I've seen glass blowing exhibitions before. I'm always impressed with the patience and steady hands the artists' possess. I've even thought once or twice about taking a class and making myself a super simple paper weight of some kind. So, although it was my idea to visit the Waterford Crystal Factory in Co Waterford, I wasn't really expecting to see something new. I thought, perhaps, just something on a larger and grander scale. I was wrong.
Oh, it was larger and grander to be sure. But, it was also so much more.
I'm not sure I've ever truly understood what a craftsman is. But I think I saw them this day in Ireland. There was concentration. There was sweat. There was repetition. And there was this amazing and palpable sense of teamwork. We saw glassblowers. We watched the carvers. It was all deliberate and methodical. There wasn't a feeling of artistry here at all. I honestly think these men would have been embarrassed if you tried to label them artisits. They were just making the product they had been trained to create, a group of men who had perfected their craft.
And then we entered the section of the factory dedicated to engravery and sculpting. And here, here we found the artists and their art. The incredible things these people (because here, finally, we found a female!) could do with glass! Mostly they worked on commissioned trophies and the like. But they also had a small exhibit of current or recently completed projects. There was a moving 9/11 tribute that made me want to cry right there in the middle of our tour.
When we were finished with the factory and left to peruse the gift shop, I was able to look on products available for sale with a new level of appreciation. Suddenly it seemed to me that the prices I had previously considered ridiculously high were now almost guilty of gross underestimation. I had originally thought to buy a present for myself to remind me of this trip to Ireland. Then I overheard this American family from the East coast somewhere talking about all the Waterford they were shipping home. Something about the conversation reminded me of a shopping expedition to an outlet mall back in the states. Prices were apparently less there in Waterford City than they would have been elsewhere.
I didn't want to cheapen what I'd seen, what I'd learned. And so I came home without any actual crystal but with plenty to remind me of Ireland and its people.
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