![]() ![]() In a fit of quasi-spontaneity, Kovel and Parker packed up, hightailed it from their “Italian mafia landlord,” and drove west. “We thought, ‘Why are we making their work? We should be making our own,’” Kovel says. Fine artists like Kiki Smith contracted with them to create custom pieces, but the two were growing tired of hustling for other artists. ![]() While hustling their way up the New York art scene, Kovel and Parker made names for themselves. That’s why in 2001, Kovel and business partner Justin Parker ditched Brooklyn for Portland. “If you’re not doing something to add to the history of it, then you’re just doing craft.” “ about being curious about the material and in awe of the magic and being less married to the techniques of the past,” she explains. Kovel’s style is provocative and avant-garde, intertwining a spare style she calls “ punk-lux” with functional installation. “That’s part of glassblowing it’s inherently performance-based.” “There’s fire, yelling, and it’s kind of chaotic, but it’s fun.” The atmosphere in the hot room is equal parts competitive and theatrical, she says. “It’s like a war zone in there,” Kovel explains of the show’s production. Now the co-owner of an elite, high-end glassblowing studio, Kovel says she applied to Blown Away because she was ready for “more.” That was in the ’90s Kovel has established herself as a professional glass artisan since then. While teaching art classes at the Museum of Modern Art and working on her master’s at Parsons, Kovel took a glassblowing course for kicks. A former Brooklynite trained in fine art and sculpture, she entered the niche world of glassblowing almost by accident. “I just knew they’re going to like my vibe,” she says on a Zoom call from a Chicago hotel room, amid flight transfer mishaps for Netflix-sanctioned travel. Kovel has been glassblowing for 20 years, and when she applied to compete on season two, she knew she’d get the gig.
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