Blown Away: A New Home for Santa Barbara Art Glass

After 35 Years, the Alcaraz Family Transforms Bill Adkins’s Former Studio into Their Own Vibrantly Bustling Glassblowing Hub

Glass Artist Saul Alcaraz and some of his work on view at Santa Barbara Art Glass | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Glass artist Saul Alcaraz | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

There was a moment, just a few months ago, when Santa Barbara nearly lost another artist to the real estate wolves. Santa Barbara Art Glass — our town’s last remaining glassblower — was about to lose its longtime studio and class space.

Just like so many displaced artists throughout the city before them, the building on Mason Street, where owner Saul Alcaraz has created some of his most iconic glass art for nearly 35 years, sold. With the rising cost of rent and dwindling supply of commercial options available, the Alcaraz family expected to pack up and move north. They’d even found a building to buy in Grover Beach.

That’s when Martha Adkins found them. Adkins, another lifelong artist and wife to “junk art” icon Bill Adkins, reached out to the Alcaraz family about converting her husband’s former welding studio into their new home. In just a few months, Saul and his wife, Gina, had cleared over three decades’ worth of junk and reopened Santa Barbara Art Glass on Reddick Street.

“I was driving the forklift while Saul was up on the ceiling,” Gina says about their experience transforming the space that had been vacant for nearly two years. The family of four, which includes glassblowing apprentices and sons Saul Josiah and Joel, spent hours painting, making trips to the dump, and selling or gifting old machinery to friends and neighbors. “I couldn’t believe the work it took [to clean out the space],” Martha says. “Those two people are amazing.”

In a space nearly five times the size of their former studio, the family business now includes an office for Gina, double the retail space, two stations for glassblowing, and a dedicated room just for welding (another of Saul’s growing skills). “I run the business, and Saul has fun,” Gina says, laughing. “It’s a joy to come to work every day.”

The official grand opening was held this past October. In a festive gathering with friends and business partners, the group of more than 100 people came together to celebrate new beginnings. With pristine white walls, artwork on every surface, and two walls dedicated to showcasing Santa Barbara Art Glass’s award-winning work, it’s a space fit for growth. “I’m excited about this new location,” says Saul. “This is going to be big.”

One of Santa Barbara Art Glass’s many creations | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

It’s taken Saul a lifetime to learn the skill required to create the chandeliers, sculptures, and ornate objects that have been commissioned by hotels, museums, and restaurants. He’s known for his skill of replication and has been commissioned to work on pieces similar to Chihuly or re-create a Tiffany stained-glass table lamp. But what really excites Saul is creating something entirely new. Walking into the new space on Reddick, one’s eyes immediately gravitate toward the ceiling, where Saul crafted a wooden tree to hang some of his more elaborate chandeliers; there’s an intricate octopus that he says took him 10 years to complete, fish that hang from metal hooks, and squid with tangling tendrils in shades of seafoam, tangerine, and sapphire. Saul grew up by the ocean in Mexico, and so much of his work is inspired by his seaside hometown as well as his adopted one, where he landed in the late ‘80s.

Like a child giddy for their first piece of cake at a birthday party, Saul isn’t any less excited about his work now than when he first was introduced to glassblowing at Santa Barbara City College in 1991. Just 17 years old at the time, Saul was attending school to learn English after immigrating four years earlier.

On his way to class, he spotted a glassblowing studio and was immediately mesmerized. Like so much about the Alcaraz story, it was meant to be. Not long after his English classes began and his work as a roofer started to take off, he met Gina, whose father was a renowned glassblower in town. Mario Real, Gina’s father, took Saul under his wing, and after a decade apprenticing under Mario (while still working full-time as a roofer), Saul switched career paths and dedicated his life to glassblowing.

Santa Barbara Art Glass offers classes to learn how to create glass creations. | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Santa Barbara Art Glass showroom | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Some of the many works created by glass artist Saul Alcaraz | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Santa Barbara Art Glass showroom | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom
Some of the many works created by glass artist Saul Alcaraz | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

On any given day, you’ll find the family at the studio. The four of them are together practically 24/7, Saul laughs. “If you came on New Year’s Day or Christmas Day, we were here,” he admits. But it’s clear that blowing glass is anything but work for this artist. “I love this [work] so much,” he says. “This is my passion.”

They work with local hotels and the tourism board to book classes practically every day of the week. “We’re booking out until August right now,” Saul says. Saul and Gina’s sons, aged 30 and 32, have been leading sessions for groups up to eight people while Saul focuses on his craft.

Work on view at the Santa Barbara Art Glass showroom | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

“I was taught as a craftsman. But what we’re doing now is art,” says Saul. That art includes works shown in museums such as the MOXI and The Lightner Museum, in St. Augustine, Florida; hotels such as Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, San Ysidro Ranch, and The Ritz-Carlton Bacara; and restaurants, including Augie’s.

Over the years, Saul’s dynamic shift from craftsman to artist was spurred on by mentors like his father-in-law Mario Real and architect Jeff Shelton, who has been collaborating with Saul for nearly two decades. When the two first met around 2008, the artists were both excited to begin working in a new medium. “When I started working with Jeff, I was more precise, more perfect,” Saul says. “He suggested I check out [Antoni] Gaudí.” What Saul saw in Gaudí’s work (the family visited Barcelona to see it firsthand) transformed how he approached his craft. That’s when freedom in form first arrived in Saul’s work.

“He’s very talented at what he does,” Shelton says. “I try to stay out of his way, so he doesn’t try to be perfect or copy something.” Shelton’s work is iconic in Santa Barbara. Known for their movement and playful use of color, Shelton’s architectural gems have been listed as some of the world’s most mind-bending homes. The two artists have worked together on some of Shelton’s most iconic projects in town, including the El Jardin and El Zapato buildings. The two seem to have a secret language where there’s “teamwork, without a lot of paperwork,” says Shelton.

Santa Barbara Art Glass is located at 721 Reddick Street. To discover more of their work, or to sign up for a glassblowing class, visit sbartglass.com.