Jeremy Grant-Levine, a.k.a., Germ, is an artisan in the glass pipe subculture—and his pipes are indeed excellent. With his 1000 Glass Cranes project, however, he'll be showcasing his technical skill and aesthetic innovation not in glassware, but in the realm of fine art.For 1000 Glass Cranes, Germ is spending one entire year on “one large idea”—blowing no less than 1,000 glass cranes. It is, as he tells The Creators Project, an effort to slow a modern world down that is moving too fast, “onto the next task before we can even finish or evaluation the last.”
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Jeremy Grant-Levine with glass crane proofs at Divine Lorraine pop-up gallery this past May.
“As a working artist, it is a constant struggle to balance creation, personal time, research and development, traveling, and marketing,” says Germ. “Art becomes a commodity, and projects become more about what will sell than what is art. This lifestyle does not create a present, healthy human.”“This project is about creating an immersive experience for the artist throughout the year and also the audience as participants during the final exhibit,” he adds. “Once the year and thousand cranes are complete, they will all be displayed at Ruckus Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a massive installation.”
This is the largest and most ambitious project Germ has undertaken in his 13 years of blowing glass. He estimates that it will ultimately require over 200 pounds of hand-colored glass as well as over two miles of wire hardware for the Ruckus Gallery installation.This isn’t the first time that Germ has elevated glassblowing from its usual Pop and subcultural confines into the world of fine art. He has shown his glass works in galleries in Seattle, Philadelphia, New York, Miami, and Tel Aviv, and taught workshops and collaborated with other artists around the globe.
This past May, Germ exhibited some of the glass crane proofs at a pop-up gallery at Divine Lorraine in Philadelphia. He's currently raising funds with a Kickstarter campaign to help support the 1000 Glass Cranes project. The campaign is live until September 27th.
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