Melting community together at glass-blowing festival in Dearborn

Experience the magic of glass blowing, from flame to form at the 14th annual Blossom and Bloom Festival in Dearborn. 

This event will feature artists from the Glass Academy, where the event takes place. Audience members can watch the craftsmen in action, creating pieces from speckled glass eggs to Percolla Reeds, or garden displays.  

Michelle Plucinsky, co-founder of the Glass Academy, began glassblowing over 30 years ago and originally had a studio in Southwest Detroit with husband and co-founder Chris Nordin. 

“We were making wholesale work which we would sell to galleries across the U.S.,” Plucinsky says. “Making the work in the studio you’re really just by yourself and we really enjoyed the comradery of having all these people around and watching glass blowing.” 

In 2004, they opened up a 14,000-square-foot space in Dearborn and fulfilled their dream of hosting more in-person events. One of those is the Blossom and Bloom Festival. 

“It’s like an egg hunt for adults,” Plucinsky says. “There’s so many treasures and bright colors and interesting things to find in the show.” 

Pulcinsky says the trend for artists and makers like Sister Pie or anything handmade makes such a huge difference and pulls the community together. 

“The interesting thing about us is we are showing you handmade. What we do is so important, interesting, informative, educational, community-based,” she says. “We have a great time, and our staff is amazing. Everyone who comes into this space has a great time. You leave energized and feeling really good about life because you’re buying something handmade ” 

The studio also offers classes on making different types of glass-blown pieces and host a show every Tuesday on its YouTube channel, showing folks how they turn blobs of molten glass into works of art. 

This free, family-friendly festival will take place on March 22-23 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s event will also have a glass sea turtle giveback program, where some of their sales support the Sea Turtle Conservancy.