Student Jeremy Lampe says he is excited to be part of an art community that is changing every day
By: MALAIKA TOLFORD
Staff Write
Jeremy Lampe, educational assistant in the STLCC-Meramec art department, has been working in glass for over a decade, but his path in the arts started at Meramec. He took general transfer requirements at Meramec after high school.
“I was about to graduate with my associates degree when I signed up for ceramics. And then just took ceramics for another two years,” Lampe said.
When Lampe was ready to transfer to a four-year institution to attain his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, the renowned ceramics program at Southern University at Edwardsville (SIUE) was his choice.
“Now I wish I had waited to go there for grad school,” Lampe said.
During his time at SIUE, Lampe worked as a production potter at Mississippi Mud in Alton, Ill. It was also during this time that he fell in love with glass. These days, when Lampe is not helping in the clay studio, he is at 3rd degree glass factory on Delmar where he teaches classes and works on his own pieces, which are mainly large sculptural pieces, which he sells and shows all over the country.
“It’s fun going to those conferences and knowing everybody and getting to hang out with people that you grew up watching,” Lampe said.
Lampe is currently applying to M.F.A. programs to begin next year. Even though he has had a lot of success locally and nationally in his pursuits, continuing education at the graduate level will mean being able to teach. “I’m part of this group called Glass Seccessionism; they’re trying to establish glass as a fine art … which it is, but you have to wait for the collectors to catch up to that speed. They’re still caught up on the Venetian glass,” Lampe said.
Lampe is excited to be part of an art community that is changing every day.
“That’s my goal, to try to make something that someone’s never seen before,” Lampe said.
