Queen Anne artist shines with glass work

Queen Anne resident Edgar Valentine is an up-and-coming 27-year-old glass artist whose first claim to fame came when he competed on the first season of “Blown Away,” the glass-blowing competition series on Netflix. Valentine was only 23 when the series was filmed, and he said it was a real whirlwind to participate in a reality TV competition.
A friend first sent him the link and said he should apply for the show. He had originally ignored it and thought it was a scam. It wasn’t until several other people suggested he apply and he saw a coworker doing it that he decided to go for it. One month later, he had his first interview and things moved quickly from there. But he said it didn’t seem real until he travelled to Canada and stepped onto the set to see everything.
“It was a huge studio and a surprise to meet the other artists in person,” he said.
Valentine said it was challenging to blow glass and make art in that television competition setting, but he ultimately had a lot of fun.
Valentine grew up in Tacoma and had his first experience with glass when he was just 12 years old with Hilltop Artists, an arts nonprofit that provides tuition-free glass instruction and mentorship to youth ages 12 to 26. According to the website, their mission is “Using glass art to connect young people from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds to better futures.”
His first class was using the torch to make beads and doing what’s called lamp working. The next semester he made it to the floor of the hot shop and has not looked back.
Soon enough, Valentine started commuting to Seattle to take some courses at Pratt Fine Arts Center. After high school, he headed to Colorado State-Pueblo on a lacrosse scholarship. He said Colorado was beautiful, but he decided that college was not for him. At age 19, Valentine came back to the Pacific Northwest and found his way to the famed Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash.
Valentine describes his ongoing experience at Pilchuck as an amazing opportunity to “connect with people from all over the world with all different styles.” He has studied glassblowing, neon, glass casting and many more classes.
“It’s technically a school but I view it as a camp… out in the middle of the woods in Stanwood with cabins, studios and a mess hall,” he said.
Valentine is grateful to Dale Chihuly — glass legend and founder of Hilltop Artists and Pilchuck — for his vision and generosity. He also notes Karen Willenbrink and Jasen Johnsen as powerful mentors. He studied with them at Pilchuck and said Willenbrink “really opened my eyes to what glass can do.”
More recently, Valentine moved up to Seattle with his girlfriend, Morenci Preihs. The two had originally met online and bonded over the shared love of their gray tabby cats. Now they are living together in an apartment at the top of Queen Anne Avenue.
“We feel like we really got lucky,” Valentine said. “This is exactly the place we had wanted to live.”
Valentine said he really appreciates the quiet feel of Queen Anne and a lot of the neighborhood hangouts. They enjoy the vegan sushi at Sushi Samurai, being regulars at Sully’s and being so close to the men’s lacrosse league. He’s even hoping to get more involved in the community.
“I would love to design some tap handles or something for the bar some time,” he said.
For now, he plans on giving back to the Queen Anne community by building on the generous glass tradition from Tacoma. Each Lunar New Year, Tacoma glass artists get together to make thousands of glass floats to hide throughout the city. It’s a fun tradition that helps build community as residents find them and share their stories online. Valentine is hard at work making beautiful glass ornaments that will be placed throughout Queen Anne for neighbors and visitors to find.
“It’s my first year here, and I thought it would be fun,” Valentine said.
 He said he is excited to be living in Seattle because he considers it the greatest glass hub in the world. He can go to the glass stores and choose his colors in person and find tools and bring them home the same day. He has been working in glass for the last 15 years and loves meeting all of the people who have been doing it for even longer. Currently, he is working in production and teaching at Seattle Glassblowing Studio (2227 Fifth Ave., Belltown), where he has his work on display and for sale.

Valentine said that working production is good for practice and a great way to pay the bills. Ultimately, he dreams of being able to support himself with his own designs and travel the world to get his name out there.