Auto Shop Transforms into a Glass Art Studio

As a senior majoring in business at Salisbury University, Tim McFadden’s thesis required that he develop a business plan. A glassblowing enthusiast, he chose a glass studio and gallery, researching the market, creating a website, looking for properties, and ultimately writing a business proposal.

What started as a hypothetical business plan became McFadden’s life and livelihood.

In its sixth year on Eastern Avenue, McFadden’s Art Glass has proven a staple in Baltimore's art community, drawing more visitors and students each year.

He settled on property, formerly an auto garage, in June 2006, opening the studio and gallery space shortly thereafter. The space was perfect because it was zoned for business, industrial equipment (which he needed for the studio) and residential.

“That’s what landed me in the Dundalk area,” he said.

McFadden made a portion of the gallery building his home.

A few years later, the restaurant next door, Eastwood Inn, went out of business. McFadden’s parents bought it, thinking it would be fun to keep with the glass theme by showcasing McFadden’s work, along with paintings and other pieces by local artists, in what they named The Glass Grill.

McFadden, 27, grew up in the Roland Park area of Baltimore and never saw himself as an artist. His younger brother was gifted in that way, he said: drawing and painting came naturally to his sibling.

“I never felt artistically inclined,” he said. “I didn’t feel like 2D art was natural to me … and I just thought that’s what an artist was.”

Ceramics was almost a fit, but he really discovered his artistic niche when he registered for a glassblowing elective as a freshman in college.

“It was really, really hard when I first started,” he admitted. “I kept breaking stuff over and over again. But that’s how you figure it out. Every time I didn’t break something, I’d be like, ‘yes!’ I was totally rejuvenated. Once or twice, you get it right, and that makes up for all the times you did it wrong.”

He continued taking classes each year, progressing through levels in the art form.

“By the fourth year, I was like, how do I keep doing this after college? It was just so cool,” he said.

At McFadden Art Glass, people come for classes and workshops on blowing glass.

The “hot shop” building, behind his gallery, is where the magic happens. All classes and workshops are held in the building, which can accommodate about 50 people.

In the beginning of his business, he organized what he calls "date nights" on the first Friday of each month. In the pre-Glass Grill days, this was a BYOB event, and people brought coolers of beer and wine for what was a “big open house party” every month, he said. About a dozen people came at first, but the numbers have grown ever since. These days he hosts two date nights a month (first and third Fridays) and anywhere from 40 to 50 people show up.

“People will come and have dinner and make a night of it,” he said.

He starts students on pieces he started on as a beginner: ornaments, cups, paper weights, vases, glass flowers and necklace pendants. They can continue to learn to make more difficult pieces as they progress.

“It’s kind of like a learned trade. It helps if you have some talent, but if you put in the hours, you’re gonna get better.”

More experienced glassblowers can rent out the shop and use the equipment.

McFadden finds time to spend in the hot shop alone, too, working on his own pieces, which fill the sunny gallery.

“I’m trying to push my work larger and more outrageous,” he said.

Creations in all shapes and sizes and a multitude of colors fill the gallery space. A hand-blown terrarium is filled with succulents near the front window. Organic shapes are mixed with more conventional vases and bowls, most of which are much larger than your average glass pieces, sometimes to a surprising degree.

“Either it turns out well or it’s a pile of shards on the floor. It’s very challenging. … That’s what drew me to put in hour after hour. The more hours I put in, the more attached I got to it.”

He opens the gallery doors to the public Monday through Saturday.

“I opened this place not to be a professional teacher but to be a professional artist,” he said. “But teaching sustains the business. It’s such a volatile business, to be an artist.”

McFadden Art Glass

6800 Eastern Ave., Baltimore

410-631-6039

For more information, go to mcfaddenartglass.com.

Gallery hours are noon to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday