seattletimes.com
Renowned glassblowing artists will try to make 24-foot-high bong in Seattle
Christine Clarridge
April 12, 2018 at 5:12 pm



Dude, check it out.

Jason Harris and a group of other renowned glassblowing artists will be meeting in Seattle over the “4/20” weekend to create the world’s largest bong.

The final piece, which will be created in parts and then assembled at the Cannabition museum in the downtown Las Vegas Arts District, will tower 24-feet high and weigh 800 pounds when completed.

The bong will feature hookah-like attachments and actually be smoke-able, according to Chris Davison, co-owner of Jerome Baker Designs. “I think everybody on the top floor (of the cannabis museum) could end up high,” Davis said, jokingly.

“It’s going to be so much fun doing this in Seattle where (marijuana) is legal and everybody has a smile on their face about it,” said Harris, of Jerome Baker Designs.

The blow will happen at a rented studio in South Lake Union April 19 to 22, but the owner said on Thursday it will not be open to the public.

While in his 20s, Harris, now 47, learned the art of glass blowing and began to explore making art pieces that served practical, useful purposes. He opened a business in Oregon creating art waterpipes and bongs.

In 2003, he was arrested by federal law-enforcement officers — along with 54 other people, including Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong — in a sting operation called Operation Pipe Dreams for making and distributing paraphernalia.

Chong, sometimes known as the “King of Stoners,” was sentenced to nine months in federal prison.

Though Harris did not serve time, his assets were seized.

But he did not give up on the idea of making the bong into a piece of fine art, and he eventually set up a studio in Maui, Hawaii.

Since then, he has continued to use his artistic passion to create one-of-a-kind glass bongs and pipes and other glass pieces.

“People have been really reacting to the art,” he said, “and I am using it as a tool to make noise and build momentum around change.”

Harris said the energy created when a group of artists work together blowing glass creates “an intense dance of blood, sweat, tears and laughter.”