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GLASS ARTIST SPEAKS AT ROTARY CLUB

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:25 AM CDT

A Pine Bluff man, once invited to the White House to create a Christmas ornament, spoke of his experiences in the art glass trade Tuesday.

Artist James Hayes addressed the Pine Bluff Rotary Club at the Pine Bluff Country Club.

Hayes graduated from Hendrix College in 1988 and began looking for a new art medium. He found glass and built his first shop on Poplar Street with money he had saved and earned during his youth and college years.

Variety of products

He and his helpers produce a variety of glass bowls, vases, chandeliers, jewelry and other items.

He has received statewide and national attention. Hayes was once invited to the White House to create a Christmas ornament and has been featured in statewide publications.

“With custom orders my turnaround time is about two weeks, but if you’re really in a hurry, it can be the next day,” he said.

His shop on Old Warren Road near the Windsor Place subdivision, is usually visited only by those who know Hayes’ work and are stopping in to make a purchase or order an item.

He doesn’t advertise the shop locally for retail since his products are sold at Shepherd Florist, 910 W. 29th Ave., and since he is often out of pocket.

Hayes said as a young man he won a car at a golf tournament. He sold the car and saved the money through college to help establish a means of being a full-time artist.

He delivered papers for The Commercial when he was younger.

“I started with a moped and then got a motorcycle,” Hayes said. “I used to have afternoon deliveries, and that interfered with school, but then they switched to being a morning paper. I started playing golf a lot, and the morning deliveries were interrupting that.”

He worked for his father’s dental lab and saved money while in college and in the fall of 1988, he built his first shop at 1107 Poplar St.

Part of the first shop’s building materials were salvaged from the tearing down of an old house.

Buying the farm

“The dairy farm (his current location) went up for sale and my mother said it would be good for me, so I bought it in 1996,” he said.

Hayes school-aged daughter, Sydney, assisted him Tuesday with the presentation.

“Yes, I’ve been burned, she’s been burned — at an early age — and I’ve burned my helpers,” Hayes said. “I just give them $20 and say, “Here, hazardous work pay.”

He estimated there are four glass artists in the state.

Hayes began making glass chandeliers as he stopped attending art shows several years ago.

“I hate going to art shows,” he said. “It just kills your weekend.”

Hayes said he discovered that instead of selling 50 pieces of art sitting at an art show, he could create a 40 or 50-piece chandelier and make the money with less inconvenience.

“I charge about $45 per part and figure in some artistic merit,” he said.

He said he learned many things from his grandmother.

“She said if you want to sell something, price it to keep or sell and clean it. Nobody wants to buy anything dirty.”

Hayes spent some time in Italy after being invited to visit the country by Eric Freeman of Altheimer’s Freeman family.

During a question and answer time at Rotary, Dr. Cliff Roaf commended Hayes.

“I’m sure proud to be a Pine Bluffian and I am proud of our community,” Roaf said. “It is a credit to this community that you have grown up here and achieved such success. Thank you so much for representing Pine Bluff well.”

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