Blown Away (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - Body Parts - full transcript

[Nick Uhas] We've built
North America's biggest hot shop,

where ten exceptional glassblowers

push themselves to creative extremes.

Because if they can survive
our fiery competition,

they'll win a life-changing prize package.

Now three remain.

-[tapping]
-[sighs]

I'm Nick Uhas and this is Blown Away.

Hello, glassblowers.

Please take a look
towards the gallery doors.

[classical piano music playing]



[Nick] A body in motion.

It's like physical poetry.

Every step is precise and deliberate.

It takes 30 years of dancing discipline
to convey such a strong emotion.

[Deborah] The ballet dancer's movements
are fluid and beautiful.

The leg has got... I can't do it,
but that's what it's like.

[Nick] The principal dancer
of the National Ballet of Canada.

Her outstanding contribution to the arts

has been recognized
with several international awards.

I'm very pleased to introduce you
to Greta Hodgkinson.

[Alex] It's cool to watch somebody
do the thing that they do really well,

like a skilled athlete or somebody
that's really great at glassblowing.

There's a kind of awe of the human body
doing something extraordinary.

For today's challenge,
we want you to capture the body in motion.



It could be a hand waving down a taxi
or a foot just off the starting line,

or a twisting torso caught in dance.

[Janusz] Working figuratively,

that some people specialize in,

I've never gone anywhere near it,

so it's pretty scary for me.

As a ballet dancer, a very important part

of what I work on every day in rehearsal

is the details of a movement,
the posture of my body.

Are my shoulders rounded?
Is my back arched?

The character has to come out
in the way that I'm interpreting movement.

[Katherine] Sculpting the human form
in glass is particularly challenging.

I'd encourage you to think about using
the qualities in the fluidity of glass

to try to capture the essence
of a particular movement.

Sounds easy.

[Nick]
You've got just four hours to design,

create and present an original piece
blown glass art.

We'll be evaluating your work
on your design concept,

your technical skill
and your overall presentation.

And your time starts now.

[Alex] It sounds like they want us
to sculpt a body part.

But I also think there's a lot of room
for interpretation.

It's basically just a disk
with two images, one on each side.

And is it spins,
it combines them together.

I want to use two lungs,
inflated and deflated.

[Deborah] Everyone knows
what a human body looks like.

You have to nail it.

This is "The Thinker" by Rodin.

Kind of like he's on the toilet.

The thought here is he gets up
from his deep thought

and he instantly steps in... gum?

[Janusz] I haven't got time
to develop an abstract idea.

I'll have to be pretty literal.

So I'm going to do a hand.
It's a walking hand.

The inspiration comes from my son.

Often in the morning,
my son doesn't want to wake up.

I've always played this game with him.
I just go,

doo-doo...

then I tickle his face.

Oh dear. I hope I can make it in glass
better than I draw it.

[tools rattle]

[Deborah] It's the ninth challenge.

This is when you got to turn it on.

I don't know where this is gonna get crazy

but glass always,
at some point, gets crazy.

It won't get crazy. We got this.

[Deborah]
Today we work with two assistants

who studied at the Sheridan College
glass department.

I know I cannot do it alone,

they have to take some heat for me.

That's all for me.

Nobody else can use these.

It's insane to be this close to the end.

Deborah and Janusz are stiff competition.

I really have to go all-in
from here on out.

It should work just fine.

Hopefully.

[Janusz] There's three of us left.

You can't help but get your hopes up.

You've got to go balls-out
and just do your best and go for the win.

From zero to everything in four hours.

To make the hand,

the fastest way is to make it
out of clear glass,

but I don't want to do that
because it's hard to get surface detail.

So I decided to make the hand out of gray.

I have to really be careful.

I don't want it to be too dark.

You've got to get it right,
like most things.

Hurting my feet.

The challenge gives us
a four-hour time constraint

to do our pieces in
and my first thought is,

"That's a cruel joke.
Are you kidding me?"

Somebody back me up.

I've only sculpted one or two human feet
in my life,

and solid sculpting takes forever.

Faster!

A little bit faster.

Get it in the right shape.

I'm taking a lot of risk
doing this piece.

I wonder if this is the right idea.

Ooh.

I'm trying to be ballerina-like
if she's watching.

That's perfect.

[Alex] When I depart

from the most conventional interpretation
of the challenges,

I've been the most successful.
I'll try to keep doing that.

I've definitely done something off
in left field.

Okay, flat side down.

If the evaluators are looking
for something a little different,

I think they'll find it in my piece.

It's going to be encased
in a solid glass ball.

There might be an easier way to do it.
I just haven't figured it out.

[Janusz] I'm most worried about the hand
not having enough color.

If the color's too far beneath the surface
when I put all these details on,

the hand could look like it was
sitting there inside this clear material.

Looks good.

I'm gonna stuff the cup
with a clear bubble,

so that the color's on the outside
of the hand when I finish it.

I haven't ever worked
in these techniques that I will be using.

Not the best situation
to try something for the first time.

It could go terribly wrong.

Okay, here we go. The beginning of...

-misery.
-[laughs]

Going to the bench.

Turn now.

[Katherine] People often comment
when they first see glassblowing,

that it seems like a dance, because...

once you work with somebody
and have familiarity with what they do,

you know what that person will do.

You move around
and step into these positions.

It's very similar to dance

and communication between them,

so that they understand
what the common goal is.

Like how I would dance with a partner.

Is there anything that you want
to see them actually deliver?

[Greta] As we're now seeing
so much of the glass in liquid form,

I'm seeing a lot of fluidity
and movement in the glass.

I would hope to see that
when the glass is in its solid form.

It would still evoke the same feelings.

-That is a challenge.
-Yes.

[laughs]

[Alex] So do me a favor
and grab the smaller lungs.

We're going to just stick them
right onto this disk.

This challenge is really going to be
technically arduous.

I'm trying to make something
really complicated.

There's so many little parts
that must come together.

Okay. Slide it down, yes.

There's no time to do it twice.

So whatever I make, that's what I'm using.

Two hours left!

[Alex] Ah!

[Deborah] Working solid glass
is different from working hollow glass.

It feels heavier.

One small move, this thing is going down.

All right.

And I'm constantly coaching my assistants.

Be careful. Take it slow. Careful!

I know I won't get a second chance.
It's nail it or die.

-[clang]
-Careful!

Be careful.

Be very careful, don't hit anything.
It takes you back hours.

I'm putting a lot of responsibility
on the assistants.

Flip.

Don't let it bounce, whatever you do.

Everything's sort of bubbling over.

And flip. No, I need to go the other way.

I know it's annoying,
but they have to put up with it.

[Katherine] Hi, Deborah.
How are you doing?

My God
[laughs]

-I see a foot in progress.
-It's a classic foot.

[Katherine] Like from classical Greek
or Roman statuary?

More like a Rodin "Thinker,"

like The Thinker got up off his stool

and stepped in this splodge of gum,
basically.

That's what I'm trying.

It looks like you are getting close.
Have you done a lot of figure sculpting?

Well, not huge amounts.
I did a lot of animal feet.

-Oh wow.
-[laughs]

Well, good luck. Right.

Thanks.

Over.

I never made anything like this,
so I'm not confident I can do it.

So today's challenge is to capture

human movement, a body part in motion.

Human movement...

I'll give them human movement.

The most challenging part
in making anything

related to the human body
is that we're all so familiar with it.

So I'm making a hand.

It'll be obvious
if it looks like a hand or not.

Or kind of a so-so hand.

It's certainly not elegant right now.

[Alex] I want to encase these lungs
in clear glass,

one blob at a time.

I'm going to run a clear bit
and keep layering glass up in that way,

heat the whole thing up,
shape it so it's round.

All right, ready.

[bang]
whoops.

Smooth.

You got that, right?
[laughs]

-Hi Alex, how's it going?
-Pretty good, how are you?

I got lungs in there,
small lungs and big lungs.

I'm trying to make this sphere

that has these two images inside of it,

and I want it to spin like a top.

[Katherine] Yes.

[Alex] I hope it's going to look like
inhaling and exhaling.

I'm gonna try to put this
in a bowl full of balls

so that it spins easily.

Good luck Alex.

Yeah. Thank you.

If something could be perfect,
other than my wife, it would be my son.

He brings a smile on my face
every time I see him.

Every day he's been going to the studio,
pretending to blow glass.

He's only two and a half,
but he can turn the pipe,

heaves the torch.
He's got all the moves down. It's crazy!

He's a ray of light in everyone's life.

I'm going to start hot-torching
the toe area.

I'm using an efficiency of movement.

It's really the toes that are moving.

It's done in a subtle way,
that's where the artistry comes in.

I think Greta might pick up on that
because she was saying

she had to control every small movement
to give meaning what she does.

So the toes are definitely a place
where small movement occurs.

Proportions. Got to get them right.

I mean, it's a ballerina out there
judging me.

Same thing as before,
hold these on the punty.

Pick up with me.

We made a big solid sphere glass
with the lungs encased.

-[tapping]
-Pick it up, we're going in the annealer.

All right, stand it up.

Yes, you got it... whoa!

Quick, close the door for a second.

This would be the time to slow down,
but there's just not time for that.

-Sorry, Alex.
-That's okay.

Over.

I have to be really careful
by the fingers,

if you're going for a realistic hand,
which I am.

Ah!

If I pull one finger skinny,

that means the others will look fat
and I'll have to make those skinnier.

It's a mess if you don't get it right.

Man, this is difficult.

I've spent 35 years
learning how to blow glass, not...

not make hands.

[Alex] I won the first challenge
and I won the most recent challenge.

That's kind of a nice bookend for me.

In the end, it really doesn't matter

how many challenges you won,

except for the last one.

[tapping]

There we go. You got the door?

I've never done anything like this
and it's kinda showing.

I'm not going to say I deserve to be here.

But, you know,
I have won three challenges, so it's great

to be a bit closer to winning, hopefully.

I think I curled one finger too much.

It is what it is.

Don't close! Okay.

If you're closing as I'm coming out,
you can tag me.

Inhabiting the hot shop
as a fierce female glassblower

is very important to me.

I worked my butt off to get here
and I want to win it.

One hour left!

One hour!

[Deborah] The stress level's ratcheted up.

We just want to get this thing over with.

Open!

I'm standing here with a 20-pound foot.

Argh!

Deborah's yelling to her assistant
and her assistant can't hear,

so she's yelling.

Put these two items over there
and open the door.

Listen to me!

[Janusz] Things were getting emotional
right next to me.

A little distracting.

And dare I say, annoying.

[Deborah] I need a flash!

[Janusz groans]

[Janusz] Stop shouting, for God's sake!

[Deborah] I think we're good.
I'd say it's done.

We're taking it off.

I can't sculpt anymore. It's over.

Grab it! And go.

[tapping]

I think my foot looks pretty good.

Will it be a ballerina's standard?

Nothing might meet a ballerina's standard.

Sorry about that craziness.

Look at that.

I'm relieved I got something
close to what I was after.

I'm most worried about the color.
It turned out really dark.

-Squeeze.
-Got it.

[tapping]

[sighs]

Let's get that blanket made.

All right.

We got a couple of minutes
to get the gum splodge out.

[Alex] We got to make balls.

I get one chance.

This is it. Who goes to the finals?

There's never too many balls.

No rush.

I'll stop making balls when I'm dead.

My God, this is enormous amounts
of gum.

The fabric's looking surprisingly good.

Four minutes left!

Alex, can you hear me?

Yeah.

[clatter]

[Deborah] I think it's good.

[Janusz] Ready?

You got it. There you go.

Quick, I don't want it to bend.

[Deborah] Go, hurry!

No time to make another one!
Don't drop it now.

[Alex, tapping] Go.

Thank you.

Glass is a cruel mistress.

[Janusz] Today's challenge
is to capture human movement,

a body part in motion.

Going into this critique,
I hope that my idea

is something
that the judges can relate to.

This is a really sincere idea to me.

I think it does express movement,
and hopefully, some grace.

[Deborah]
I think I deserve a lot of credit.

I took a lot of risk.

I did something my competitors
maybe can't even do.

[Alex] Going into this critique,
I hope the evaluators get a bit

of that sense of wonder,
looking at this piece.

I'm pushing my technical abilities
to their limits.

[Nick] So this is Janusz's work.

The concept behind this is that

he wakes up
his two-and-a-half-year-old son

doing this gesture, where you come up
and then tickle them.

[laughs]

[Katherine] This sounds adorable,

but the black...

-It feels a little heavy.
-Yes.

It doesn't feel as light

as I was hoping
the piece would come across.

Do you think he meant
to make it dark and black?

Yes. That's a very conscious choice.

You know, picking out
whatever rod of color this is.

He knew it would be dark.

[Nick] Is this a body in motion?

[Greta] Showing the finger extended,

obviously we get that feeling
from the position of the hand.

It's a very warm feeling that it evokes,

which I think really helps
carry this piece.

[Nick] As it spins,
it evokes the bodily process

with which the object was created,
so I'm going to give it a whirl.

Tell me, does it look like he's breathing?

New breath.

-No.
-No.

Did it take your breath away?

[both laugh]

I'm holding my breath.

-[laughs]
-I know. I'm holding my breath. It's true.

[Katherine] He's really pushed himself
in this challenge,

in terms of actually making something
that does move.

Whether it really works
the way he's envisioning...

Maybe it's not quite there.
It's still a beautiful object to look at.

[Greta] The presentation
is quite spectacular,

but I'm not sure that he really nailed
the body in motion part of it.

Fair. Very fair.

[Nick] Okay, this is Deborah's.

Initial thought, I think it's great.

[Greta] I agree.

[Nick] This may be the first time
we saw somebody

do something figurine-esque
in perfectly clear glass.

[Greta] Can obviously tell that the foot
is in motion with the demi-pointe.

She's like, done quite a great job

at doing a realistic-looking toe.

It's really wonderful in the detail.

The scale of the gum
is maybe a bit excessive.

It starts to get a little pop-arty,
it's a little oversized.

And you know, it doesn't quite look
like how gum might look.

But for this being
the second-to-last challenge,

I think she really...

-Stepped up.
-stepped up. Thank you!

I was just waiting to slide that in, so...

-Let's hear from them.
-Okay.

[Deborah] It's between Alex and Janusz
and myself. This is it.

You go home a winner or a loser.

I don't want to go home a loser.

This morning we asked you
to humanize glass

and show us a body in motion.

Something very difficult to get right.

Alexander, please tell us about your work.

I really wanted to make physical movement
as opposed to illustrate it,

so I made this object that has these lungs
that would rotate

and kind of illustrate that pulsation.

I found your work
particularly interesting.

It wasn't a typical rendition of movement,

and the challenge was a body in motion,

but I did really appreciate
how you took a solid piece

and then added the movement aspect to it.

I'm very impressed
that you got all of those parts made,

the engineering on it works great,
the piece does spin.

It might not spin at the sort of speed
for that optical effect,

but it was nice
that it was engaging and interactive,

even though I personally was holding
my breath when we were spinning it.

Thank you.

Deborah, could you please tell us
about your work?

I wanted to do something
that would really show

how much I could accurately sculpt glass.

Sculpting the human body realistically
in clear glass

is one of the most difficult things
you can do.

I really appreciate the risks
that you took to sculpt solid glass

and be as realistic as you have made it.

I think a small sticking point
was the scale of the bubble gum,

but kudos for taking such a big risk.

I felt like you really delivered
on the challenge,

showing motion,
showing the foot in motion.

The demi-pointe,
that was really wonderful.

Thank you.

Janusz, please tell us
about your glass art.

In the morning,
I started doing this thing with my son.

I just start walking up his body and go...

doo-doo...

and tickle him.

I personally can really relate
to your piece.

I also have a two-and-a-half-year-old.
The familiarity of that movement,

that was really well conveyed
in the piece.

Thank you.

I have a question about the color choice.

That was not intentional.

So I wanted to put some color
on the surface.

The gray form that I made
turned out too dark.

[Katherine] It's dark and heavy,

it's one of the first things
that we noticed.

[Nick] Thank you for sharing.

We have an incredibly difficult decision
to make now.

Please excuse us
while we discuss your work.

Things could go any way at this point.

[Janusz]
I'm nervous. My knees are shaking,

dreading which one is going to leave,

thinking it's more than likely
going to be me.

[Nick] Not too long ago,

there were ten of you.

Now there are three.

To make it this far into the competition
is a huge achievement.

And at stake, a $60,000 prize package

that includes an artist residency

at the world-renowned
Corning Museum of Glass.

You all had a very tough challenge.

one of you has created

a distinctly well-crafted piece
of glass art.

Today's "Best in Blow" is...

Deborah.

[applause]

Thank you so much.

Being in the final two is very affirming.

This competition showed me
I shouldn't doubt myself. I can do it.

It's like, "Do Deborah.
Don't try to do somebody else.

Just keep doing Deborah."

Deborah, you have earned a place
in the finale.

Thank you, Nick.

[Nick] This is the last elimination
before the finale.

Unfortunately, one of you
must leave the hot shop.

It was an intensely difficult decision.

One of you just didn't capture motion
how we hoped.

The person leaving the hot shop is...

Alexander.

Please say your goodbyes
and exit the hot shop.

[Alex] I feel proud of what I've done

and to have made it this far.

You guys are going to kill it.

I mean, I'm disappointed
but I'm satisfied

with, you know, what I made.

even though it was a lot of pressure
and stress in certain ways,

like, I didn't know
how fun it was going to be.

It's really fun.

Janusz, you've earned the second place
in the finale.

-Congratulations.
-Thank you very much.

I'm lucky to be here.

We now have our two finalists,
Deborah and Janusz.

Here we go.

[Janusz] It's a lot of pressure.

She's so good. That makes me nervous.

Janusz and I are very different.

I would consider myself an intuitive,
his approach is more mechanical.

Her mind just works in different ways.

He has no idea where I'll be coming from.

Bring it on, Deborah.

Bring it on.