Lifestyle Profiles
Working-Glass Artists
One Eared Cow Glass
Their first studio was an old barn, and their mascot is a lobe-challenged bovine.
But there is nothing countrified about Mark Woodham and Tommy Lockart’s artwork. Consider the sophisticated sculpture hanging in the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
“Intermingling Convergence,” or “Flo” as it is affectionately known, is a blown glass and stainless steel masterpiece. Measuring 20 feet by 10 feet by 3 feet, and suspended 25 feet high, Flo took six months to make and install.
Working studio
Located in the Vista on Huger Street, One Eared Cow Glass is one of only two working glass studios in South Carolina.
Lockart and Woodham, both graduates of the University South Carolina”s Department of Art, typically work on smaller-scaled sculptures, vases, bowls, and custom sinks and lighting.
“We offer original, unique, affordable, hand-made gifts for someone who wants to make a statement,” Woodham says.
All fired up
There are three furnaces in the studio: one for melting the glass, one to reheat it, and one to cool it.
The maximum temperature is 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
“We work within a time frame, before the glass cools, which gives us 12 to 15 hours to complete a piece,” Lockart says.
Forging a friendship, business
One Eared Cow’s creative synergy was born the moment Lockart and Woodham met in their first glass class as art students.
“At first, working with glass was almost alien-like: the physicality of it, the heat, the use of gravity,” Lockart says. “But working with this foreign material was very intriguing.”
After graduating in the early 1990s, they were offered a rent-free barn in rural Bishopville, S.C. Someone found an antique wooden cow's head, minus an ear, and nailed it jauntily to the barn's front door.
Columbia beckons
Three years later, Lockart and Woodham moved to Columbia, thinking the glass might be greener in the city. They were right.
“Once we were established in the city and saw we had a market, we got store footage,” Lockart says. “We’re working in our studio and people come by, watch us, and buy our stuff. That turned out to be better than any type of advertising.”
One Eared Cow Glass is one of only two working glass studios in South Carolina.
Photo: University Marketing and CommunicationsRelated Links
Vista galleries
The Congaree Vista Guild’s listing of art galleries and studios
