Category: Bios

Victor Mathews is Vice President of Litton Engineering Laboratories, overseeing the daily operations. Victor was also President of M-Tech Industries, a distributor of equipment and supplies to the glass working industry before merging his company into Litton Engineering. Prior to moving to the Grass Valley area, he worked in the semiconductor industry, automotive industry and the university system. Active in the ASGS for 30 years, Victor started his active roll with the first of several annual section meetings at Litton Engineering in the late 80’s and became the Secretary/Treasurer of the local section, a position he has held continuously since. He has served as Section Director and is currently the ASGS Treasurer, a position he assumed in July 2009. Victor has chaired three symposiums: Lake Tahoe, Vancouver and Eugene. He has presented seminars at past symposia and has written articles for Fusion. Victor has a Bachelor Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Procurement and Contract Management. He holds several national certifications and was listed in Who’s Who of Finance & Industry.

Skip Huckaby has been blowing glass since 1969 when he completed a laboratory course in college. While at Humboldt State College, he participated in a directed study for his senior project in scientific glassblowing. “Yes, I got my Degree in Biology and after graduation I was employed at CW Radiation, a small laser company in Mountain View, California, where I met my mentor Piet Kluytmans, a Dutch Master Glassblower. From there I went to Spectra Physics, a major laser company, and I was a lead and temp supervisor in the glass shop.” He transitioned to Stanford University as the technical glassblower, where his skills expanded, using “lots of Quartz, glass to metal seals, graded seals, electron tubes, semiconductor research, lasers, all kids of one off unique items using just about every available commercial and industrial glass”; he also received two patents with Dr. Zare and Xhoa Wong in capillary zone electrophoresis in Chemistry. “From Stanford I went to work with a friend at Applied Glassblowing in Dixon, California, and then went on to start and run Orca Glaswerke till I was recruited by the Department of Chemistry at UC Davis. In 2008 I retired and in 2009 I came out of retirement and started KO Glass at which I am still having fun doing Quartz and borosilicate apparatus and dabbling in art glass.”

Sabrina Bélanger is an apprentice Scientific Glassblower at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada and Director of the Canadian Section of the ASGS. Sabrina is passionate about health and wellness, and creates and guides layered classes, incorporating yoga poses to help individuals be functionally fit in a safe & diverse space. She has a background as a professionally trained ballet and modern dancer, a background in Shotokan and Guju Ryu karate, the Canadian Armed Forces, and is a dedicated practitioner of Ashtanga yoga and currently training as a power lifter. Teaching yoga satisfies her need for helping others. She is continuously interested in gaining more knowledge, always challenging the human body to become stronger and more flexible. Professional Accomplishments: Aerial yoga teacher training in 2012 in Toronto, ON Yoga teacher training with Heather Greaves in 2013 in Hamilton, ON. 2001-2002 Ontario Provincial and Canadian National Shotokan Karate Team Professional Classical and Modern dance 1995-1999 Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Winnipeg, Manitoba and Professional Classical Dance 1999-2001 Quite Ballet School, Belleville, ON Canada.

Michael A. Menconi currently works in multiple mediums to exemplify the conceptual relation of subject to viewer. Known for his ability to create highly collectible and beautiful glass, Menconi’s work can be found in public and private collections internationally. In 2013 Menconi’s attention to detail and technical knowledge lead to a full time position producing glass with Philips Healthcare, one of the world’s leading suppliers in medical imaging systems. In his role, he has served as the Environmental, Health and Safety Committee and was appointed as the kaizen coordinator of the glass department. To this day, Menconi creates hand made glass bulbs for CT systems specific to .003” in engineering tolerance.

Michael Hengler has worked with multiple color companies in the research and development of colors including Gaffer Glass, Trautman Art Glass, Northstar Glass, and Spectrum Glass, as well as to develop his own colors in glass. This research led him to an Artist in Residence at the Gaffer Glass factory in Auckland, New Zealand. Hengler has written user guides for some of the more complex colors such as Gaffer’s Calcedony, which was originally developed in the mid-1450s in Venice, Italy, and continues to provide beauty, but not without technical challenges. He has also worked with Bethlehem Burners in the testing and performance of colors with their new Champion and Grand torches. Hengler’s understanding of atmospheric chemistry and its effect on color chemistry is instrumental in his ability to render desirable color outcomes.

Marylin Brown is a retired professor of Russian and French language and literature; she taught at Trinity College in Hartford, CT and Eastern Connecticut State University, among others. She has been the ASGS Editor of Fusion since 1996 but she first became involved with the ASGS when she started attending symposiums with her husband Allan. She loves sharing her knowledge and helping others enhance their skills, as did Allan. It is for this reason that she welcomes the opportunity to work with members of the Society.

Lee Mulholland is an ”International” ASGS member who runs the Scientific Glassblowing Workshop at the University of Southampton in the UK. He came to glass working relatively late in life when he started working in a Neon glass shop at age 29. After five years he took the job as trainee glassblower at the University. Circumstances saw Lee running the busy workshop over two other glassblowers after only three years as a Scientific Glassblower! Those challenging times were made possible by his membership of the British Society of Scientific Glassblowers and the help of its members. Lee has completed the full BSSG examination syllabus and has won several of the annual “practical” competitions that the society holds. He is an active member of the society, holding the position of “Competition Manager” within the “Board of Examiners”.

Joshua Greenfield is a Junior member of the American Scientific Glassblowers Society, and is also a 4th year chemistry graduate student at the University of California, Davis. He began learning scientific glassblowing in 2011, shortly after receiving his B.A. in chemistry from Oberlin College, where he met Doug Navalinsky and subsequently spent nine months working with him at his shop in Bay Village, Ohio. Joshua still does some glassblowing in the course of his research, but he has also been able to leverage his experience as a chemist to give back to the glassblowing community, sharing insights on topics ranging from cleaning glassware to silvering dewar flasks.

This is Grant Mayberrys second year as an ASGS member. He began blowing glass ten years ago at ‘The Glass Academy’ in Dearborn and from there went on to work production hotshop at ‘the Henry ford/greenfield village’ for about five years. In 2012 he was accepted into a two week workshop at Pilchuck where he focused on sculpting. For the last three years he has been working as the full time glass shop tech at the ‘college for creative studies’ in Detroit. He also regularly assists, donates and participates in many glass events annually in the Detroit, Toledo and most recently Toronto area.

Erin Mayberry originally joined the ASGS as an artistic member in 2011. She graduated from Salem this previous May. Since she previously studied Chemistry, Scientific Glassblowing was the perfect career choice. She has worked production scientific jobs in the past and currently is self-employed and works from home. This is her second technical paper.