1st through April 5th at the South Point Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV. Classes will begin on Wednesday, April 1st and the show floor will open on Friday, April 3rd.

But that's just secondary to what I wanted to tell you about.

It's the International Hot Glass Invitational that I want you to attend. This is an "omigod- bring your camera" super fabulous room full of glass wizards all in one place, which is part of the Glass Craft show.

"The International Hot Glass Invitational will be held in conjunction with the 15th annual Glass Craft & Bead Expo in the Equestrian Center located next to the exhibition hall. This 30,000 square foot, 4,400 seat arena is well appointed with 4 -72’ flat screen monitors that face all sides of the arena. The goal is to provide the audience with the largest most dramatic glass sculptures and vessels that the timed sessions will allow. We have invited some of the most renowned hot glass flamework and furnace work artists from around the world to compete. Each team will have 2 ½ hours to produce their works."

Here is the current list of the amazing participants posted on their website. Click through to some of these websites and be awed in what they can do.

Flameworking
1. Bernd Weinmeyer	Austria	www.weinmayer.at
2. Akihiro Ohkama	Japan	www.glassstudio-hand.com
3. Milon Townsend	Rochester,NY	www.milontownsend.com
4. Nathan Purcell	Philadelphia, PA	www.phillyglassworks.com
5. Bandhu Scott Dunham	Prescott, AZ	www.salusaglassworks.com
6. Scott Deppe	Bellingham,WA	www.nebulaglass.com/other/9704.htm
7. Christian Luginger	Austin, TX	flame-one.com
8. Marc Vandenburg	Detroit, MI	www.marcvandenberg.com/torch.htm
9. Doni Hatz	Cincinnati, OH	carlisleschoolofglassart.com/WallofFame-DoniHatz.htm
10.Hans Godo Frabel	Atlanta, GA	www.frabel.com
11.Loren Stump	Sacramento, CA	www.stumpchuck.com
12.Brian Kerkvliet	Bellingham, WA	www.inspirationfarm.com
13. Karl Ittig	Germany	www.glashaus-wertheim.de
14. Darby Holm	Grant's Pass, OR	dcglass@charter.net
15. Devin Somerville	Milwaukee, WI	Devin@Somervilleglass.com
Furnace
1. Buttereaters	Seattle, WA
2. Michael Angelo Menconi	Chicago, IL	www.michaelangelomenconi.com
3. Peter Bowles	Australia	www.glassmanifesto.com/about.php
4. Einar and Jaimex DeLaTorres	Mexico	www.delatorrebros.com

I don't know about you, but if there's any way I can be out there to witness this 2.5 hour jaw dropping competition, I'll be there. All those greats working in one place would be worth the trip alone.