Philabaum Glass Gallery — Attraction in Tucson

The thing I love about this town is the variety of passions and craftsmanship you can find around every corner. Some people are into fine wood, some people carpets and some….are into glass. Fine, expensive, easily destructable glass. And since i’m dabbling in new fanatacisms to make myself seem cooler than everyone else at parties, I decided I would go check out Philabaum Glass Gallery. This would be my second visit.

Unfortunately in 2021 I was kicked out after I hired a guy on Craigslist to film me acting like a blind guy with a walking stick for my prank youtube channel. One of the gallery employees already saw me outside talking to the cameraman and literally using my vision to navigate around crazy people on 6th avenue and called me out within 20 seconds of me waving my stick around inside. He told me to beat it and I called him a ‘glass-hole’ and that was that. After that I almost got arrested for trying to prank an old folks home as the grim reaper but that’s neither here nor there. I’ve since given up my youtube prank channel and have been more focused on trying to become a more cultured human being and that includes frequenting art galleries and french bistros while acting as better-than-thou as much as possible.

Thankfully, this go around, there wasn’t the same worker there to recognize me, so I felt more at ease. Now full disclosure, I know nothing about glass except for the time the old dude with a neck tattoo and ponytail at the AZ Rennaissance Fair showed a crowd how to blow glass like its 1589. So I did a little research ahead of time and found out that this is “Arizona’s only all glass art gallery, showcasing the finest contemporary glass from over 65 nationally recognized artists” and I didn’t know a single one beforehand. So I did my homework and went in wearing a peacoat and a fancy scarf and overly tight khakis with my hair combed nice and hovered immediately over with a straight face and asked if they had any stemware from Cristoff Glassweimer (a name I made up) and the gallery manager looked perplexed and said they weren’t familiar. I let out one of those dismissive laughs like ‘Ha!’, hand waved them away and said “figures” before flipping my scarf and waltzing further down the displays. They had to know they were dealing with a big shot.

I saw a piece on the website that was created by a master glass artist from Murano which is a Nissan SUV and a small group of Islands in northern italy, go figure. It was a blue flame-worked glass piece entitled: Conflitto Creature Mitologiche by Lucio Bubbacco. I couldn’t make that up if I tried. Lucio Bubbacco is already my hero. I dont know how to pronounce most of those words but either way I yelled back at the manager “I would like to see the Conflitto Creature from Lucio Bubbacco” and snapped my fingers. It’s listing price on the website was $3200 but I was gonna try to haggle down to a nice, hot $150. The manager took me over to the Bubbacco masterpiece and I bent down and observed it for a good 2 minutes going “hmmmm” “ahhhh” and “mmmhmmm” until finally I stood up and said “this is a forgery” to which they gave me a look akin to if I just slapped their mother. “No, no, no, absolutely false, sir. Lucio Bubbacco delievered this to us himse—” “It was an imposter. Likely playing the long game. Not the first time I’ve seen it.” And then as I tried to cooley walk away again I stumbled and almost knocked over another piece when I caught myself. “Sir! Please be careful, you almost destroyed the Kylix Satellite Series Blown Reticello Glass Vase by Kenny Pieper”. “If I was careful, I wouldn’t be rich, now would I?” They were speechless. I really didn’t want to break anything because I, myself, would have broke and would have had to admit how broke I am. So I tried to hide my panic and beelined for the exit door while raising my hand and saying ‘ Ta-ta!” and then panicked more when my truck had trouble starting. Either way, VERY impressive place with beautiful selections. Adding it to ‘top 5 places I would blow money at if I were...

I was disappointed to find out that this is a Glassworks making factory. As opposed to an artist's studio for original work.

From what I could tell most items in the store front were made by students and protegees signed by The Studio / Factory owner who also happens to be an artist.

From what I understand the art of making glass does not get the respect some people feel it deserves it in the art world. Pairing that statement with the fact that 80% of the stuff in the storefront isn't made by the artist and the pieces that are while beautiful were ranging from 7500 to 14000 dollars.

Meaning if you want an original piece by this artist you have to pay for it everything else seems to be just...

When I first started spending more than half the year in Tucson a decade ago, I discovered Philabaum, and it quickly became my favorite place to visit and take visitors. I not only adore the glass art, but Allison truly makes the gallery what it is - a showcase for glass artists from around the country. Her depth of knowledge of each artist's piece and technique, her warmth and passion enhance every visit. Don't miss this gallery in their new location in the Foothills. It will be time (and perhaps...