Glass works on display at mARTinis on Main

How long does it take hot glass artist Cal Breed to make a wine or martini glass?

“Fifteen years and 30 minutes,” Breed said with a laugh. “I usually end up with some on the floor.”

The Alabama artist was on his way to a degree in marine biology from Auburn University. But growing up, he always made things, and a class on stained glass in 1994 reawakened that desire.

“I’ve been making glass now for 15 years, and I’m still learning,” said Breed, an artist from Fort Payne in northeast Alabama.
Hence the joke about how long it takes to make a glass.

Glass, it seemed, was his true calling. He had a rhythm with the glass. It was like a really good athlete who makes their sport look easy, as Breed puts it. He was comfortable with glass.

“When I tried it, it just fit,” Breed said. “It’s a very beautiful material. I love to make beautiful things. It’s a very fluid material. ... I meshed with it quickly.”

Guests attending a fundraising event for the Wiregrass Chapter of the American Red Cross will get to see Breed’s work for themselves. The event, dubbed mARTinis on Main, will be Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at in the newly renovated historic bank building at Main and Foster streets. Also featuring local artists and Dothan native Julian Peterman, general admission tickets to the event are sold out. As of earlier this week, only a few VIP tickets remained at $75 each.

For tickets, call the Red Cross at 792-9852.

VIP ticket holders will receive a signature swizzle stick made by Breed. He’ll also have martini glasses made special for the event and other pieces from his collection of bowls, pitchers, glasses and vases.

Breed is president and designer of Orbix Hot Glass on Lookout Mountain in Fort Payne, leading a team of glassblowers and making his mark in the world of glass art. His work can be found in galleries around Alabama as well as Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and states around the country from Delaware to Hawaii.

His work has been featured in O magazine, Southern Living, In Style magazine as well as in an Alabama Public Television documentary. His pieces sell for a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

Living on the edge of Little River Canyon National Preserve, the influence of nature can be seen in Breed’s work. Colors and natural forms become metaphors for something he’s dealing with in his life, Breed said. They evoke a feeling he tries to reproduce in his work.

“I create not just to copy that form, but to copy the way it can well up something inside of you,” he said.