Calif. glass artist hopes to inspire McKeesport youths

Jamie Guerrero is offering instruction in the art of glass blowing.

An award-winning artist and glass craftsman is setting up shop in McKeesport to share his talents with the local community.

Los Angeles native Jamie Guerrero is passionate about giving others the chance to experience art and hopes to open doors for people who want to pursue it.

In California, Guerrero has conducted programs with youths to teach them the techniques of glass blowing and allow them to commission their own work. Now he’s working to do the same in McKeesport.

Guerrero, equipped with funding from the Opportunity Fund and the Pittsburgh Foundation, has been able to renovate a new studio at 2109 Fifth Ave.

He expects to open by the end of the month, and is reaching out to any local businesses, partners or schools that would like to build a relationship and incorporate this art form into their programs.

“Historically, many people will open places like glass blowing studios in places that have cheap building prices, but it won’t be open to the community it’s in,” Guerrero said. “I want to do the exact opposite, I want the community to have access to everything I can offer.”

Guerrero emphasized the importance of connectedness in a community, and he’s confident that this unique opportunity will pave the way to create a safe place for youths like it did for him.

Guerrero began his career at California College of Arts and Crafts in 1994. Although he mostly focuses on glass sculpture, he considers himself a mixed media artist. He has studied with masters Checco Ongaro, Pino Signoretto and Ben Moore.

Guerrero has received numerous awards for his work, and was a featured artist in the Mastercraft show at Gump’s in San Francisco for five consecutive years.

He received two Saxe Fellowship Awards (2006 and 2012) and the People’s Choice Award (2012) from the Bay Area Glass Institute for “Charros y Sus Caballos.” That work was later purchased by the Oakland Museum of California for its permanent collection.

Guerrero has been featured in several major publications, including the cover of “Craft in America” Magazine.

In 2018, he received a grant with The Pittsburgh Foundation and a nine-month residency with the Pittsburgh Glass Center.

Expression has always been an important part of his life. As a teen, Guerrero found his community with others who like to skateboard and listen to punk music. Their environment filled them with negative experiences, but they were able to take out their aggression through their art.

Guerrero’s high school teachers recognized his artistic skills and one encouraged him to apply to a summer art program in Northern California. He was accepted, and his teacher fundraised enough to give him food and shelter while he attended the program. That opened up the door for many new opportunities in Guerrero’s life.

Those opportunities led him to glass, an art medium he immediately fell in love with.

“I guess in retrospect, I feel that I was given an opportunity and if it wasn’t for these people, I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have discovered glass, I would’ve never gone to college,” Guerrero said. “The way I see it is that, the only way for me to thank them is to do the same for someone else.”

His work is displayed on his webpage, www.guerreroglass. com. Anyone interested in helping Guerrero’s vision in McKeesport can contact him via email at guerreroglass@ yahoo.com.

Nya O’Neal is a summer intern at the Mon Valley Independent through Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Media Partnership. She is a rising junior at Howard University in Washington, D.C., from McKeesport.