The Belger Glass Annex is thrilled to present North Carolina-based artist Jason McDonald and Elliot Walker from the United Kingdom. Both artists competed on season 2 of the popular Netflix reality television series, “Blown Away.” Their mesmerizing glassblowing demonstration on April 26 at the Belger Glass Annex kicks off a series of free public programs featuring artist Jason McDonald.

Jason McDonald received his BFA with honors at California College of Art and was awarded the presidential fellowship at Tyler School of Art and Architecture where he earned his MFA. He has taught at Penland School of Craft, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pilchuck Glass School, Pratt Fine Arts, The Studio at Corning Museum of Glass, Urban Glass, and elsewhere.

McDonald is a Windgate Fellowship recipient, was a contestant on the reality television show “Blown Away,” and has been awarded residencies at Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pilchuck Glass School, and the Corning Museum of Glass.

Elliot Walker is a sculptor, based in the United Kingdom, who works with glass. Walker’s vibrant and demanding career has taken him from four years of education in London to working as part of the London Glass Blowing studio team of Peter Layton, a founding father of British studio glass. In 2022, Walker participated in and was crowned the winner of season 2 of Netflix’s “Blown Away.”

Walker’s Studio now resides at The Red House Glass Cone in Stourbridge, England. The site has 200 years of glass history and is one of the four remaining traditional glass cones in the UK.