Morgan Peterson

How have things changed since you were featured on Netflix and won Blown Away?

I've gotten really busy, which I love. I hate being stagnant. So, it's like I've had all these amazing opportunities. I've had lots of residencies, people reaching out, you know. I didn't think even for a second that it would touch people in a way.

Oh, I'm happy for you. You came across, like, very authentically. I really enjoyed the show. So how did you first get into glassblowing?

I was probably about four the first time I saw it in person at the Sandwich Glass Museum. My mom took me there. I was, like, a very hyperactive little kid, so it was, like, the one time that I sat still and paid attention. So it was like very engaging. But then my mom would always have me watch Chihuly documentaries on PBS. That's what would grab my attention. That's what I liked. I didn't know I wanted to be a glassblower until I went to art school. I ended up going to MassArt [Massachusetts College of Art and Design] 'cause that's what I could afford. And my mom really wanted me to be a painter. And so being the way I am, I was like, you're not the boss of me. I am going to do this instead. So, I started blowing glass.

How did people first react when you said, “I want to be a glassblower”?

I think they were confused. They were like, are you going to be able to have work? I think that was more so the concern, you know, I was like, I'm in art school. Like no matter what, I think you can make it happen, but you have to work really, really hard or you have to know a lot of people and have money. So, it's, like, usually one or the other or a combination of all of the above. I don't have money, but I definitely have a really strong work ethic. So that's, like, why I’m where I'm at.

And are you based in Seattle? Is that right?

I am. I work for a really prominent artist. I work for Dale Chihuly full-time on top of multiple jobs. But I also, you know, work for Pratt Fine Arts, which is a nonprofit organization, run my own business, and I work for another artist named Charlie Parriott, helping him manage his house. So, there's a lot of moving parts, always.

And would you say you have such a thing as a typical day or does that not really exist?

If I get up at 3:30 in the morning, either I'm going to work for Dale or I'm going to work for myself. Typically, if I'm working for someone else, right after work I go to the gym and then I go to my studio. But if it's for myself, I'm just at my studio all day long. It's like what I'm working on now. I'm working on all these portraits of my friends that are drag queens, so they're all engravings and gildings, and my favorite thing to do is go to drag shows and now I get to actually write them off on my taxes. You know, that's like one of my favorite projects that I've ever worked on, just because I get to look at their beautiful faces and immortalize them and what else.