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Linda Perrin hand shapes a “Surf Vase” on the end of a steel blow pipe. Photo by Ken Perrin.

Where fire gatherers commune
Where fire gatherers commune

Atlantic Art Glass in Ellsworth

feature by Deb rah Ann T ain
phot s by Deb rah Ann T ain & Ken and Linda Perrin

Ken and Linda Perrin met in an art class at San Francisco College over two decades ago. The spark that kindled their relationship
also ignited a common passion for the art of glass blowing, to which they have dedicated a lifetime and successfully elevated to a high
art form.

When you first enter into Atlantic Art Glass, located at 25 Pine St in Ellsworth, you are greeted by a retail gallery space exhibiting
a variety of colorful glass vessels, vases, animals, and shapes of all different sizes. This immediately transitions into an area with high
ceilings, a couple of couches, work tables covered in production pieces, and a large oven-like contraption with white hot fire burning
inside. It is an eclectic culmination of studio, educational, and gathering space for the cultivation of making, discussing, and processing
art. The industrial feel of their studio space lends itself to the intensity of the heat and concentration necessary to safely work with melt-
ing glass and heavy metal tools, which provide juxtaposition for the opulent, shiny, object d’art that is the result of the Perrins work
with fire and glass.

As young artists starting out, the Perrins’ focus was on commerce and how to survive. Over the years their hard work paid off and
during the peak, from 2001 to 2013, their pieces were sold in over 60 galleries and graced the shelves of museums, such as Decordova
Museum in Massachusetts, Chrysler Museum in Virginia, Museum of Art and Design in New York City, and in 2011 they exhibited at
the Boston Museum of Fine Art along side of world renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. Mr. Chihuly had to approve of and accept
their work, bringing about an impressed staff at the BFA who remarked on the high demand for the Perrins’ pieces. Their glass art is
part of numerous private collections and is currently being sold at The Portland Museum of Art, in Portland, Maine, and the Corning
Museum of Glass, in New York. Their work is also sold in Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor at the Island Artisans coop, to which they
have belonged for 20 years and have been owners in partnership since 2014. continued on the next page

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