Greg Rawls- Renowned Glass Artist and Dragon Boat Coach

August 3, 2012 bftlifestyle 1910 Views 0 Comments

Greg Rawls moved to Beaufort in December of 2011, from Daniel Island in Charleston, because he says, “After thirty years of corporate America, I decided I had had enough and I wanted to pursue my glass art full time. I wanted to ‘reboot’, to change my surroundings and since I had always loved Beaufort, and my folks live here, I decided I would move here.” Making changes, “trying to get out of old ruts” as he puts it, led Greg to Leadership Beaufort, teaching at Artworks and …DragonBoat Beaufort.

The DragonBoat Beaufort involvement starts with Greg’s art. There is a lovely piece of glass art hanging in Greg’s kitchen which depicts a dragon and boat paddle. It was seen by a friend who asked if he was working with DragonBoat Beaufort. No, the glass piece was something Greg had created in reference to his involvement with a dragon boat team in Charleston. Greg had spent five years as part of a team sponsored by his previous employer, MeadWestvaco Specialty Chemicals. When asked how that started he says, “It was pretty simple, one day I got an email from the human resources department asking if I wanted to be part of a team they were putting together to participate in the first Charleston DragonBoat festival. I said ‘Sure!’” The team trained, they competed, and Greg says he had a great time and so when asked if he wanted to be team Captain Greg said” Absolutely! I loved being part of the team, I was hooked on it!”

But when he moved to Beaufort his involvement with the Charleston team had ended and he was concentrating on settling in and working on his glass art. Greg says he had missed the showing of “Awaken the Dragon” at the Beaufort International Film Festival and was completely unaware of the movement to start a dragon boat team in his new hometown. When the friend who saw the dragon boat glass art in his house asked if he was interested in being part of the Beaufort team he said “Yes, because there was kind of karma to it!” New home, new team- why not?

DragonBoat Beaufort-

No one in Beaufort had been part of a dragon boat team, so based on his experience Greg quickly became one of the two coaches (Kyle Faucher is other coach) and got right to work with his new teammates. Unlike the team, Greg was involved with in Charleston, the Beaufort team is a 50/50 mix of cancer survivors and their supporters. (Although many on the team roster are, you do not have to be a cancer survivor to be on the team.)

He says, “When I got to the first practice I saw a lot of people I knew. DragonBoat Beaufort is a great remedy, to take someone who has been through cancer, put it aside, get wet, and paddle together. Most participants find that ‘this is pretty cool’!”

Regarding varying levels of strength and fitness he says, “People wonder ‘Can I be good enough?’ and the answer is always ‘Yes. You are good enough.’ I tell our team to work on endurance. It is a 20 seat boat, the six in the middle are the power, but there is room for everyone.”

He says, “The people in Beaufort are amazing. It’s amazing that within 3 months of our first team practice, we competed at our first races at the Charleston DragonBoat Festival May 5th.”The most exciting news is the team has just ordered its own boat. He says, “Now we will have a boat, which was purchased through a combination of fund raising and matching funds generously provided by the Stewarts. The giving spirit in Beaufort is amazing and very gratifying. Boats cost approximately $ 16,000, which is a tremendous amount to raise in such a short time.”

Works of Art

Greg’s journey to becoming a glass artist started with a stained glass class twenty five years ago. He found a class and thought “Let’s try this out”. He says he made a few stained glass pieces and, “its fun but I am better at the kiln formed glass.” Started exploring and creating kiln formed glass 15 yrs ago. Kiln formed, or fused, glass is essentially art created by melting glass in a kiln. Unlike stained glass there are no lead lines used and most contemporary fusing methods involve stacking, or layering thin sheets of glass, often using different colors to create patterns or simple images. (wikipedia. org/wiki/Fused glass)

In 2012 Greg won the Cooper River Bridge Run design contest, with a glass art submission. His cheerful image of the “sunburst behind the bridge” graced 50,000 tee shirts and 2000 posters, and was seen all over the Charleston area.

“Once I got good enough to sell my pieces, I got into a cooperative gallery in Charleston, and from there I got into other galleries, including The Gallery here in Beaufort.” Deanna Bowdish, owner of The Gallery says, “Innovative, fun, fresh and unique, Greg continues to amaze me with the intricate patterns and techniques he uses in his fused glass art. His incredible sense of color sets his work above the rest. One cannot help but smile and feel the sense of pride Greg puts into every design. Whether he is creating a one of a kind glass sculpture, a functional bowl or making his newly designed fused pendants supporting DragonBoat Beaufort, Greg loves what he does and it shows.”

Recently Greg designed and created two different fused glass art necklaces for sale as a fundraiser for DragonBoat Beaufort. One is a beautiful square of dark glass with a subtle dragon design and is available in a variety of color combinations; the other is also a square and has a unique design of dragon scales. Both are gorgeous. This is an opportunity to own a beautiful piece of local glass art and support DragonBoat Beaufort at the same time as all proceeds will go to the organization.

Full Circle

“I was an Army brat, born in Germany but South Carolina is home. I went to high school, college and grad school here,” says Greg. A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Greg has a BS in Biology and a MS in Public Health, his major being in Industrial Hygiene. This means he is expert at evaluating, recognizing, and controlling work hazards such as chemical exposures and radiation risks in order to protect the people who work with these substances and others. Even though he has retired he still stays active in his field, as he says, “I am the resident health and safety expert in the glass field”. Reflecting for a moment he says, “Living life is a riskit’s how you manage the risk”.

He says, “One of the things that motivate me to be involved in DragonBoat Beaufort is that I have many close relatives and friends who are cancer survivors. Cancer affects everyone – directly and indirectly. Because of this it’s a joy and honor to be involved in this great endeavor! “