Meet Gail Pulkrabek of Art Glass Guild in Balboa Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gail Pulkrabek.

Gail, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Several years ago I suffered a debilitating illness which resulted in more than a dozen experimental surgeries and multiple bone grafts. For almost 6 years, I was in a wheelchair, laid up in bed or on crutches.  My husband encouraged me to pursue my glass interest as a way to “keep my sanity”.

Working with glass and being able to help organize other artists is a dream job.  I have been President of the Art Glass Guild for 20 years.  We formed in 1998, as an extension of our sister organization of the oldest glass group in America, “Art Glass Association of Southern California”.  At the Art Glass Guild, our primary focus and responsibility is to educate the public about all forms of art glass not only the techniques we use, but also the science behind it. We currently do this through lectures, demonstrations, personalized classes and collaboration with other nonprofit groups. By offering classes and demonstrations as well as partnering with other San Diego non-profits with art related programs we are helping to enrich our community.

Mission statement: “Our goal is to make art immediate, dynamic and accessible to the public through our educational efforts and collaboration with other nonprofit groups.”

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
While coming into Studio 25 each day is a joy as there are always new and beautiful glass items; trying to organize 35 artistic individuals, that can be challenging! We learned several years ago that key to our success are several factors:
1) Mandatory “volunteer time” each artist shares in the burden of running the business.
2) Each artist is required to donate of themselves to help other non-profits and the betterment of the community.

Many focus on art, some rescue animals. The groups our members help is as varied as they are.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Art Glass Guild – what should we know?
We are the largest all glass studio in Southern California. Our members are constantly taking and teaching classes. They travel all over the world, as far away as Bali and Italy, to search out masters in their chosen specialty and learn from them. They then bring those techniques back here to San Diego, creating beautiful art to share with the public.

Any shootouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
The people that deserve credit are the spouses and partners that stand behind the artists that support us and encourage us, that make it possible for us to chase our dreams. These spouses we have deemed; the Victims of Art.
They often take time off work to help us set up pavilions in the rain, bring us coffee as we “kiln sit” on a long night, murmur consolingly as we curse about incompatibility issues of glass. Without them there would be less art, we would be less.

Pricing:

• We have items that range in price from $5 -$1500.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1770 Village Place, Studio #25
  San Diego, CA 92101
• Website: www.artglassguild.com
• Phone: 1-619-702-8006
• Email: gailglassguild@gmail.com
• Instagram: @artglassguild
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Art.Glass.Guild.SD/
• Twitter: ArtGlassGuild
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/art-glass-guild-san-diego
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/artglassguild/

Image Credit:
Linda Indalecio

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