Lumel Studio in Whitehorse is a mecca for glass-makers and a one-of-a-kind space
“The glass-making becomes a conduit for people to connect, which is what is really special. It’s not just about the glass and the object, it’s about the human connection”
Hilary Crawford has been blowing glass for over three decades — on multiple continents.
However, she is still amazed at the unique and interesting requests that come from customers, she says.
Like a glass-blown hot dog at Lumel Studios in Whitehorse just recently.
“I’ve never made a hot dog before, but everything you make, you have to think about it.”
It’s that kind of unpredictability that gets Crawford up and into the studio each day.
“That’s challenging, and that’s what’s exciting about it, and you get to make some really extraordinary objects here,” Crawford says.
A resident of Calgary, (by way of Australia), Crawford makes regular, seasonal pilgrimages to the Yukon to work at Lumel’s — usually in the summer and around the Christmas holidays when business is brisk.
Crawford was working for an indigenous non-profit group Maraku Arts in Mutitjulu, at the site of Uluru, in the Central Western Desert of Australia. She came to Canada in 2020 and settled in Alberta and eventually found her way to the Yukon.
Lumel’s is unlike any other glass-making studio Crawford has ever seen, she says. The unique space, the people who work there and the community that supports it, all make the business special.
“It’s an amazing gift to Whitehorse.”
Crawford adds the studio is a very welcoming space and caters to everyone.
“There’s an open-interface here, so people are welcome to come in. They are very close to the process, to the heat, to the sound. It’s very sensory glass-making, so people are really open to that.”
She adds, the openness and the feeling of acceptance at Lumel’s goes a long way in making people feel good about their interactions, especially because glass-making can be intimidating to those with no experience with it.
“The glass-making becomes a conduit for people to connect, which is what is really special. It’s not just about the glass and the object, it’s about the human connection,” she says.
The studio itself is like a living, breathing entity, full of light and colour and of course an eclectic group of full-time artists who create glass art and lead individuals and groups alike as they create objects out of glass.
The studio is owned and operated by Luann (Lu) Baker-Johnson and her husband Mel (hence the name Lumel Studios) and has become a well recognized and much loved place over the years.
“The business is getting busier and busier,” Crawford says, adding the studio is getting a good reputation throughout Canada and even other parts of the world.
“Lumel is training people here.”
As for being a tertiary glass school, Lumel’s is set to be the only one in the country as the Bachelor of Craft and Design (glass) program at Sheridan College in Toronto is set to close, Crawford says, pointing out this is a time of more commercialization of glass-making, with shows like Blown Away on Netflix, and feeder programs in Toronto. However, with the closure of Sheridan College’s program, those smaller places now have nothing to feed into.
As for Lumel’s, Crawford says Lu offers training and gives local artists an opportunity to build a career in glass-making. Lumel’s has six artists and all have different styles and are at different levels in their craft, from relative newcomers to old hands.
“It gives them a profession, and that can give you a life. That’s no small thing, especially in a material like glass.”
The studio also sends its artists out to schools, community centres and events in neighbouring communities with mobile furnaces, Crawford says.
Such events range from glass-making in Teslin, to teaching kids at Lake Laberge, a salmon festival in Marsh Lake, and the site of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation‘s school where youth made glass salmon eggs that were given out as gifts.
“I really love how [glass] objects infiltrate people’s lives, [and] how they come to be in their lives.”
There’s even more in store for Lumel’s as the summer approaches and the studio becomes a bustling hot-sport for new and returning artists and the public. In addition, glass-makers from all over Canada (and a few other places) will converge on Whitehorse for a full-scale get-together, which hasn’t happened since before the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The Glass Art Association of Canada (GAAC) will hold its conference at both the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre (KDCC) and Lumel Studios in June, and will see presenters and glass-makers host workshops, demonstrations in the hot shop, and other cutting-edge techniques in glass-making.For more information on Lumel Studios, check them out at lumelstudios.com
