Ever since she was a young child, glass artist April Wagner knew that she’d one day be an artist.“I was the kid messing around, trying things,” says Wagner, who grew up in Muskegon. “And then I went to Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen for high school and that was eye-opening for me.”
Wagner, whose Pontiac-based glass business is called Epiphany Studios, also attended college in upstate New York (Alfred University) and graduated from Detroit’s College for Creative Studies with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in glassblowing.
“The first time I tried glassblowing, in 1992, it was an epiphany moment,” she says, explaining the name of her business. “The material is captivating — and it still is, for me, after 30 years of working with it. I’m excited to get in there and try new things every day.”
Working with glass is an all-or-nothing undertaking, she notes. You’re dealing with everything from blow pipes (which allow glassblowers to blow into an expanded bubble of hot glass) and molds, which shape hot glass, to carving and polishing (once it’s cooled down) and paddles. And all the while, you’re just inches from piping-hot furnaces.
“Glass isn’t like any other material; it’s captivating. You can’t set it down and walk away. You can’t take a phone call or stop to have lunch. It’s high-focus. It’s immediate and responds to you and your input. I love the adrenalin of that,” Wagner shares. Other glassblowing requirements call to mind dance steps, she says. “It’s physically dynamic and you work with a team. That’s a lot like dancing.”
Together with approximately six assistants working within a large space (due to business growth, she built a 2,600-square-foot second building next to the original 4,000-square-foot space in 2022), Wagner turns out everything from large commissions to small holiday ornaments. Lovely tabletop pieces and garden art also are featured in her repertoire.
I tend to love colorful and contemporary, as well as feminine forms,” she shares. She says she and her team create leaves, birds, branches, and more “natural forms.” Beyond shopping online or in her studio, customers can also find her work in department stores and small shops all over the world.
Wagner’s public works are one-of-a-kind, large-scale installations that turn heads in places ranging from convention centers to hospitals. One of her most memorable projects was for the Oregon Supreme Court Building.
“I made a three-story sculpture with 2,000 glass feathers that, together, look like the wings of an eagle,” Wagner says. She first arranged the feathers in a large, empty space that had enough room to accommodate the pieces, “then it took two weeks to install,” she recalls. Presently, she’s working on a sculpture called Two Songs: Paul and Orville for the Dayton Convention Center.
As for sourcing materials to perform her magic, it’s often a challenge, Wagner says “We source colored glass from Europe. American manufacturers went out of business during Covid. Clear glass comes from North Carolina, but weather can affect availability.” Glass arrives in powder form as raw material. “It’s not glass until we melt it,” she says, and then color is added and shaping comes into play. The artist also works with glass that has a metallic finish (dichroic glass) — which, she says, is very expensive.
One of Wagner’s favorite colors in the glass world is blue. “Part of that is a water tie-in,” she says. “Blue, from light to dark, on glass looks organic and natural.” Wagner says there are a lot of water themes in her work. “Glass is a lot like water, moving from liquid to solid. And it’s clear.” Growing up near Lake Michigan and being on a body of water in Pontiac (Dawsons Millpond in Beaudette Park), Wagner has an awareness of its calming effect. “Water is universal, and water-themed works are perfect for hospital environments. I also did a project (called Resolution) for an arbitration firm that was water-themed.”
Two more impressive sculptures fill spaces in Petoskey’s McClaren Northern Michigan Hospital. One is water-themed and is called Long Shore Current; it’s comprised of more than 200 glass pieces suspended from the ceiling that appear to float through the air. It’s inspired by the water currents found in Lake Michigan. In the lobby/entryway, you’ll see another piece that’s reminiscent of falling autumn leaves.
For inspiration at Huntington Place on the Detroit River, Wagner walked outside to see what types of views one would get when observing her sculpture there. “It’s in a two-story stairwell and I made the glass water pieces on the wall wrap around the stairwell; it looks like a sunset with birds.” Inspiration comes not only from the Great Lakes and state rivers, but also from the backyard at her home in Franklin.
“I like to think I’m an amateur landscape designer,” she says, sharing information about her 1-acre property. Birds, too, inspire, and thus a flock of beautiful bright glass songbirds also are available; some are embedded with copper posts, for the garden. “I’m a big gardener and love trees, vegetables, flowers, and different grasses. The world is such a beautiful place; there’s inspiration all around us.”
