Hilltop Artists in Residence

Courses focus on the artistic and vocational aspects of glass blowing; students gain essential post-secondary education and job-readiness knowledge. At one local glass arts business, all glass blowers are artists from our programs. Our instructor in CTE and After-School classes at Wilson High School is a graduate of Hilltop Artists’ programs.

These intensive programs are for youth, ages 14-20, who have been identified in other Hilltop Artists programs as advanced students. Students create glass art for commissions (e.g. Weyerhaeuser Presidential Awards, Tacoma City of Destiny Awards) and for sale in the gallery and at the annual Spring and Holiday Glass Sales. Students are also guided in developing professional art portfolios, artist statements, and bios. Team Production students become organizational ambassadors and represent Hilltop Artists at community events. All Production students are required to create, and make progress on, an education plan (high school graduation or post), for which the Outreach Manager provides resources and support.

Students engage in glass blowing, bead making, glass fusing and mosaics during after school - a peak time for juvenile violence and delinquency. The Outreach Manager works with students and guardians in After-School at Jason Lee to provided wraparound services to connect families to critical needs like access to housing, food, school supplies, medical or dental care, grief counseling, etc.

A number of spaces in this program are held for, among others, students from Tacoma Rescue Mission and Phoenix Housing Network, both serving homeless and at-risk children and families. As with all Hilltop Artists programs, in addition to ensuring they are supporting students’ overall development, they want to ensure they are serving those most in-need of positive interventions and activities that advance the discovery of their innate creativity and hone their decision-making and team-building skills.

A year-round program for girls on probation and Diversion in partnership with Pierce County Juvenile Court. In this program girls, ages 11-19, engage in a new art form each quarter, while addressing other issues critical to their success: teamwork and collaboration, positive social interactions, the ability to reflect and express themselves and trust in adults and other girls, leadership development, and communication.