I first saw the glass sculpture of the De la Torre Brothers at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. In the contemporary sculpture of these two brothers, I saw cultural icons I had come to love during a year I spent living in Mexico. La Virgen de Guadalupe, Lucha Libre, Dia de los Muertos, Aztec Pyramids and more were explored in a personal, insightful and political way. And I loved that their work looks nothing like the typical Northwest glass movement.

I wondered how to pronounce their names- Einar and Jamex- I had never heard those names in Mexico. I wondered if they were from the U.S. or Mexico. I googled their name and found a fantastic website.
Last summer I saw that the de la Torres were teaching at Pilchuck– the Northwest’s premier “glass school.” It made me wonder if they would ever consider coming to Centrum to teach teens. It was a longshot-Centrum doesn’t have a hot glass facility, and they are really busy. I was shocked but pleased that when I called their studio, their manager said yes- they would be interested, “Tell me more and we’ll get back to you.” They were busy, preparing a bunch of work to ship to Arizona for a museum show. “But we WILL respond when we get back.”

In the month that passed following that conversation, I learned that Einar and Jamex are in demand both as teachers for prestigious craft schools such as Penland in North Carolina and as artists. They did get back to me and they said yes to teaching kids sculpture. And it’s not because of me that they will come to Centrum in June, it’s because of the kids- and the opportunity to share their knowledge and skill with young people.

Go to their website and see their amazing work http://www.delatorrebros.com/.
Then sign up to come to Centrum and learn about the process of combining images and a variety of materials into a sculpture that reflects YOU. www.centrum.org/youth.