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Author Topic: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin  (Read 6036 times)

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Offline curly

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Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« on: November 08, 2013, 12:28:22 PM »
Hello,

I wonder if anyone can tell me anything about Ophir Studios.  I bought three paperweights recently. They are signed with this studio mark and dated 1980. One is also signed S Beyers and L Hudin.
I'd be interested to know a bit more about this studio and the artists.

Many thanks

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Offline ttttootall

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2013, 11:30:22 AM »
Before Lee Hudin and Scott Byers worked for Orient & Flume they worked together at Ophir Studio.

This is all I can find about the two, however I sure would like to see a few pictures of your weights.
Tony

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Offline ttttootall

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2013, 11:46:28 AM »
Mod: Text about Scott Beyers, copied from the Orient & Flume web pages, has been replaced with a link. This has been done under the Board guidelines for erring on the side of caution regarding copyright material.

Please see: http://www.orientandflume.com/artists/scott_beyers.aspx
Tony

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Offline ttttootall

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2013, 11:51:55 AM »
[Mod: text about Lee Hudin, copied from a Blog, has bee replaced with a link. This has been done under the Board guidelines for erring on the side of caution regarding copyright material.]

http://kelekchens.com/2010/09/28/paperweights-american-contemporary-artist-orient-flume/

Hudin's work is highly valued and because t's no more, highly collectible
Tony

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Offline curly

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2013, 01:05:15 PM »
Many thanks for the information, ttttootall. I will now see if someone on the Paperweight forum can identify the artist of of the two which are signed with the studio name only.  Off to take some pictures now.

All the best

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Offline curly

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2013, 08:03:34 PM »
Hello,

These are the three paperweights that I have signed Ophir Studio and all dated 1980. As I said in previous message only one has the names of S Beyer and L Hudin otherwise no signatures of artists.  I would be interested to know more.

Carole

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Offline curly

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2013, 08:13:17 PM »
Sorry folks,

I  seem to have sent two pics of one of the paperweights in my previous post.  This is the third one.

I'm new to this so please forgive.

Carole

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Offline ttttootall

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2013, 07:00:14 PM »
They are very nice and you did a great job posting them as many new members tend to have a hard time with this.

Wish I could give you more information on these but this is all I could find.

My guess would be that the 2 artist (S Beyer and L Hudin) are the creators of all three being that they operated "Ophir Studio".

Good luck with your search and enjoy your purchases,
Tony
Tony

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Offline hudin

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2014, 07:12:11 PM »
I can fill in a bit more on Ophir Studios as it was in my back yard growing up and Lee was my father.

Basically, both Lee (or fully, Evan Lee) Hudin and Scott Byers worked at Orient & Flume in its quasi early days.  In 1980 they struck out on their own given that everything they were making was sold by Doug Boyd and they were only paid an hourly salary at Orient & Flume despite both making as well as designing the pieces.  They weren't some factory line workers but saw nothing from the retail markup unless they were to make pieces during their lunch hour or on weekends to then sell them in the O&F showroom in Chico, California.

They chose the name Ophir Studio for their own business as it was the historical, original name for my hometown, Oroville.  They built the studio behind our home in the foothills and started producing work.  Initially sales went very well and they would often sell out at art shows in San Francisco.  Their works found their ways in to a number of galleries and that's when some of the problems arose as the turnaround on gallery payments are quite slow, upwards of six months.  In the meanwhile you have a tremendous expense in maintaining a glass studio as the furnaces have to be run constantly and if shut down, it takes several days to restart them IF you haven't cracked the furnace in the cooling process.

Also tossed in to this were problems in the partnership as Scott had to commute from Chico to Oroville (in a time when gas efficient Hondas and Toyotas were not the norm) and that, combined with the delay in payments from studios eventually let to the dissolution of the studio in 1984 I believe.

Both Lee and Scott sucked up their pride and went back to their old jobs at O&F.  Being a bullheaded Croat my father didn't take the arrangement lying down and lead a charge to unionize the studio given that at the time, these guys who were making pieces that sold for hundreds if not thousands of dollars were paid just a little above minimum wage while the owner drove about in a Jaguar.  Unfortunately the vote to unionize failed given that the owner managed to negotiate having front house staff such as the accountant and part time salespeople in the show room be able to participate in the vote, not just the glassblowers.  This led my father to seek an exit strategy.

In the later eighties (1988 I believe) my father and mother started a ceramics business as ceramics were my mother's focus.  They continued with that until my father started being too ill in the later 1990's to continue working.  Unknowingly he had carcinoid syndrome which is a very rare type of cancer which, while it doesn't metastasize causes damage to your organs over years and years.  There is a drug that can stave off the effects for years, but unfortunately, living the US, as a self-employed artist, my father could not only not afford the $4000 a month drug (I'm not sure who could) but he was repeatedly denied for healthcare and eventually died of heart failure related to the carcinoid tumors in 2003.  This is a large part of the reason I don't live in the US anymore.

That's pretty much about as condensed a version as I make.  Scott Beyers is still alive and producing some glass as far as I know.  The owner, Doug Boyd was a generally unlikable fellow for how he treated his glassblowers and the most skilled left over time.  As something of a karmic retribution, it was eventually discovered that one of his admin employees had embezzled some ungodly amount of money from the company ($250,000 if I recall, but I might be wrong) and I don't know if O&F even exists anymore.

I don't know the value of my father's work.  There certainly won't be anymore of it.  My family only has a few pieces and sadly neither my brother nor myself followed in his footsteps.  And many of the works have long since been lost as paperweights were often seen as baubles by those who would receive them as gifts.  It's important to note that glassblowing was just the main artistic occupation that he did.  He was also a skilled illustrator, photographer, and painter and this was after he got bored with being pre-med.

The first of the photos you posted (php5LN85SAM.jpg) I'm not terribly familiar with and it might be Scott's.  The petroglyphs (Paperweight 1 Antelope.jpg and phpeBk7I9PM.jpg) were definitely Lee's design and exist in a "rock" style as well.  He was the first person to make these in glass, although another glassblower who started afterwards gained more fame with them.  The owl paperweight also seems similar to ones that Lee made but I think Scott also made and continued to make them.  Keep in mind that these designed were also made as vases.  My father told me that his works are in both the Smithsonian as well as the Chrysler Museum, but I haven't had a chance to verify that in their archives.

I hope that clears up any questions you might have as I've found little about the history of these works anywhere online.

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Offline ttttootall

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Re: Ophir studio - S Beyers and L Hudin
« Reply #9 on: April 21, 2014, 10:01:25 AM »
Thank you Mr. Hudin for the wonderful history on the Ophir Studio and your father. He was indeed a very talented artist.
Tony

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