Lightning tamer
Percy Echols II will explore plasma at Glass Center
Percy Echols II wanted to explore glass as an art form when he traveled to Pilchuck Glass School, the institution co-founded in 1971 by famedglass artist Dale Chihuly in Stanwood, Wash. In a class taught by internationally exhibited neon artist Patrick Collentine, he was introduced to plasma, andhe was hooked.
“It struck me — this was just the coolest thing ever,” Mr. Echols said. “The second I finished that class I wanted to do it.”
In July he was named the inaugural recipient of the Ron Desmett Memorial Award for Imagination With Glass by the Pittsburgh Glass Center. The award comprises $2,500 in cash and $2,500 worth of center studio time.
On Aug. 8 he will be among several artists speaking at the center, 5472 Penn Ave., Garfield, as a part of the annual summer lecture series. Mr. Echols will be teaching assistant to a class taught by Wayne Strattman and Mundy Hepburn, nationally known plasma artists, who will also speak. The free event begins at 6 p.m.
Mr. Echols, 28, was born in Champaign, Ill., and grew up in Bloomington. In high school he was interested in drawing, heightened by the interest in Japanese animation at the time. He chose to focus on graphic design, a pragmatic direction that he felt would bridge the gap between creative expression and financial responsibility.
He took art classes at Heartland Community College in Normal, Ill., while maintaining a tie with science, another early interest. After receiving his associate degree in art he attended Illinois State University in Normal where a friend suggested they take a glass class together. He liked the hands-on quality of the medium.
While at the university he participated in a merit-based program at Pilchuck, which he describes as “a summer camp for glassblowers. You had to be dedicated enough to be a glass major, were not graduating within the next year, and would bring knowledge back to share.” The program offered opportunity to meet dozens of people and exchange ideas, he said.
A year later he returned to Pilchuck for the class with Mr. Collentine and was seduced by the possibilities of plasma, which he describes as “a new method of illuminating glass.”
In between Mr. Echols approached a
local neon sign shop and struck up a relationship with the neon technician who occasionally gave him “homework assignments.” The mentoring period “was very brief, but it meant everything,” Mr. Echols said.
Graduating with bachelor’s degrees in fine art and science in glass from Illinois State, Mr. Echols applied to be a studio technician apprentice at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, where one of his professors had taught summer classes.
During the first six months of his 2016-17 appointment, the center serendipitously received a donation of neon equipment, providing an opportunity to continue his creative explorations and share previously developed skills. He built a mobile Neon Lab and in January 2017 presented its first public demonstration.
The award will give him time and space to continue to develop technical skills and conceptual investigations.
To learn more, visit Mr. Echols’ blog and podcast, the Taming Lightning Project, which shares ideas among those in the neon and plasma community (www.percyechols.com/taminglightning).