Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Article Image Alt Text
  • Article Image Alt Text
    PHOTO BY GARY ZUPANCIC/WIMBERLEY VIEW The Water’s Edge pattern is a product of grief and hope.
  • Article Image Alt Text
    PHOTO BY GARY ZUPANCIC/WIMBERLEY VIEW Where the magic happens Tim de Jong feels most comfortable in the glass workroom.

New glass art exhibit comes from grief, hope

Living in Wimberley it is easy to rub elbows with artists of all sort and every type of medium from painting, sculpting, photography and plenty more.

Glassblower Tim de Jong, Wimberley’s resident artist in glass, has a new exhibition of his work at the Wimberley Glassworks. De Jong has been in Wimberley since 1992, his love of the sunlight, sunsets and the colors that are created was a good reason to settle here.

The 2015 floods that devastated the area inspired his 2018 creation line entitled “River Timber.” Taking hollowed out logs and blowing the liquid glass into them created visually appealing light fixtures and other pieces of glass art. Beauty out of tragedy reflected in the light the fixtures give off.

His new creations, “Water’s Edge” also has a somber story behind them. His brother’s wife passed away. She was not very old and her death was sudden. The family consoled the brother for two weeks. But Tim thought to himself that five weeks would be the time for the impact to hit his brother.

At five weeks, Tim visited and observed that living in Seattle didn’t help with its dark and rainy weather. “I took long walks with my brother. It was gray and cold. The waves broke on the beach (made of pebbles) and every third or fourth wave the wave would not have air in them. You could see yourself reflected in each stone,” de Jong said. “My brother was so low, every stone was talking to him, (you could) feel something beautiful even at your worst point.” That is where “Water’s Edge” is coming from.

“So many options…each step is a new opportunity. The sea brings forth sweeping changes with each wave, and each stone is a new step reflective of our life’s path,” de Jong quoted in promotional material.

The sheen on the articles and the patterns do give them the sense of being washed over by the sea, reflected in the pebble-like patterns. Snacks, whisky cocktails and smooth jazz saxophone renderings by Mel Davis of Austin’s “Blues Specialists” accompanied the exhibition.

The premiere of the exhibition was the perfect excuse to visit Wimberley Glassworks and to appreciate the creation, insight and the actual work that goes into each object. The unique shapes and the thought that is expressed into the glass is artistry worth viewing.

For more information on Wimberley Glassworks, visit the website at: wgw.com

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054