Florence artist Lisa Tate is nationally known for her blown, engraved glass

Original article published in the Ravalli Republic on January 31, 2021 written by Michelle McConnaha

Nationally recognized blown and engraved glass artist Lisa Tate works in 2300-degree heat.

She grew up in Missoula, as an adult lived in Boise for 30 years, then Montana drew her home. She lives in Florence, usually teaches glass blowing classes and rents her studio.

Her specialty is blowing glass with multiple layers of bright color then cutting through the layers to reveal a design. Her art combines glass blowing, designing and engraving.

Tate said she got her start doing arts and crafts as a child.

“I just enjoyed making things with my hands,” she said, Wednesday. “I started doing engraving on glass about age 12, when I started playing with my dad’s Dremel tool. As I became an adult, I studied art in school and enjoyed all kinds of art.”

Bronze sculpting and lost wax casting were favorites. She said she always wanted to do glass blowing but did not have that opportunity due to the expense.

“Glass blowing studios are expensive to build and expensive to run,” Tate said. “To blow glass you need to go to a specialized school. I became a very good engraver and was doing a lot of engraving for companies.”

Blown and engraved glass Artist Lisa Tate works in her studio, teaches the art and rents her facility. Photo by Aaron Beck

She started to do Cameo Glass, which is engraving using different color layers of blown glass. She would commission glass blowers for “blanks” in the shape she needed but was frustrated with flaws in the glass.

“The issue I kept running into is that when you blow glass it’s liquid, it’s molten and can wrinkle,” Tate said. “Engraving is a very time-consuming process and I’d put in 60 hours of work to come across one of these wrinkles. So, the piece I was working on would be ruined after so many hours of carving.”

Her frustration prompted her to learn glass blowing. Initially, she took a two-week class optimistically believing that would solve her problems.

“Glass blowing isn’t difficult, but you have to do what may be unnatural like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time,” Tate said. “You have to practice; it takes a long time, and you have to understand how the glass flows and the physics involved.”

After a few days of class, she felt it was too difficult but kept practicing, and 10 years later became a glassblower.

“It was fun and I enjoyed it,” Tate said.

Cameo glass work by Lisa Tate is engraving using different color layers of blown glass and beautiful designs.

Tate studied glass blowing and engraving at the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Francisco, Pratt Fine Art Center in Seattle and Corning Studio in Corning, New York.

She had been renting a glass blowing studio when some “revolutionary equipment came out that was very energy efficient,” she said, so she could afford to have her own glass blowing studio. She purchased the equipment and built her studio in Boise, Idaho, in 1993. She rented her studio to other glass artists.

“It was a phenomenal way to learn because there are so many different kinds of glass blowing and so many different specialties,” Tate said. “I was able to experience unique glass blowing from very good glassblowers who were using my studio. We became a whole community of glass blowers and we helped each other and did art shows together.”

Tate said as a young adult when she moved to Boise, she thought it would just be for a few years it was 30 years before she moved back to Montana.

“I always wanted to live in the Bitterroot,” she said. “That was a goal ever since I was a little kid. It was actually my dream to have a cattle ranch because I just wanted to ride horses all day. I thought that would be a great job.”

A few years ago, she bought property in Florence with a large shop and set up her glass blowing studio. She gives lessons, currently on hold, and will resume when the pandemic is over because you “can’t social distance with glass blowing.”

Tate says she is inspired by nature and uses a variety of bold colors. Her work is collected throughout the United States and the Middle East and is currently in two permanent museum collections. She participates in the American Craft Council show a top show in the country for high-end art and craft.

“I had collectors every year and one of those pointed out that all of my engravings are of nature of wildlife, trees or leaves in a variety of patterns,” Tate said. “I hadn’t known that about myself, but when I realized that I decided to think outside the box.”

She was inspired to complete a several year project that was a series of engravings of Eastern European fairy tales and folk tales in etched glass.

A red bowl by blown and engraved glass artist Lisa Tate shows the beauty of unique design creativity.

Some of Tate’s work is on display at Montana Bliss Artworks in Hamilton. She has a variety of pieces from the higher price of cameo glass to stained glass to lower prices, for example, a glass vase for a Mother’s Day gift.

Tate is a member of Artists Along the Bitterroot and participates in the studio tour.

“I do glass blowing demonstrations during the tour and have pieces for sale,” Tate said.

Along with a life of art, she had an additional career.

“My master’s degree was in nonprofit management and I had worked in museum management my whole life,” Tate said. “When I first moved back to Missoula, I became the executive director of National Museum of Forest Service History. I still do that and love that job and do glass blowing as well.”

Tate often draws from nature and personal experiences to convey her thoughts and passions in the 2300 degree medium of glass blowing.

“I try to faithfully express my life’s passions, my growth, and my voice,” she said.

Visit her website lisatateglass.com.