LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A glass and metal sculpture is being built in Louisville to honor the memory of a beloved college instructor and artist.
The studio where Brook White works burns red hot and just in case things start to cool off, White will break out a blow torch. It’s just one of the many tools and techniques at White’s disposal. White is the owner of Flame Run Hot Shop in downtown Louisville and has been playing with fire for over 30 years.
He’s currently in the middle of his most ambitious project ever.
“Every time we go into the furnace and get another layer of glass that’s called a ‘gather.’ So we’re going to encase it again and that’s going to give us more volume and more glass so we can make a bigger piece,” White explained.
Not only is White going “big” on this latest project, he’s going back a few years to honor the legacy of the teacher who lit a fire in him, Steve Powell.
“I wanted to do one last ‘Steve’ project in true ‘Steve style,’" White said. The late Steve Powell was a visionary and world renowned glass artist, and a longtime professor at Centre College in Danville. Powell passed away in 2019.
White is building a 25-foot-tall metal and glass sculpture that will be installed at Centre College later this fall. The entire piece will be called the “Stephen Rolfe Powell Memorial Sculpture Garden.”
“It is meant to look like one of Steve’s classic, early pieces that he made that he became famous for,” White explained.
During this visit, White and his team are nearly finished blowing the glass needed for the sculpture. “They are going to be a big flat disc, like a big plate or platter. It’s going to be very flat,” White explained.
For weeks the team has been shaping nearly 50 glass plates that will represent circular color patterns, which are the hallmark characteristics of Steve Powell’s work. In fact, Powell’s wife has donated several original glass pieces to help inspire White and his team.
“Steve changed my life, and I wanted to do something to give something back,” White said.
There’s a sticker in White’s shop that reads, “Art is not a thing; it’s a way,” and through this art Brooke White is finding his way back to where it all started. The Stephen Powell Memorial Sculpture Garden will be dedicated during Centre College Homecoming on Oct. 15.