NC Glass Center fires up new Black Mountain location

Nonprofit expansion melds art and education on east State Street

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
March 24, 2025

The first day of classes at the N.C. Glass Center in Black Mountain began, March 20, as students learned the basics of the ancient art. Photo by Fred McCormick

The rebirth of a distinctive 89-year-old building near the center of Black Mountain is bringing an ancient art to the downtown historical district, as the N.C. Glass Center debuted its second Western N.C. location this month.

The nonprofit organization, established in the River Arts District in 2015 to provide public access to education, exploration and collaboration in all forms of glass, hosts studios, production space and a gallery in its renovated facility at 112 East State Street.

Constructed in 1936 by Marius Rondel, the site was the home of the Rug & Jug Shop for 50 years, but sat vacant for years before the N.C. Glass Center purchased it in the fall of 2022. The organization initially planned to open the approximately 5,500-square-foot facility last October, but Tropical Storm Helene delayed the completion of the project until recent weeks, according to executive director Candace Reilly.

The nonprofit hosted a soft opening during Holly Jolly last December, before sporadically welcoming guests into its gallery through January. A certificate of occupancy was granted by the town in February.

Classes began, March 20, in the hot shop, where larger pieces of molten glass are carefully molded into shapes. The flame shop, which facilitates the creation of smaller projects, is anticipated to open in the coming weeks.

The goal, according to Reilly, is to support current artists while introducing novices to the craft.

“WNC has one of the largest glass art populations in the world,” she said. “After the COVID pandemic, people were moving from larger cities to smaller towns like this. Many glass artists took advantage of that, knowing there was a huge glass community here.”

The nonprofit’s Asheville location experienced a boom, doubling its service from around 50 artists to 100, beginning in 2020, according to Reilly, and the N.C. Glass Center was uniquely suited to accommodate it.

A 1,200-square-foot gallery in the N.C. Glass Center in Black Mountain features the work of local glass artists. Photo by Fred McCormick

“We could not keep up with the needs,” she said. “Towards the end of 2021, a donor, Todd Phillips, who dabbles in glass art himself, asked if he could help us out. He found this building, which gave us the opportunity to keep our first location and expand our services here.”

The renovation retains many of the structure’s distinctive characteristics, including exposed river rock on the interior and exterior, and adds a second floor of office space. Large windows facing the town square illuminate a bright gallery featuring the work of local glass artists, while the production space boasts modern glass-making technology.

Every week, two furnaces, each with a capacity to hold 400 pounds of molten glass, melt a fine powder of silica from Spruce Pine at 2,100 degrees. Artists collect pieces of molten, shaping them by blowing through a long pipe. The glass is then reheated in smaller heat sources throughout the the intensive process.

The hot shop offers space for artists and students, taking one-day or multi-week classes. Registration for the courses, which include a 30 Minute Make Your Own Glass and a three-hour Feel for the Furnace workshop, is available by phone, in-person or at ncglasscenter.org.

“You learn how to gather glass from the furnace onto the pipe, how to turn the pipe, so the glass is distributed well,” Reilly said. “You learn how to shape it and knock it off and put it into the annealer, which cools it slowly.”

A cold shop for polishing and kiln room for cast glass support the growing number of artists renting space in the studio.

“This place was really designed with the artist in mind,” Reilly said. “We want to provide access to resources for as many artists as possible.”

Among them is current BIPOC artist-in-residence Kimberly Bañes Muth, who received the annual grant allowing her to hone her skills in an immersive six-week experience with the Glass Center. The program, introduced in 2022, is designed to allow emerging artists to fully explore the medium, according to Reilly.

N.C. Glass Center Director Candace Reilly offers a look inside the nonprofit organization’s new Black Mountain location, which opened in March of 2025. Photo by Fred McCormick

“This is a grant-funded residency that brings a national glass artist here for six weeks of intensive studio time,” she said. “One of the reasons we applied for this funding is that there is very little representation for BIPOC artists in glass art, and we’ve found there were less and less opportunities to make themselves visible.”

The initiative is one of several intended to provide educational opportunities related glasswork.

“We also have a number of veteran programs, including a veteran apprenticeship program, where a veteran comes in a couple of hours a week to work with our studio manager,” Reilly said. “We then maintain contact with the VA therapist throughout that process, and it’s all focused on using art as a form of healing.”

The Center regularly hosts youth organizations, as well, she added.

The Black Mountain expansion will allow the Center to establish additional outreach programs while pursuing its mission.

“As our nonprofit continues to grow, we want to set national benchmarks and become known on a national level,” Reilly said. “Our goal is to bring major glass artists here to teach specialized workshops, giving our local artists a chance to work alongside nationally recognized artists.”

While the N.C. Glass Center will continue to operate both locations, the new facility represents a “new beginning” for the organization, according to the director.

“We want this space to be an extension of the healing that’s going on in this community right now,” Reilly said. “Everyone is still harboring a lot of feelings and fears, and we look forward to being a place where people can come explore this artistic outlet. We’ve been trying so hard to open this place for our community, and now that we’re here, it feels like a place of healing.”