Glass Mama

By
HeadQuest

Aly “Mama” Bryer
Ouray, Colorado
@mamasglass

Glass artists often talk about collabs, but for Aly “Mama” Bryer, her collaboration with fellow glass blower Merc is a little more solid than most. Aly and Merc are partners in the studio and also in life, soon to tie the knot and fuse their two families together into one artistic unit.

“I’m very lucky to have great partner in Merc who ‘gets it’ on a parental level and understands the ups and downs of glass,” Aly says.

Aly has been blowing glass since 2007, literally a month after her daughter Mya was born. Aly was really into art, going to school for three-dimensional design, and dabbling in mixed media, that Aly qualified for the CHAMPS Glass Games Masters Competition. She’s been a fixture in the competition since that point. At the 2018 summer games she earned gold in Puff Puff Pass team category, and a bronze medal in the Adopt Me category for her “misfortune kitty.” In a table filled with dogs, she’s proud to say her’s was the only “pussy.”

You might also know Aly as the creator of the rainbow unicorn poo pendants.

“I like to make anything that gets a reaction out of people,” she adds. “That is art to me.”

Aly’s newest line of rigs are called Psycho Cuties. They’re kind of a take on the giant-headed Funko POP vinyl figures, but with an evil twist. The first one was named “the Cupcake Killer,” a sweet little young thing, like the artist herself, holding a cupcake in one hand and an axe in the other behind her back.

“There’s always going to be my cute side,” Aly says, “but if you mess with my babies you’ll see my other side.”

“We’re a family of glassblowers,” Aly adds. “The kids (which include her daughter Mya and Merc’s son’s Ezra and Luka) are just as much a part of it as we are. The kids are constantly drawing, painting and blowing glass — they all want to be glass blowers when they get older.”

“Glass has always been a big part of my life. Once it’s embedded into your soul, it never leaves”

 

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