CO YOGA + Life® | Winter + Spring 2022-23

Page 24

lifestyle / Art

the Torch of a Taboo Art Form Ben Belgrad is Lighting Up the Colorado Art Scene

C

ollecting art and selling one-off items at auctions is something we often tie to a level of wealth and hierarchy. When we think of bongs and glass used to smoke marijuana, they usually don’t fall into the same category — until recently. In 2010, Ben Belgrad, founder of Bat Country Studios in Minturn, Colorado, won a beautifully made bong in a 4/20 raffle while he was a sophomore at Indiana University. Infatuated with the extreme level of talent that was put into the piece and the opportunity to learn from the creator, Belgrad tapped into a level of creativity, connecting him to the underground art world, made mostly of glass. Pipe makers historically had to fight through a myriad of legal limitations to get their art in front of buyers. From selling their art pieces, some of which take weeks and months to make, out of the back of their Subaru at the lot of a Grateful Dead show to now having pieces go to auction for $250,000, there was, and is, no easy jump.

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When talking to Belgrad about the progression of borosilicate glass blowing going from paraphernalia to art, he was not short on anecdotes applicable to the growth. “20 years ago, my contemporaries were afraid to be in the car with the marijuana pipes they made on the way to the shops to sell them,” shares Belgrad. “If they got pulled over, they could go to jail. Now, you have this situation where these pieces are in museums and being auctioned at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, and these pieces are achieving a level of art appreciation that just was not there under the criminalization and illegality of marijuana.” With marijuana becoming recreationally legal in varying states across the United States, the secretive element of pipe making was able to break its way into mainstream art. Borosilicate glassblowing is tedious, hot and requires lots of patience. Through the use of a high-powered propane torch and a supply of oxygen, glass artists are able

to mold and manipulate borosilicate glass, usually with graphite tools and often a massive lathe. After the creation has been molded to the specifications of the artist, it is put into a kiln and heated to 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit slowly, then dropped back down to room temperature in an eight-hour, molecularly-scientific process. The road doesn’t end there; some pieces require cold working or manipulating the medium after it has been fired. This process takes copious amounts of artistic dedication. What if there was a way to physically bridge the gap between the pipe maker and the traditional art collector? Belgrad and his comrades are paving the way in doing just that with his project, Drinking Vessels, and events like the Vail Cup Collectors Club. “Through Drinking Vessels, I’ve created a marketplace for these pipe artists to translate the pipe art patterns and imagery into the shape of a cup, decanter, flask or shot glass, and it’s created a way for this art to be shared, maybe with people who don’t smoke weed or who aren’t interested in buying pipes but may love the artwork that they’re seeing through this movement,” Belgrad explains. These cups aren’t your usual handblown glass pieces; they are weird, funky and stunningly beautiful, endowed with the imaginative gems of the pipe artists. By lifting the limitations of the traditional art created by pipe makers, enthusiasts can interact with functional art within the community. Sure, this form of glass blowing originates with a connection to cannabis, but with the fresh element of Drinking Vessels, a taboo craft is now increasingly more accessible and desirable to art lovers everywhere. +

Learn more at drinkingvessels.com.

YOGALIFELIVE.COM

Photos courtesy of Bat Country Studios

by Laura Mills


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FEATURED GATHERINGS

4min
pages 66-67

RECIPES

3min
pages 64-65

CONSCIOUS BRAVERY

3min
page 62

THE LOVE AFFAIR WITH MY SCALE

3min
page 63

GOOD VIBRATIONS

4min
pages 56-57

WINTER SOLSTICE + SPRING EQUINOX

4min
pages 54-55

GEAR GUIDE

3min
pages 52-53

NAVIGATING THE WORLD OF INFERTILITY

10min
pages 58-60

5 WAYS PARENTING MAKES YOU BRAVER

3min
page 61

BIG CITY MOUNTAINEERS

3min
pages 50-51

EREM

4min
page 49

MAKING A SNOW LABYRINTH

3min
page 48

VETOGA

4min
pages 46-47

TRANSFORMING DOUBT INTO DARING

4min
pages 42-43

BREATHING FOR BRAVERY

4min
page 41

TRAVEL

1min
page 39

FINDING COURAGE

2min
page 38

WHAT ON EARTH ARE THE AKASHIC RECORDS?

6min
pages 44-45

WHAT WE LOVE

4min
pages 36-37

SHOP LOCAL + SUSTAINABLE

5min
pages 34-35

CO ESCAPE TO RIDGWAY

14min
pages 28-33

MEDITATION IN A CUP

3min
page 25

YOGA + LIFE READING CORNER

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pages 22-23

COLORADO INFLUENCER

4min
pages 12-13

THE TORCH OF A TABOO ART FORM

3min
page 24

STUDIOS

6min
pages 20-21

DEEP TISSUE RELIEF WITH ASHIATSU MASSAGE

4min
pages 26-27

TEACHERS + LEADERS

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pages 14-19

ABOUT THE COVER

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