Sisters Library lights up with neon art

December marks the month that Roger White, owner and operator of the Camp Sherman Store, will be displaying his unique talents with neon and argon art forms in the Community Room of the Sisters Library.

"I use essentially three types of glass to create my light art," White said. "Clear, coated, and colored glass."

Depending on what type of gas he is using, what amounts of mercury he places in the tube(s), and types of glass, he can create many different color hues, shapes and moods. What he likes best is the "Classic Glass," a form that results with a combination of different gasses and glass types.

When asked if this is a hobby or business venture, he answered, "Both. I love to create different shapes and colors, and if they sell, all the better; the proceeds go into my 'Living College Tuition Fund.' It helps to keep my older daughter, Kelsey, in Willamette University, and I know my youngest daughter, Lauren - a sophomore in SHS - will want to go on to college when she graduates."

Roger has been at the neon artwork for over 20 years, and has enjoyed the changes in the technique of glass-blowing, methods of bringing about different colors and shapes of tubes used in creating neon and argon gas art forms.

"It's possible today to obtain what I call, "New Millennium Rainbow Glass,'" he said. "I work with what is available to us from the Earth's raw materials. The gasses are taken from the air we breath; silica and other raw materials that form glass are abundant in the volcanic materials all around us. It's a true organic art form; all I have to do is create the tubes and color and add the electricity."