Fleming College

Looking for a beautiful, natural setting in the heart of cottage country to inspire your creativity? You can find it at Fleming College’s Haliburton Campus, home to the Haliburton School of The Arts.The Haliburton School of The Arts, located on the shores of Head Lake in the Village of Haliburton, offers a number of options for students interested in glass art.Week-long courses run during the summer, from May to August, while an intensive 14-week college certificate program in Glassblowing is offered from January to April each year.No glassblowing experience is necessary for the shorter summer courses or the certificate program, says the Program Coordinator, Susan Little."The assumption is that the students in this program have no experience. Most of our students have had some introduction to it, but it is not essential as students are intensively immersed in the program," says Little. The program allows students to explore glass art and develop a personal style in glassblowing. Courses include Basic Design Colour Theory and Glass Art History. Cold Working Techniques, Colour Applications, Mould Making for the Glassblower, and Designing for Production Glass are also part of the curriculum.Eight faculty members teach within the certificate program. All are established glass artists: Clark Guettel, Sheila Mahut, Sue Rankin, Andrew Kuntz, Paulus Tjiang, Kevin Lockau, Brad Sherwood and Tanya Lyons. Terry Craig, also a glass artist, is the technician for this program."These are artists first, then teachers," emphasizes Little. "Every one of them rents or owns studio space and produces their own lines of work for sale."Another great aspect of the program, says Little, is the amount of time students receive in the spacious, on-campus studio. In addition to the 30-plus hours of instruction each week, students also have weekly access to 15 hours of studio time, to work independently."They are in there each week actually blowing glass. They get more studio time than at other institutions," she says.Students have a wealth of options open to them upon graduating from the certificate program – they can continue with advanced studies or work as a studio artist to further develop their talents.The Fleming Visual and Creative Arts Diploma is one continuing education possibility for those in the Glassblowing certificate program. Upon graduating from Glassblowing students will have completed 14 credits that can be applied toward the diploma.Students taking the Glassblowing certificate program at the Haliburton School of The Arts are also eligible to enter the second year of Sheridan College’s arts diploma program under an articulation agreement Fleming has with Sheridan. In return, Sheridan College graduates will be admitted into the second year of Fleming’s Visual and Creative Arts program. The Village of Haliburton, located in the Haliburton Highlands, is about a 2.5 hour drive from the Greater Toronto Area.While the Haliburton Campus does not have residences for students, there are up to 120 off-campus rental listings, which vary from rooms to cottages to apartments to houses.On-line listings as well as hard copy listings are available to view. These are updated regularly and can be mailed out to prospective students. The average rental rate is $375 to $400 per month and up. Accommodations can be rented within walking or cycling distance of the campus.For more information on the Glassblowing program at Fleming College’s Haliburton School of The Arts, please contact Susan Little at 705-457-1680 ext. 6721 or slittle@flemingc.on.caor visit www.flemingc.on.ca/HSTA/