The Glass Blower of Maho - St. John, USVI

It has been awhile since any new portraits from st. john have been added here on 50% Chance of Rain so I thought we should feature a new one. Below is a portrait of Mariel Bass the resident glass blower at Maho Bay. Up on top of a hill overlooking Maho Bay in st. John one can find the Maho Bay Campground. This is perfect place for anyone looking for a unique experience while staying on St. John. Instead of a five star hotel you get to stay in a very neat little eco tent and you are steps away from the great Maho Beach. Another great part of the Maho campground is the very cool art program they have. Part of the program is a glass blowing program which is lead by Mariel Bass and Gregory Lee. The unique thing about the glass art that comes from Maho Bay is that it is all 100% recycled glass. The collect and store glass and then send it through a special process to make it ready to be made into art. Sound fun? Well if you are in St. John Mariel and the Maho camp ground teach classes frequently and you can try your hand at your own glass blowing piece of art. The glass is not the only art program that Maho bay uses recycled goods. They have a whole program called Trash to Treasures in which recycled items such as old bed linens are turned into works of art. To see what some of Mariel's finished works look like here is an online gallery of her work. Next time in St. John be sure you stop by to see these great artist like Mariel. The portrait below was comprised of a 3 shot HDR with a layer mask digital blend to remove motion blur.

You can also check out this video of the Glass Blowing at Maho