The Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts, the glass studio at 1105 2nd Avenue South in Lake Worth Beach, has posted its 2026-27 visiting artist season. The center says it is bringing in seven visiting artists this year. The list includes two sets of brothers, a father and sons team from Murano, Italy, and a Lummi Nation artist who competed on the Netflix glassblowing series Blown Away. The season opens Thursday, December 3, 2026, and runs to late April 2027.

Each visit follows the center's usual format. On some Thursday nights, a visiting artist sits down with guests for a Meet the Artist Dinner in the center's gallery. On Friday nights, the artist works the hot shop for a three-hour public demonstration the center calls an Artist Blow-Out, with a live local band, light food and two drink tickets. General admission to a Blow-Out is $25, and premium reserved seats are $50. Seating is capped at 150 people, and the center notes that these nights often sell out. Online ticket sales close at 3 p.m. on the day of each Blow-Out, and tickets are non-refundable.

December: the De La Torre Brothers and Davide Salvadore

The season opens with Einar and Jamex De La Torre, brothers born in Guadalajara, Mexico, who moved to the United States in 1972 and now live and work in both Baja California and San Diego. They have collaborated since the 1990s on mixed media sculpture built around blown glass, and in recent years on large photomural and lenticular installations. Their work draws on the immigrant experience and life on both sides of the border, with influences from religious imagery, German expressionism, Mexican folk art and pre-Columbian art. Benzaiten lists 18 solo museum exhibitions, eight major public art projects and four biennales for the pair, along with the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, a Joan Mitchell Foundation award, a USA Artists fellowship and the San Diego Art Prize. Their Meet the Artist Dinner is Thursday, December 3, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and their Blow-Out is Friday, December 4, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

One week later, on Friday, December 11, Davide Salvadore and his sons take the hot shop for a Blow-Out from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Benzaiten describes Salvadore as a master Murano glassblower, and its own photos from an earlier visit show him working with a team of ten assistants in front of a full room.

January and February: a double bill and the Ferro Brothers

On Friday, January 15, 2027, glassblower Julia Cordi and flameworker Liz Wright share the hot shop for a double header Blow-Out. Cordi began working in glass in 2010 and studied in Murano, and the center says she now favors loose, sculptural forms built on the color and assembly methods she learned there. Wright sculpts at the torch, and much of her work is drawn from sea life.

Pietro and Riccardo Ferro come next. The brothers learned glass grinding under their father, Paolo Ferro, and opened their own grinding studio, Moleria, on Murano in 2000. Benzaiten notes that they have worked with Lino Tagliapietra, Davide Salvadore and Pino Signoretto, and with Murano houses including Venini, Barovier and Toso, and Seguso. Their dinner is Thursday, February 11, and their Blow-Out is Friday, February 12.

March and April: Dan Friday, then giant citrus

Dan Friday, a member of the Lummi Nation based in Washington's Skagit Valley, has worked mainly in glass for about 30 years, with imagery drawn from his Coast Salish heritage. He has taught at the Pilchuck Glass School, where he started a Native youth outreach program in 2017, and has held residencies at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and the Corning Museum of Glass, among others. He was a contestant on Blown Away. His Blow-Out is Friday, March 19, 2027, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Before it, he teaches a four-day master workshop at the center, Monday, March 15, through Thursday, March 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, covering solid and blown sculpting with cane and murrine and a range of coloring methods. The workshop costs $1,200.

The season closes Friday, April 23, 2027, with Steve Hagan and Mark Leputo, who share a studio in Tucson, Arizona. Hagan is known for oversized glass citrus fruit, slices and wedges, layered with pattern work and carved surfaces.

How to go

Meet the Artist Dinners are $100 per person, and two are on the calendar so far: the De La Torre Brothers on December 3 and the Ferro Brothers on February 11, both from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Blow-Outs are $25 general admission or $50 for premium reserved seats, all from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the Fridays listed above. Members get a discount on Blow-Outs, but they need to call the center when they register to receive it. Tickets are sold on the Visiting Artists page of benzaitencenter.org.

The center asks visitors not to rely on GPS. From I-95, take the 6th Avenue South exit east, turn left on South F Street, then right on 3rd Avenue South to the large rear parking lot, and enter at the back of the building. Regular hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For questions, call 561-508-7315.

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