Long before Chihuly, the Arabs blew glass. They say sailing Phoenicians were the first to breathe into lightning-struck beach sand. So it was doubly fitting that I became a glass maker in Toledo—the glass city—100 years after my grandfather left Lebanon.

After getting cut from the freshman basketball team, I gave up my dream of being an NBA point guard and began going to the Toledo Museum of Art. The American pioneers of the studio glass movement had held their garage workshops there four decades prior. After two years of trying to keep molten on center, I met my friend and teacher Lynn Dinning in Michigan. I’ve enjoyed several summers at the bench of Good Hart Glassworks, in the idyllic north woods studio Lynn built.

I’ve had the pleasure of making glass with generous and creative people in northern Michigan, Bowling Green, Ohio, and most recently in Detroit, at Michigan Hot Glass.

This site is a collection of my glass work over the years.

Enjoy, Paul

paul.abowd@gmail.com                                                                                                                                                                         www.etsy.com/shop/paulabowd

***Photo: Jim West: www.jimwestphoto.com