Blue Skies Glassworks in the News
Old glass, new art
Despite the absolute stillness of the piece, there’s movement. Waves slap softly against a pebbled shore, backed by the soft shimmer of the northern lights. It’s a scene that soothes, that’s meant to soothe, that might even bring some peace to troubled hearts.

The “scene” is actually a 16 x 4-1/2 foot glass sculpture just being finished by Two Harbors artist Mike Tonder. This month, it will be hung in the lobby of the Duluth Clinic First Street Building, where all the fine art has been done by local artists.Read More
 
Recycled Glass Captures Park Landmark
Tettegouche State Park recently received a donation from Michael Tonder, a local artisan who works with recycled plate glass, creating one-of-a-kind glass s culptures. The piece Tonder donated is fashioned after Shovel Point, a Lake Superior rocky shoreline landmark
inside the park. Read More
 
Tour allure
Down a long, wooded stretch of county highway 20 miles from Two Harbors, two artists work in virtual seclusion. He produces sculptures; she fashions earrings. Both use the nontraditional medium of recycled glass.

With the quiet waters of Thomas Lake licking at their backyard, each artist cuts and fuses. The setting is extraordinary, but for Michael Tonder and Jody Freij-Tonder of Blue Skies Glassworks, it’s just everyday life in northern Minnesota. Read more.
 
Third Thursday--more than a calendar date
Some might consider it a gathering of fine chefs. In fact, they’ve talked about putting out a cookbook of their own. That’s not really what the Third Thursday group is about, though. While they do love sampling the wonderful dishes that come out of their kitchens at their monthly potluck gathering, their creativity is focused on art of another kind. It might be paintings, collages, photography, glasswork, pottery, weaving--anything that demands seeing with an inner eye, and translating with materials at hand. The get-together is the brainchild of Two Harbors glass artists Michael Tonder and Jody Freij-Tonder. Read more.