Blown Away (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 10 - Best in Blow - full transcript

[Nick Uhas] This season on Blown Away,

ten exceptional glassblowers

competed in North America's
biggest hot shop.

They've battled the heat
and they've battled the clock

to be ready for make-or-break
gallery showings.

The glassblowers
who failed to blow us away...

Kevin, Benjamin, Edgar...

Bring it in.

One by one, we're being eliminated.

[Nick] ...Annette, Leah,

Momo, Patrick,



and Alexander

had to put down their punties and leave.

Now two remain.

Janusz, a master of technique...

[Janusz] I'm focused and confident.

[Nick]
...and Deborah, a creative risk-taker.

[Deborah]
I've come this far, I want to win.

[Nick] Two highly accomplished artists,

going head-to-head
in a final fiery blowout.

I'm Nick Uhas, and we're about to find
our Blown Away champion.

Very soon, one of you will become

the world's first Blown Away champion.

For your final challenge,

we want you to create a gallery showing
that gives us an immersive experience.



We'll divide the gallery in two halves

and you'll have complete freedom
to use the space however you like

to create the winning exhibition.

Here is a chance for you
to blow the doors off this gallery space

with an exhibition that is cohesive
and thematic,

and a clear representation
of your artistic goals.

I'd now like to introduce you to

the senior manager
of the Hot Glass Program

at the Corning Museum of Glass.

He's also your final guest evaluator.

Please welcome Eric Meek.

[applause]

Because of the scope and scale
of this final challenge,

you'll each get three new assistants.

I've brought six friends
from the Corning Museum of Glass,

all with decades of experience helping
some of the best glassmakers in the world.

[Deborah] Corning's known to have
some pretty heavy hitters, technically.

[Janusz] It's a relief to have someone
as dedicated and as skilled as I am

on my team.

[Nick]
You'll have eight hours to design, create

and present an original installation
of blown glass art.

We'll evaluate your work
on your design concept

and your overall gallery presentation.

And because this is the finale,

we'll also take into consideration
your body of work

throughout the entire competition.

Deborah and I are neck and neck
with the challenges we've won,

so we're going to be stiff competition
for each other.

Well, you certainly have
a lot of planning to do.

[Nick] What you see here

is Deborah's and Janusz's work
from the entire competition.

[Katherine] It's really impressive
to see all of this again.

It makes perfect sense
that these are the two finalists.

[Nick] You can already see
how different these two artists are.

Janusz comes in very strong,

adds a lot of his like, family life
to his work.

[Eric] I'll go out on a limb
and say Janusz won this challenge.

[Katherine] He did.

That's just a great piece.

He's such an excellent technician.

[Nick] Deborah's work. Very creative,
likes to think outside the box.

This is beautifully executed.

It gives you a feeling
the moment you look at it.

Deborah is maybe not quite so technical,

but I think has a wider range

of the kinds of things that she can make.

[Nick] Through all the challenges,

Janusz has won three times...

and Deborah has won three times.

It's very evenly paired.

So here we are.

The final title bout.

[Deborah] It's exciting for me
to compete against Janusz,

because I think my ideas
are gonna come out of left field for him.

[Janusz] I have to come up with an idea
that can be made in eight hours

with many different levels
and objects in it

that'll be visually intriguing
and hopefully have

an obvious message in it too.

I wanna make a piece
about the environment,

preservation and pollution.

It might look like a breakfast scene
at first,

but it's not.

Chimney smokestacks.

We'll make some smoke come out of them.

This is a cast-iron frying pan.

Now, what's gonna go through this
are sausage links.

There'll be a lot of meat in this.

So that'll be a ham.

We'll have all this rain coming down.

Three elements. Air, water, and sun.

A huge fried egg coming off the pedestal.

The objects are riddled with symbolism.

It's got egg, which is considered female,
trapping the male unit.

It's all gender play.

[clock ticking]

[color bars rattle]

We're separating tools
so we know what you have.

[breaking glass]

Let's go with another weird red.
What's that one?

You have my paddles.

Oh. Sorry.
Don't know how that happened.

So we'll be here,
working on the frying pan.

Do you want to pre-make the handle
and put it on?

[Janusz]
Now it's down to Deborah and I.

I'm nervous. I don't think anyone else
could bring it on

as much as Deborah's going to.

It's going to be a really intense,
tough eight hours.

[assistant] Yeah.

[Janusz] when you draw rain
or when you see it drawn in cartoons,

it's this line with a dot on the end.

It reads to everybody as rain.
It's graphic.

[assistant] How long do you want it?

Just mix it up between the long
and the short length.

I came up with the idea
of pulling clear cane, breaking it,

and just melting the end of it
to sort of show the tip of the raindrop.

Are you going longer and narrower
with that?

[assistant] I'll skinny the bottom up,
stretch it.

[Janusz] Looks good.

[Deborah] How's the egg?

Can you see the egg?

[assistant] once we get this part done,
we'll have a second regroup,

and you can check it out.

[Deborah] The final challenge is to make

an ultimate installation of my work.

[Janusz]
It's gotta be conceptually strong,

intellectually multilayered.

[Deborah] For my final challenge,

I'm making a piece
which is going to have elements

that exist somewhere
between conceptualism and surrealism.

That looks a lot better.

[assistant]
It has a nice sense of feminism.

[laughs]
You're telling me!

This one's universal though.
It's like, masculine and feminism.

That's what I want, androgyny.

[Janusz] I'm making a piece
about the environment and pollution.

Obviously that's a huge topic.

Gonna have to try and communicate that
in a very simple way.

I'm making two big chimney stacks
with billowing smoke coming out of them,

that will be in the background.

Okay.

In the foreground and the middle
there's going to be some abstract symbols,

these elements that represent
water, air, and sun.

They'll represent renewable energies
that we can use,

so we'll have the future at the front
and the past in the back.

This is the element, the sign for air.

The three pieces are simple forms,
and to represent a simple form in glass,

you must be a good glassblower.

Stop. I'm trying to make this
into a perfect cone,

like a pyramid, a round pyramid.

The simple forms are the hardest to make,
'cause they're the most recognizable,

so they've gotta be right.

The most important thing
for this installation is the concept,

but I'm just driven by technique
a lot of the time.

Trust me to pick
one of the hardest shapes to make.

They might get an idea
that three assistants isn't enough.

[Deborah] Eggs are a feminized component
in my installation,

and they have
a lot of feminine references,

and it's sort of soft,

the way women are supposed to be
so emotional and soft.

But in this case
it becomes this huge, dominating force,

which takes over a pedestal...

and that references women

finally taking the art world by storm.

It's important to me to see women
working with their hands

in places that challenge them physically.

[assistant] See if we can get it back in.

It's not going back in there. Come out.

Here it goes.

[Deborah] My gaffer made it a little large
for the glory hole,

and it wouldn't fit in.

The glory hole is really important
because it's at 2,000 degrees

all around the glass.

We need to heat
every component of the glass.

The torch can keep it warm,

but it can't heat it enough
to get it moving.

[assistant] Whoa! It's breaking.

[Janusz] Either of us knows.
if something goes wrong,

that could decide the competition.

The whole thing is busting up.

[Janusz] I wish Deborah all the best,

but if some of her eggs get scrambled...

[splintering]

that wouldn't be a bad thing.

[splintering]

Okay. That didn't work out.

Let's see if we can do anything with this.

Seeing the egg crack, I had to dig deep
and be like, "We're gonna get this,"

'cause the clock is always ticking
in the back of my head,

the internal clock.

I'm like, "Tick-tick."

It's like, driving me crazy.

Total egg disaster, right?

[assistant] Total disaster.

Is there anything worth rescuing?

-No.
-Let's get rid of it.

It's necessary to remake that egg
because it's essential for my composition.

On the Earth, we need a cloche.

I'm doing that now.

The Earth is a major part
of the whole concept of the piece.

Planet Earth in space
is always represented by a blue-green orb.

Everyone knows what it looks like.
It just has to read as the Earth.

The way to do that,

Just draw a map
with that colored crushed glass,

then we're gonna roll that
on the outside of a bubble.

We'll have a blue bubble

and then we'll roll up
this green crushed glass

to represent the continents of the Earth.

[Deborah] We've lost an egg.

It got too big to go in the glory hole,

so we're redoing it smaller and thicker.

We need to keep moving forward.
We don't have much time.

I'm working on the frying pan.

My half of the gallery
will have an essential component.

That will be a big, cast-iron frying pan
rendered in glass.

I mean iron, that's very male.

Cooking in the kitchen
is sort of the domain of women,

so I'm really gender-bending things here.

Now I've got to stick a hole in it.

[assistant] Let's switch.

[Deborah] I put a three-inch hole
in the middle of the pan.

Whoa. That looks really orifice-like.

Nice.

And now I've feminized my very heavy,
big, masculine, cast-iron pan.

It looks hot.

[Janusz] I'm making the sun,
which is a flattened sphere.

Gonna be like a big donut, kind of.

Got a feeling we're way behind Deborah.

She's doing good.

That looks great.

[tap]

[assistant] Hey, Deb!
Wanna fold it down? Ready?

[Deborah] Ready for ya.

Here we go. I'll use these gloves.

[groans in effort]

Okay. All right.

Back to here.

[tapping]

[tools clatter]

Over.

Uncap.

Over.

Paddle hard on the top. Press hard.

Okay.

Cap me.

Can I use one of the corks?

Sorry. I'm using them both.

Janusz and I
are artistically very different.

I would consider myself intuitive.

I think his approach is more mechanical.

[Janusz] Okay, Deborah?

-Can I use them? Just one?
-I need it back as soon as you can.

[Janusz] Deborah being my opponent,

she's a very strong,

mature artist...

My hand's burning.

...that's out here to win.

[Deborah] My fingers on my right hand!

Oh!

That makes me nervous.

-[Deborah] Good.
-[assistant] Nice.

Okay, everybody. Get under it.

Okay, ready? Here it comes.

Get the annealer door.

Get it in there.

I was so happy when I saw this pan.

I need this to win the competition,
and I got it.

The two key components are in the oven.
Now we can work on other components.

To make a lot of sausages...

and kielbasas and meats and eggs.

[Janusz] The most challenging part
is getting anything done in time.

Pull, hard as you can.

Even with the extra help
in this challenge,

it's gonna come down to the last second
because there are so many elements to it.

[Deborah] I want to get the colors right.
I want to be meat-based but seductive.

I don't want to be grotesque.

I've researched a lot
what the newly slaughtered meat looks like

versus older meat and fried meat,
and a drying salami versus a fresh one.

Some colors are more...

rotting, shall we say?

The wrong color would change my concepts.

[tap]

[Janusz] I guess at this point,
we just do as quick as we can.

I think we're way behind Deborah.

She's rockin' it.

[Deborah] I haven't won much in my life.

I have to work hard for everything I get.

I've been blowing glass for 30 years,

and when I started,
it was an old-boys' school.

Times have changed a little,

but there's still the struggle
to be equals.

I see younger women
not getting as many jobs as men.

To me it's almost a political act
to occupy the hot shop

as a fierce female glassblower...

It's coming off now!

...and be a role model for other women.

I think in life, I've helped
a lot of people with their careers,

I've inspired other people,

but I haven't taken the trophy yet
for myself.

[Janusz]
I've seen a lot of people do well.

I've seen people like me really struggle.

It was said to me a couple of years ago
that I didn't have a career,

and you know, I spent my whole life...

trying...

Disappointment in myself
has been creeping in,

what I've achieved, you know,
and what I haven't achieved.

And then having my boy and things,

there's a lot more consequence
to everything around me.

If I win the competition,
it'd be a little easier,

if my career was stronger...

and I sold more work.

Hey, everybody! We've got 15 minutes left!

[Janusz] Take it.

-Nice job.
-Group hug.

-That was awesome. Thanks a lot.
-Nice work.

-Yeah.
-Nice job, guys.

We just gotta hope that my piece
is better than Deborah's.

[Deborah] The gallery will be split in two
and I get the left side.

A little higher.

[assistant] God, these are heavy.

[Janusz] We get half.

Obviously got to fill the space
as much as we can.

[Deborah] I need to activate the space,
but not just fill it.

I mean, people have brains.

Their eyes can move around a space.

I don't need to dominate the space
with stuff.

These pieces show the direction
that the energy goes in.

The sunbeams will go vertical.

The water is perpendicular.

The air is horizontal.

I think it'll be a visual cacophony
over there.

He made a lot of pieces.
I don't know what he made, exactly.

A lot of clear things, I think.

Like, anybody can make a little sphere.
But... frying pans?

No.

It's a glassblowing competition,
and the material you're using is glass.

And ultimately, I think, if you use glass,

it should be obvious,
or at least there should be a hint of it.

Might as well have made it
out of ceramics, plastic, or steel.

This kind of action is so amazing.

[Janusz] I'm trying not to let
the devil in my ear

start picking Deborah's work apart.

[Deborah] Visual weight's off.
I want to swap the meat.

Ham goes back,
kielbasa comes up, same height.

It's a little busy.

Gonna take some rain out.

[Deborah]
It's beautiful. I can hold my head proud.

[Janusz] It's unlike anything
I've ever done in my life before.

To me, this is a win
no matter what happens in this judging.

Keep my fingers crossed now.

Thank you so much.

-Oh, you're welcome.
-Yeah!

[Janusz] My piece is about
the environment and my concern,

really, about the future.

I'm pretty happy with what I've done.

[Deborah] If I don't win with this,
it's like...

I don't know what
I could have done better.

-[Eric] Oh my gosh.
-[Katherine] Wow.

-[Nick[Look at the pan!

It's huge!

[Katherine] That is beautifully done.

I am so impressed
with just this string of sausages!

The ham starts to get a little cartoony,

but that just adds a little bit
to the humor.

I believe that this is a great culmination
of all the issues

that she's been bringing to her work
throughout this competition.

About being a woman in the hot shop,

a lot of that is just encapsulated
in this one piece.

This egg, sign of female fertility,

even just spilling over
into this pedestal.

She's just slathering
her feminism all over it.

I love it!

[Eric] After 25 years in a hot shop,

I can definitely say
it is a male-dominated space,

but I can't really say
that I've ever felt that personally.

Obviously, I'm a man,
and I see these things,

which are beautifully crafted
but kind of threatening,

the iron pan and big hunks of meat,
and then you see this egg.

It really does help me understand
a little bit better

what Deborah must feel
walking into those hot shops.

-So is Deborah the egg?
-In my interpretation, she is.

-She's the egg?
-[Eric] I think so.

[Nick] I love the egg.
[laughs]

So this was Deborah's half of the gallery.

Let's look at Janusz's.

Oh my gosh, lots of glass.

He really used the space.

[Eric] I admire that.
It really creates an environment.

There's maybe a little less interaction.

I feel like these are more like stations,
almost,

but it still is sort of a path
that leads you through the work.

Oh wow. That turned out great.

[Eric] It's a planet and it's precious.

I love to see it presented in this way.

I feel like this piece operates
the same way as the egg does in Deborah's,

that it's sort of the key
to everything else that's going on.

I'm reading this as sun, water...

and wind.

Oh, these are raindrops!

[Katherine] A beautiful element.

Janusz has been an amazing craftsman
through all of the challenges.

Everything here is beautifully made,
and there's a nice range of things.

I really want to hear from them.

[Janusz] The competition's almost over,
so all this effort and time,

and only one of us will win.

[Deborah] I am feeling cautious.

I am in love with my piece,

but I won't be like, "I'm gonna win it,"

because anything can happen.

For your final challenge,

we asked each of you
to take over one half of the gallery

and create a winning exhibition.

And both of you have truly blown us away.

You have not made this decision very easy.

[Eric] We walked in today
wanting to see an immersive experience

and you guys really brought it.

Janusz, please tell us
about your half of the gallery.

I titled it "Hope,"
but I guess the reality of it is

it's kind of triggered by fear
of what the future holds for my son.

So my piece represents our Earth
in a cloche for protection.

Alternative sources of energy:
sun, wind, and water.

We have the past behind that,
where we were burning fossil fuels.

The idea is
that we have the future ahead of us

and the past that we can learn from.

As usual, your work is exquisitely made.

I was really impressed too,
with the range of elements.

Deborah, please tell us about your half.

I used the space efficiently.

I didn't try to fill it.

So the egg,
typically a female-oriented object,

is on top of a pedestal.

So here, the female form is dominating
the whole sort of industry of art.

The pan is essential.

Here, you can see I'm gender-bending it
by putting a hole in the center.

I'm going into this concept of gender
and otherness,

and there's just not one way
that an object can be.

There's a binary, masculine and feminine,
but there's all this in between.

The piece, essentially, is...

it's me.

It's what... how I see myself in the world.

Your voice has been heard,

and especially
as another female glassmaker,

I deal with some of the same issues,
if not all of the same issues.

And so it's been really heartening to see
somebody really bring those to the fore.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Please exit the hot shop
while we deliberate one last time.

[Deborah] It's a torturous moment.

Every possibility
is running through my head.

I would say, straight out,

that Janusz is probably
the best glassblower

we've had in this competition,
in terms of technical expertise.

I really do think
that Deborah's art is Deborah.

Her work is her, and that's admirable.

[Nick] One is a perfect technician,

and the other really has a good concept.

Both contestants are so passionate
about what they're doing.

This is extremely difficult.

[Janusz] It's in the judges' hands,
their decision,

that's the end of it.

We have to come to a decision.

There can only be one.

It's interesting to want something so much

and then feel like,
within ten seconds, it can be taken away.

We have two truly gifted glassblowers
in front of us,

however, there can only be one winner.

At stake?

A $60,000 prize package
that includes an artist residency

at the world-renowned
Corning Museum of Glass.

[Eric] At the Corning Museum,

you'll have unlimited access

to all the resources
that could make you successful,

a wonderful studio...

we want to help you make your mark
internationally as a glass artist.

[Nick] Deborah,

we've always been very excited
to see your work.

It's strikingly creative
and always generates discussion,

which is exactly what great artwork
should do.

Janusz, you take risks

and show true ownership in the hot shop.

You've always pushed yourself
in this competition,

and it showed in your final work.

After a lot of discussion,

we have come to a decision.

Our very first Blown Away champion is...

Deborah.

Congratulations.

Me?

Did he say me?

[applause]

Bye-bye.

[applause]

I'm immediately, of course, disappointed.

I did my best, and the judges
saw something in Deborah's work

that they didn't see in mine, so...

that's it.

I'm just so thankful.

I really needed this opportunity

to move forward in my career.

You need support in order to be an artist.

This win is a big support.

It's so meaningful to me.

Congratulations.

I'm so happy.

Life is just filled
with so many ups and downs,

and this is a big up.