A chance encounter in a parking lot opened the doors to a passionate pastime for Emory professor Philip Brachman.
The Milwaukee native may be best known on campus for his 28-year tenure at the university’s Rollins School of Public Health. But off campus, he’s long had an interest in crafts, and it was in the parking lot of a store in Buckhead 10 years ago that he encountered one that fascinated him immediately.
“Here was this guy blowing glass, and watching him got me hooked,” recalled Brachman, 85. “I signed up for a 5-week introductory class, and I’ve been at it ever since.”
Brachman was so committed to learning the craft that for several years he spent Saturday mornings driving from Alpharetta to Buckhead to a studio where he could practice. After moving intown, he started working at Atlanta Hot Glass in Decatur.
“If you had a lot of money, you could set up in your garage, but if you’re going to be blowing glass once a week, you need a place to keep the glass in liquid form - in a 2,000-degree Fahrenheit furnace that has to be kept on 24/7,” said Brachman. “So having my own studio with all the tools would be too expensive.”
Working with experts at Hot Glass gives Brachman the space, materials and instruments he needs for his glass creations - fish, paperweights, glasses and plates, to name a few. In three hours, he can turn out two or three items, depending on the intricacy and amount of color.
“You start off with what you want to make, but in my case, I usually change my mind midstream because I screw up some place!” he said with a laugh. “I start out to make a glass, and it winds up being a plate. But that’s the fun of it. You can express yourself in glass.”
And he does: The professor has an art room at his Druid Hills home that’s jammed with his creations. “And my kids, friends and family all have glass in their homes,” he said. “Sometimes they come to my house and see something they like, and I let them take it home.”
Glassblowing has proved to be more than just an artistic outlet. It’s also a great way to keep in shape, Brachman says.
“Glass is heavy,” he said. “You work with a long pipe with holes in it and blow through it to make what you want. I can hold about three, but anything more is pretty heavy. So you not only need to have the energy to blow, which takes a lot of air, but also the dexterity to turn the pipe and shape the glass. That really takes muscle power. But as long as I enjoy what I’m doing, I’m going to keep doing it.”
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