Meet the Owner: Phoenix Glass Studio

Though not technically part of the great exodus of artists from Ybor City to Seminole Heights in the early 1990s, glass blower Susan Gott can count herself among that generation. The Roanoke, VA, native was looking to shift away from teaching her craft full time in public schools to working for herself in her own workspace.

So Gott found herself doing what Tampa artists had been doing since the mid 1970s – looking for cheap workspace in Ybor City.

“But it got too expensive,” Gott said of the area’s growing popularity.

Seminole  Heights was a natural alternative choice for Ybor refugees. “There’s so many of the nice bungalows,” said Gott, “that also have a nice garage apartment. Having that extra little building in the back, that becomes the work space.

In 1991, Gott found a neglected 1912 American Foursquare house on Knollwood Street tucked in between Nebraska Avenue and Interstate 275.

“I wanted to have a home and a family, but I also needed kind of an industrial space.”

She bid on the property, a foreclosure, on the courthouse steps. By 1993 the home/work space she envisioned had risen like the mythical bird. 

Today, Gott shares the house with her 13-year-old daughter, Samantha, and the workshop with three full-time employees.

811 E. Knollwood St.
(813) 237-3473
gottglass.com 

Owner: Susan Gott 

Fire power: Phoenix’ workshop includes nine furnaces: six electric annealers, two natural gas glory holes, and a natural gas glass melt furnace capable of 2,300 degrees.

Shop at Phoenix: The Phoenix Gallery is behind the workshop and open to the public. Items for sale include paperweights, holiday ornaments, hummingbirds, bowls, vases, and perfume bottles ranging from $20 to $500. Gott’s larger sculptures range from $500 to $20,000. 

The downside to 20 years just off Nebraska Avenue: “It’s been a bit of a struggle getting the city to monitor the prostitution and drug trafficking.” 

The upside: “Having that local traffic is nice.”  

Artistic inspiration: “I love to travel,” Gott writes in her artistic statement, “and I am intensely interested in archeology and the rituals and art of various world religions. Some of the additional influences include the work of Joseph Campbell, the figurines of ancient Eastern Europe, the symbolism found in Indonesian and African masks, the mysteries of the Celts, the myths of ancient Greece, the belief systems of Native Americans, and the energy centers of the Chakras.” 

Giving back: Gott is nearing completion on a public art project for the new Springhill Park Community Center in Sulphur Springs. “'Spring Rain' [is a] “kind of falling water concept,” said  Gott, adding it was conceptualized with the help of high school students in the neighborhood. Gott said it’s tentatively scheduled for installation sometime in September.

Phoenix after turkey: Gott will have a Holiday Open House at her studio and gallery Nov. 25-27.

Hours: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.