“In ancient Egypt the ba, or soul, was thought of as a bird.”
-Carl G. Jung
Whew! I survived all my work craziness, and now we’re back to our regularly scheduled program. These are the gorgeous glass birds created by flamework glass artist Shane Fero. This remarkable artist is one of those gifted few who knew what he wanted to do from the very beginning, learning glassblowing as a teenager. As a result of all that conviction (and a nearly-50-year career in glass), Fero’s work has a generosity and confidence I find pretty rare.
“During my 47 year career I have been fascinated with and have rendered bird imagery into my work in various forms. This focus has sharpened in the last 14 years with the blown bird series, which is based on techniques of German flameworking… I have always combined bird and human elements in my sculptures, vessel forms, and mixed media pieces. The present bird series was began after 9/11 to counter the mood and malaise of that time period. Birds have that special metaphysical and spiritual quality, which is reflected in their colors, gestures, song and flight.”
As generous with his knowledge as he is with his art, Fero has also taught glassblowing in some of the most prestigious schools in the world, including my favorites, the Corning Museum of Glass and Pilchuck Glass School as well as in schools in Europe, Australia, and Asia. He was awarded the Glass Art Society Lifetime Membership Award in 2014, and has won countless awards besides.
You can see all of the talented Shane Fero’s work on his website and on Instagram and Facebook.
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My OBT 
February 1, 2020 at 7:07 am
These are stunning! Thank you for sharing this and for your daily devotion to all things beautiful.
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February 1, 2020 at 11:34 am
How kind! I absolutely love “your daily devotion to all things beautiful!”
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February 1, 2020 at 9:08 am
Delightful. I wonder if they are heavy for their size or are they hollow inside?
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February 1, 2020 at 11:35 am
He does glass blowing, so I suspect they are on the light side, but maybe not. They certainly look substantial!
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February 1, 2020 at 3:18 pm
most of them have the same body. With a little added here and there. That does nothing to distract from the beauty. At fist i thought he used a mold of some sort and blew the glass into the mold but after more study, I bet he does not use a mold. So that leave how does he get so many different colors in the glass. I don’t have an answer but he does do magic.
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February 1, 2020 at 5:43 pm
Wowzer! These are incredible and I could not love them more. I love the bold use of colour and the luminosity of the glass and then those darling shapes of the bird forms.
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February 1, 2020 at 5:46 pm
I was coveting the blue quail so followed the links to find a price point. Sigh. I guess he won’t be waddling his way into my home. My tastes need me to make way more money than I do as a preschool teacher. 😀
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February 1, 2020 at 8:15 pm
Same. Into the virtual gallery they go!
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February 1, 2020 at 8:14 pm
The shapes and the textures are what got me. And the colors. So good
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February 1, 2020 at 7:55 pm
Oh my goodness I love these. We saw some beautiful glass art in Italy and I bought a little glass bird that we gave to husband’s elderly aunt who always had birds. When she died I got it back. But then we discovered she had had a son when she was a teenager that she gave up for adoption and once I met him, I noticed that he had birds made out of different things in his home, so I shipped him the glass bird that his mother had had. He didn’t have anything of hers. I like to think it’s with him.
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February 1, 2020 at 8:15 pm
How sweet! I love that. XO
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