Help Michael Mikula Get His Glass Furnace Blazing Again

Help A Glass Artist Finally Get His Studio’s Glass Furnaces Blazing Again

SUMMARY - Cleveland glass artist, Michael Mikula seeks funding for the final push of his studio build-out to get his glass furnaces working.

Now is the time to meet this goal as unprecedented opportunities have come his way.

Hello and thank you for visiting this GoFundMe campaign. 

My name is Michael Mikula, glass designer-craftsman from Cleveland, Ohio. I make distinctive architecturally inspired blown glass sculptures and vessels.

We likely met at one of the hundreds of juried fine art/craft festivals and exhibits where I have marketed my works nationally since 1988. 

Recently, at a Glass Arts Festival hosted by the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass in Wisconsin, I was awarded First Place. This honor includes a solo exhibition at the museum, opening in August 2025. Making works for this six month long exhibit, while maintaining my regular full time exhibition schedule will be extremely demanding and leads in part to my request for your help. Additionally, the possibility for a large private commission in New York City, that would be difficult at best to complete under my current studio conditions, has come to light.

For the past 10 years I have been able to create my glass art by renting glass furnace access at the Toledo Museum Of Art’s Glass Pavilion and at the studios of gracious colleagues. Despite this, and a two year collapse of the art fair marketplace due to the pandemic, I have managed to stay in business. However, it has been quite limiting and demanding to regularly pack up and transport my specialty equipment and tools for blowing glass to temporary off-site locations.

In the meantime, I have gradually built up the majority of my glass working needs at my Cleveland studio, Midtown Glassworks. What remains to be accomplished is getting my glass furnaces up and running.

Marshaling the financial resources for the last large and expensive hurdles to complete my studio has been elusive. My needs include: hiring a highly skilled electrician and plumber to upgrade and install power to the glass furnaces and exhaust system, the addition of water lines and compressed air lines to the hotshop and coldshop tools, and the purchase of a large air compressor.

Now, at the culmination of a decade of studio building work, I am asking for your help in raising $25,000 to get my glass furnaces up and running and complete my studio.

With your help, I will be able to take on the pending museum exhibition and the impending NYC commission with confidence. Your generous contribution will be deeply appreciated and have a profound and lasting influence.

The completion of Midtown Glassworks will spur a whole new level of creative energy to share with loyal patrons and emerging talents in the Cleveland glass community. 

A celebration will be in order once my long-slumbering furnaces are blazing away. Your contribution to this campaign puts you on an exclusive invitation list for a Summer 2025 Preview of the new works headed to my solo exhibition at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum - along with other Thank-You premiums. Every donation will be acknowledged in writing and updates on my progress will be shared regularly.

A sincere THANK YOU for your generosity, continued interest and support.

Michael Mikula