As I mentioned in my previous blog post....both of my parents were exceptional Hawaii artists.
My mom, a super creative fashion designer and my dad ....well.....my dad was definitely a pioneer of glassblowing in Hawaii.
My father, Murray Aschelman Holt Jr was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Murray and WIlma Holt. His parents were somewhat typical for the time...his dad was a civil engineer and worked for the US Navy building shipyards. And my grandmother was a title searcher for the State of Hawaii. I'm sure they had high expectations that my dad Jug ( sidebar: my dad's nickname - a shortened version of Juggen, the German word for Junior as my grandfather didn't want him to be called "Junior-boy"), imagine their surprise when after graduating from college he decided to continue his education and pursue a Master's Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Hawaii.
In the mid 70's, my dad became involved with ceramics and especially in Raku which is a process in which clay is fired in an underground kiln.
Kinda like a Hawaiian Imu. He also helped to found the Hawaii's Potter's Guild
Later, He became completely immersed in art glass and blowing glass and along with several other keen artists, created the first art glass studio in Hawaii called the Foundry.
It was located on Waimanu street in what was an abandoned warehouse.
As he continued to pursue his Master's at UH, he helped create the new ART GLASS studio at the University of Hawaii where he also taught students the fine art of glassblowing as well as ceramics.
He later taught master classes in glassblowing at Punahou, stained glass & glassblowing at the Hickam Air Force Base art studio.
He even has 2 pieces of glass in the permanent collection at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Back then, I complained about the heat of the furnace....my dad forced me to be his "punty girl" which meant i had to dip a blowpipe into the molten glass so he could transfer his piece from top to bottom. Probably hard to visualize, but trust me...it was HOT!!!
Looking back....I cherish those days as the creativity that buzzed around me was off the richter scale. There was always visiting artists that would stay with us. Notable glassblowers like Steve Correia and Dale Chihully were uncles to me.
I look back at my dad's sketchbooks and the incredible ideas he had were so unheard of at that time in Hawaii. He and his pioneering friends truly helped open the doors for today's Hawaii artistic creatives
Rest in aloha dad..... Murray A. Holt Jr aka Jug & Brooke's Bad Dad
