The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Eric Johnson Home Blown: A former Post Office up behind Lexington Reservoir serves as a studio for glass artist Tom Stanton. Artist fuses futuristic ideas and old-fashioned craftsmanship One of Tom Stanton's handblown glass pieces will be auctioned off by Willow Glen Elementary By Debi-Taylor Hollis His hand-blown glass pumpkins--beautiful pieces of light and shadow that have appeared regularly in local boutiques--are the biggest attention-getters. One of these pumpkins--a fantasy Cinderella-style globe with gilt stem--can be seen at the Willow Glen Elementary Walk-A-Thon silent auction. But glassblower and artist Tom Stanton, founder and proprietor of Holy City Glass Works, offers customers and students more than the nifty glass squashes that sold out in a rush when he first created them two years ago. "I like to make positive statements in glass, incorporating my personal beliefs," says Stanton, a master artisan who learned his trade here in the valley more than 30 years ago. "Back in 1968, I saw a man making a window at the Renaissance Faire and I knew that's what I wanted to do," Stanton says. "I got hired on as an apprentice at Hogan Glass of Los Gatos--which was one of the three major studios of America in the '50s and '60s. Dan Cooley, my old partner, and I made our own things after work in Mrs. Cooley's garage. We made flat apples and pears, sun-catchers. We made them and then just hung them from the tree in front of the post office in town." In 1973, Stanton and his former partner had started a design shop on Summit Road, and in 1975, he had moved out to share space with the post office in the only extant building in Holy City--on Old Santa Cruz Highway behind Lexington Reservoir. Only Stanton and his art shop remained when the post office left. "I must have an event--a positive statement in every piece of stained glass I create," Stanton says. "It's mandatory, somewhere, and the more latitude the owner gives me, the bigger I can express it." Stanton's signatory event-markers incorporate clear glass somewhere in every window, and make statements in subtle, yet noticeable ways. Stanton's work is so well respected that Dale Chihuly, a vaunted and flamboyant international glass-artist, worked with him two years ago. Stanton served as artist-in-residence at San Jose State in 1991 and 1992, and he has been courted to show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. His works in progress include "Still Life of the Universe" (an open black-and-gold-speckled glass bowl containing glass representations of the sun and nine planets--each removable) and what he calls "Holy Rollers"--fine-art glass marbles. These include the Earth marble, a depiction of the Earth from space. The three-piece Holy Rollers come in a pouch with a booklet on one of the first Holy Rollers in the area--the Reverend William Riker, con artist and founder of the now abandoned Holy City. Stanton's backroom boasts a wall of news articles about the infamous shyster-preacher of the '20s and '30s, who bilked hordes and set up his religious utopia in the then-remote mountain area. "We did have several 'releasing ceremonies' to clear out the vibes and astral hate," he says. But Stanton clearly takes inspiration from the place. "The fault line is right behind this building, and it adds to our creative process," he says. "In 1989 we lost everything in the earthquake--but we cleaned it all up, and we're still here." He says business started picking up eight years ago. "That's when the Christmas ornaments began," he says. "Art glass [windows] slowed, and I needed some other outlet. Then, two years ago, we were at the Palo Alto show with 500 pumpkins and sold out in minutes. Our biggest sellers are probably the Easter egg paperweights in glass, and the new Earth marbles." Stanton also likes to experiment with ideas and theories drawn from his 20 years of explorations. Twenty years ago, he took stained-glass windows on the road, and went out lecturing on UFOs. "I was known around here as Mr. UFO back then," he says. "Now, I'm doing crop circles." Stanton has begun a series depicting the mysterious crop circles, re-created in stunning glass designs, and he plans to create a lecture series on the events when he has enough visual creations in glass to accompany his talks. Meanwhile, while Stanton contemplates the astral plane and what he calls the "future dimensional shift," which he believes will shift all matter to a non-corporeal plane, his energies are focused on truly old-world craftsmanship. "To be in the moment is the best" he says. And part of being in the moment is his "open studio" policy. "We blow on Mondays and Tuesdays, and fire on Tuesdays, and encourage people to come up and watch," he says. "The hours vary depending on artistic temperament." To visit his studio take Highway 17 south to the Redwood Estates exit, and head east to 21200 Old Santa Cruz Highway. It is best to call beforehand: 408/353-4426. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, January 27, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.