Lucerne Valley glass artists Jon and Sheri Bush have been crafting exquisite, Tiffany-inspired  works of glass art at their Hot Glass Ranch studio for over two decades now. They are gifted and prolific artists, and a visit to their holiday open house—held on the second weekend of each December— will boggle the imagination with the sheer variety and beauty of pieces they create—fanciful sea creatures, vases, goblets, ornaments, all shimmering and iridescent, and no two pieces are alike. Patrons of Tonyan’s Coffee Roastery might even recognize their work when they see the splendid glass light fixtures overhead while waiting for their lattes and Americanos. A warning: collecting their work can become addictive. A visit to their workshop will have you wanting at least one of everything. The open house is also a wonderful way to meet other art lovers in the community and to meet the artists for yourself. They are warm and friendly and are happy to demonstrate how they craft their pieces.

 

The Bushes have deep California roots: Sheri is a graduate of Cal-State San Bernardino, and Jon is a graduate of Cal-State Fullerton. Jon moved to his Lucerne Valley home several decades ago because he was looking for a place where he could have privacy and room for his glassblowing studio. The couple is known for demonstrating their glassblowing skills at the Colorado Renaissance Festival and the Hillcrest Festival of the Arts  in Whittier, California, as well as at their holiday open house, and their work is featured at select boutiques and galleries from Los Angeles to Boston, including the Muckenthaler Museum Gift Shop in Fullerton, CA, and The Creative Arts Group in Sierra Madre, CA, and they are the recipients of countless awards.

 

Jon and Sheri do all of the painstaking groundwork and follow-up work involved in their art, including formulating and mixing the batches, loading and melting the glass, as well as the finding and polishing the completed pieces. When asked what he loves about his work, Jon Bush muses, “The roar of the furnaces; the warmth. The smell of burnt wood and the smell of beeswax…the immediacy.” He loves the combination of loud furnaces and rock and roll. He is enamored with the feel of a material that moves on its own, that has a life, he says— a timing. Glass is the only material that moves its own way, he observes, ensuring that every handmade piece is one-of-a-kind.

You can follow Jon and Sheri Bush on their Facebook page at https://m.facebook.com/HotGlassRanch, or contact them at (760) 267-1460