Friends of OURS

Danté Germain

Ty and Danté’s first meeting was in their introduction to glass class in 2014. Since then Danté has remained a very strong presence in Ty and Rachel’s life, both in career and as an incredible friend. In 2016 the three of them moved to Corning, New York together and got their first taste of working in glass at the Corning Museum of Glass. While taking classes together from 2014 - 2017, they often partnered up to share ideas and processes as they learned this new material and expanded upon this new friendship that glass allowed them by even attending Danté’s philanthropic house events outside of the classroom.

The three of them worked together once again at Buck’s Rock Camp in New Milford, Connecticut teaching in the glass studio, and after Ty and Danté graduated from the University of Wisconsin River Falls, the two of them teamed up to organize a trip across Europe with another great artist, Lynette Bierbaum. Visiting 9 glass studios learn from dozens of professional glass artists outside of the United States, and increase their connection to the glass community.

Since then Danté has worked in Minneapolis, Phoenix, Penland, NC, and is currently a resident artist at FOCI - Minnesota Center for Glass Arts.

Danté’s work has consistently contained a simple, clean and organic aesthetic. Since school he has gravitated towards just a handful of very comforting natural colors; greys, whites, blacks, and brilliantly understated blues. Some of his first intense studies into the possibilities in glass led him to experiment with thin hair like lines that moved across the surface of a piece. He believes that glass is a perfect material in its molten state to twist and move lines into the piece however he wishes, using three dimensional objects as a sculptural canvas.

His current body of work stems from a simple idea he had in college revolving around capturing the movement of water in glass. After combining the idea with project designed to discuss a current issue in the world, Danté began to realize just how well this material captured movement, freezing the image in time like a sculptural photograph.

Once out of college, and forced to change his focus to a more marketable design approach, concentrating on creating items that are both sculptural and functional, leading him to his current River Rocks series. This led to his most recent process of using real stones from iconic bodies of water to create molds to make a line of glassware, decanters, and vases which will soon be featured in the OUR Glass shop.

We have been so excited to be able to feature Danté as a friend of OURs. Since the beginning, he has been an incredible friend and artist, consistently producing the highest quality work with a beautiful subtlety that can’t be unnoticed. His experiences have led him to be one of the most talented glass workers in the midwest, regularly pushing his boundaries and never allowing sub-par details to leave his domain. As he navigates the art and design world he continues to both push the medium forward and attract talented, dedicated individuals to whatever studio he is currently working out of. We are so happy to see what he has become and we are so excited to be able to be working alongside him again. Thank you so much Danté for being our second Friend of OURS and we can’t wait to see what comes next!

-Tynan Pratumwon

Website: dantegermainglass.com

Instagram: @dantegermain