Meet the Member: North Shore Glass School

Interviewee:

Anya Ciarametaro (She/Her/Hers)

In your words… Tell us about your organization, business, initiative.

North Shore Glass School is a small glass education establishment in Salem, Massachusetts. NSGS offers both in-studio and mobile fused glass classes, as well as in-studio stained glass, flameworking, and glass blowing classes. Owned by seasoned glass artists Michael Hall and Matthew Cronin, NSGS is a warm and welcoming place for ALL ages to explore and learn more about the ancient art of glasswork.

Our team is comprised of the two owners, one scheduling and social media manager, and two teachers. We all work together to come up with new classes and experiences for the budding artists in our community. We value our students’ input and want to help them push their artistic limits, and to find new passions.

Tell us a bit about you and why you do what you do? Share your passions for your business, initiative, organization.

Hi! I’m Anya, one of the teachers and program coordinators at North Shore Glass School. As an artist, I am so grateful to have found such an amazing space to share my love of glass. The owners of NSGS are creative, supportive, and provide opportunities for us teachers to add to our glass repertoire. As a teacher, it is so important to have an environment that makes everyone feel comfortable and able to learn and grow, and NSGS is that space.

I was introduced to glass in 2013 and it changed the course of my life. I originally went to college to become a high school math teacher. I loved school, I loved teaching, and I loved that in math there was always a right answer. After signing up for a glassblowing class, I realized this is what I needed to pursue. Something about the often unforgiving material made perfectionist-me learn how to adapt and change as I went. I found I could be creative and flexible in my process, and I fell in love. Almost a decade later, I found my home at North Shore Glass School. I teach every one of my classes with compassion and encouragement, guiding folks that think as I used to think to be able to unlock a creative side they didn’t know they had.

What role do you think your business plays in supporting a more creative community? OR your community in general. (Bonus! Why do you think a more creative community is important?)

North Shore Glass School provides a unique opportunity to work with glass–and who doesn’t love glass?! It broadens current artists’ horizons right alongside those who never thought they could make art. Our school levels the art playing field, so to speak, and gives everyone a chance to discover what they can do.

What was the last book you read OR What was the last video you watched that made an impact on you?

The most impactful book I read recently was The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. It is all sorts of weird and time-hoppy and mysterious… It really made my brain work. And as a plus, it’s a great book to listen to while you are creating :).

What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you or your business?

This is more a fun fact about glass… to get the colors you see in glass, metals and metal oxides are added to clear glass in the manufacturing process. For example, to get blue, one would add cobalt. The most interesting one I learned was that you need GOLD to make pink. So fancy!

Creative Collective is a group of economic development strategists, small business supporters, activation specialists, and believers in the importance of the creative workforce. We foster growth, sustainability, and scalability for small businesses, creative thinkers, organizations, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Learn more and join Creative Collective at www.creativecollectivema.com/join