There are four Hot Studios that make up the very heart of the Hot Shops Art Center. Each of these shops deals in various fiery disciplines to shape their artistic expressions, which require thousands of degrees to create. These studios make our organization a unique place of learning for the more challenging visual arts.
Crystal Forge is the glass studio that was founded by Ed Fennell over 40 years ago. Here, you can watch artists tame hot, molten glass into beautiful works of art. Take a seat and learn about the trade as the artists create right in front of your eyes.
Classes in glass blowing and lampworking are held on a regular basis. Check the event calendar for scheduled sessions, or call 402-408-1390.
The foundry is used for casting bronze, aluminum, and iron for production of unique fine art and interesting architectural details. The foundry is managed by Les Bruning, an accomplished, nationally recognized sculpture artist, specializing in metal casting and welding, that has amassed countless projects from the artistic to the mundane.
Bruning has participated in hundreds of juried and invitational shows throughout United States.
Past clients include Yoko Ono, Topher Delaney, John Himmelfarb, Katherine Ferguson, Pepsy Kettavong, Louise Bourgeois, Boys Town, and numerous architects. Bruning has also cast sculptures by Degas, Ellie Nadelman, Louis Slobokin and more.
The ceramics studio produces ceramic pots, tiles, murals and sculptures of all shapes and sizes. The studio has two kilns including a giant walk-in kiln. Visit to see our collection of pots and vessels, or catch the artists on the wheel. Classes and workshops are available in the ceramics studio.
Managed by Tim Barry, he teaches that clay is a fluid whose shape is only limited by ones imagination and skills, and the arts are our record of the human spirit. Clay has a history as old as man and a future as infinite, the discipline of ceramics is a timeless classic.
The forge is an ornamental blacksmithing shop with many pieces of machinist equipment including a milling machine that was restored off of a WWII destroyer. Here, we create new forms by heating metal to extreme temperatures and hammering them into unique shapes. Managed by Chris Kemp, you can watch him hammer, bend, liquify, pummel, weld and beat iron into submission.