Sunshine Artist Features Main Street's Ronnie Hughes

"A Walk in a field of flowers on the Blue Ridge Parkway Gave His Talent An Entirely New Direction"

Ronnie Hughes of Main Street Gallery in Blowing Rock is featured on the march cover of Sunshine Artist, a national trade magazine. Ronnie's work is seen in juried shows throughout the east coast region, at Main Street Gallery, and at Blowing Rock's award winning Art in the Park, where he has been a featured artist for many years.
Hughes has been working with glass for 29 years. It was in 1980 that he walked upon a field full of breathtaking pink lady's slippers on the Blue Ridge Parkway and because of that he was inspired to change his subject matter completely. Today he uses clear glass to transfer the beauty of wildflowers, explaining that the clear glass amplifies the delicacy of the flower.
His medium of choice is borosilicate glass which he heats to 2500 degrees with propane and oxygen-fed torches. It then becomes pliable enough to shape into the twisting leaves and fragile flowers of the finished product. He then anneals the glass at 1000 degrees in his kiln, which restores the original strength and durability to the structure. He states that he does not know where his style really comes from.
"My flowers have taken on a life of their own," he said.
The colorless glass captures the ethereal qualities of the flowers in the simplicity of his orchids and springtime jacks, the refined complexity of his black-eyed susans, or the clustered blooms of his bonsais and Scottish thistles.
Hughes is especially fond of the leaf work on his bleeding hearts, however his sentimental favorites are his lady's slippers and jack-in-the-pulpits.
Fans may view Hughes" work at Main Street Gallery in Blowing Rock, a co-op of local area artist that has been in operation since 1982 and features a diverse selection of pottery, fiber art, weaving, quilting, woodwork, jewelry, photography, glass art, handmade dolls, and baskets.
The Gallery, located on North Main Street near the Highway 221 intersection, has just remodeled and will be opening for the season on Friday, March 25th. Friends may stop and visit one of the oldest and most well-known co-op artists galleries in the southeast.
For years the gallery operated as Expressions, but changed its name to Main Street Gallery a number of years ago. For additional information call 295-7939