Mariel Waddell & Alexi Hunter
CJ Kingston Glass Studio & Gallery is located in picturesque, downtown Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and owned by glass artists Mariel Waddell and Alexi Hunter. All products are designed and created by Mariel or Alexi with the help of two additional hot shop assistants. Each piece is made onsite in their open concept, open-to-the-public studio.
Mariel Waddell is an award-winning glass artist born in Trinidad and has lived in other tropical countries such as Barbados and Costa Rica. The experience of living in these countries has become the foundation of her inspiration. Using molten hot glass bits Mariel sculpts and captures pieces of the oceans reefs and currents onto her vessels. Mariel’s work can be found in galleries, public collections, private collections and museums, across North America and other parts of the world. “My native islands, Trinidad and Tobago, have always inspired me. The experience of living in these centers of natural beauty has been the main foundation for my artistic vision” Mischka Jay “Alexi” Hunter, a talented and passionate glass artist.
Alexi was born on the West Coast of Canada and has lived around the world including the Hawaiian Islands and Europe before setting into Eastern Ontario. Having spent many formative years at his family’s farm near Kingston, Ontario much of his work is inspired by childhood memories. He draws inspiration from the rural landscape and has been perfecting his art at the Kingston Glass Studio and Gallery in Kingston, Ontario, since 2006. The exquisite beauty of Kingston and the Islands and the surrounding area is a natural draw for him. He believes that “Kingston offers artists of all mediums a compatible environment where they can find inspiration and enjoy a creative lifestyle.”
The fully equipped glass blowing studio is complete with a 300lb glass furnace, 3 glory holes and 5 kilns. To start each piece, a hollow steel pipe is used to gather molten hot glass out of the furnace that is kept at 2100 degrees. Color is added and the glass is blown and shaped by hand into a design. A glory hole furnace assists in reheating the glass allowing the glass to remain hot while it sculpted. Thousand-year-old ancient techniques and tools are used to create specific designs made by the artists. The completed piece is then put into a kiln and brought down in temperature over a 12 hour period, ‘the annealing process’. Certain pieces are then ‘cold-worked’ where they are ground, shaped and faceted depending on the work created.
