John and Wendy Gilvey have made their love of art a lifelong passion, beginning at the School of Visual Arts back when flower power was in full bloom.
Glass-blowing ”“ and the infinite number of creations that can be crafted from it ”“ became John Gilvey”™s calling when he apprenticed at a glass studio in Wingdale in 1975, meeting up with partner Michael Benzer. Together with Benzer, who attended the Rochester Institute of Technology and received a degree in glass-making, the pair taught glass-making at a children”™s camp in Wingdale.
“Michael had glass casting down to a science,” said Gilvey. “I had the connections in the retail world. We made a few products ”“ and then got very serious about making a business out of our combined talent.” They bought a commercial property in Beacon in the mid-1980s, where graphite molds were hand hewn and into which molten glass could be poured to make bowls, glasses and other tableware and fired in the kilns in the 8,000-square-foot factory, a former ice house.
Retail presence wasn”™t the initial focus
“Having a retail presence in Beacon was something we were not focused on back then,” said Gilvey, “until Dia:Beacon announced it was buying the former Nabisco factory and rehabbing it into an art gallery. That”™s when we knew the city”™s Main Street, which was boarded up and pretty bleak, would eventually become a destination.”
Gilvey applied for an SBA loan to buy an 1890s firehouse that was also among the boarded-up buildings shortly after Dia”™s announcement. After going to relatives and friends to beg and borrow the $300,000 needed to rehabilitate the firehouse until the loan came through and turn it into a retail space with an adjoining glass-blowing room, Gilvey and Benzer, along with Wendy Gilvey and Benzer”™s wife, Jennifer Smith, were open for business by 2003.
“Dia brought so many positives to Beacon,” said Gilvey. HUD started pouring money in to help revitalize the downtown area. The city formed a Community Action Coalition, determined to rebuild the shuttered downtown, and Hudson Beach Glass was among the first of the retail/art shops that now grace the busy Main Street. “This entire street, on both sides, was boarded up,” said Gilvey, pointing to the proliferation of art shops, retailers and cafés that now line the thoroughfare. “It also chased away the drug dealers.”¦ As more businesses came in and more people came to visit Dia and to discover downtown, they had to find someplace else to ply their trade.”
While Beacon is “a city of diversity ”“ someone counted 47 different languages that are spoken here,” said Gilvey ”“ the lower-income working class community left behind by urban renewal embraced the makeover. “Yes, Beacon has its pockets of poverty, but people don”™t have to be afraid to let their kids out to ride bicycles anymore,” said Gilvey. “The neighborhood is stable and safer than it has ever been.”
Hudson Beach Glass in very visible location
Hudson Beach Glass is one of the first attractions you find as you hit Beacon”™s Main Street from Route 9D ”“ and even gets a mention on local roadways as a tourist destination, an added perk for the retail store Gilvey hadn”™t asked for but receives gratefully.
With a dazzling array of dinnerware, bath items, vases, jewelry, glass-blown Christmas decorations and a plethora of other one-of-a-kind works, Hudson Beach Glass offers visitors an opportunity to watch glass-blowers in action and to take classes to learn the skill.
Its second floor has a dedicated art gallery, featuring local artists and hosting receptions for private parties, another way Hudson Beach Glass has beaten back the Great Recession.
“When the financial crash came in 2008, one of my friends told me I was in a ”˜recession-proof”™ business,” said Gilvey, “although it did not feel that way at the time … it proved to be true. People have held back on much of their discretionary spending, but there is always a gift needed for something ”“ a wedding, a housewarming, a birthday ”“ and the retail store we were so hesitant about opening has actually saved us and carried us through the recession.”
Artistry sold nationally, globally
Most of Hudson Beach Glass”™s artistry is sold nationally and globally, thanks to its extensive Internet presence and participation in national trade shows. “That”™s where we invest our dollars,” said Gilvey. “We don”™t do any advertising, because we received little return on the investment. The website, however, has proved to be invaluable and that”™s where we spend our money. Most of our local business comes from word of mouth and from our involvement with many nonprofits. We often donate a piece for a silent auction or create the awards given to their major sponsors … It has helped us advertise our work … and many of our patrons are residents of Beacon” ”“ who seem to cherish the “Made in Beacon, N.Y.” imprimatur.
Hudson Beach Glass has cut back on craft fairs, limiting themselves to five or six a year, said Wendy Gilvey, busy in the warehouse packing up for a weekend event in Morristown, N.J. “They were very popular back in the ”™70s and ”™80s,” said Gilvey, “but the Boomer generation has lost interest and the younger generation looks in upscale malls or on the Internet to shop … to a great extent, their appeal has worn off.”
Wine and beer tastings, along with other special events hosted at the shop and in the studio, have helped Hudson Beach Glass stave off the financial muck the country has been mired in. The company will receive kudos for its business expertise from the Dutchess County Arts Council on Oct. 27 at the Grandview in Poughkeepsie.
