Artists 'lose' marbles for scavenger hunt

Jake Zollie Harper, glass blower and owner of Zollie Glass Studio, looks through a glass marble made in his studio. Jake Zollie Harper, glass blower and owner of Zollie Glass Studio, looks through a glass marble made in his studio. Photo: Julysa Sosa / For The Express-News Photo: Julysa Sosa / For The Express-News Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Artists 'lose' marbles for scavenger hunt 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — Glass artist Sean Johnston had been sitting on the idea for about a year, his stockpile of marbles growing all the while.

The concept was simple enough. He wanted to hide marbles around town for people to find but wasn't entirely sure how best to go about it. Then he saw an article about a glass artist in Wisconsin who had been hiding marbles in a park and posting clues on Facebook.

“That's when it clicked,” Johnston said.

He had discussed the project with Justin Parr, an artist and founding director of Fl!ght Gallery who, like Johnston, had been making marbles.

“He called me and said, 'I'm hiding marbles today. I don't care if you're in it or not.'” Parr said. “And I said, 'I'm doing it! I'm in it! I'm in it!'”

Johnston hid the first marble at the beginning of January. Parr, 33, followed suit the next day. Soon, they were joined by Jake Zollie Harper, 33. The owner of Zollie Glass Studio, he taught both Johnston and Parr how to blow glass.

Dubbed Esferas Perdidas, or “Lost Spheres,” the project built slowly at first, then exploded. At present, Esferas Perdidas' Facebook group boasts about 1,250 members — hunters who eagerly wait for clues, usually photos or video with cryptic hints. Some of them have proved willing to go the distance, literally, tracking down marbles “lost” beyond the city limits.

Along with the marble hunters, the number of glass artists hiding spheres and other handmade glass objects — skulls and animal figures — has grown, to about 10.

The response has been “crazy,” said Johnston, 31, who owns SBall Glass. “It's made it hard to get some work done — I know that!”

The marbles that have been hidden by the group normally would sell for $25 to $300, and so far, the group has hidden about 200 pieces. Harper currently has pieces by all of the artists at his gallery in the Blue Star Arts Complex.

When Harper was first getting into glass blowing, he collected a couple of marbles by Josh Simpson, a glass artist based in Shelburne, Mass., who has hidden marbles around the world with the help of travelers through his Infinity Project.

“Beyond all that, the idea of hiding marbles around town was cool,” Harper said. “We thought it was a good way to get folks out to some of the places that we enjoy.”

So far, they have sent hunters out to hiking and biking trails, parks and local businesses, returning to hide marbles at favorite spots such as the Filling Station Café in Southtown and the Japanese Tea Gardens. When a piece is located, the finder posts a picture on the group's Facebook page to let the other members know.

It also has been a great excuse for the artists to indulge their passion for making the small glassworks.

“Marbles are made by magic and dancing,” Parr said, only half-joking. “They're precious objects that you stare at, and they have little worlds in them, but they have no use whatsoever.”

There are countless types of marbles — implosion, vortex, millefiori among them — but “the hardest thing to make is this,” Parr said, holding up a crystalline orb. “It's totally clear and totally optically perfect.”

“Making marbles is one of the most complex art forms that there is,” Johnston said. “It requires a ton of skill. Some of the stuff some of these guys are putting out there is completely and utterly mind-blowing.”

Since the group started, artists have been hiding marbles regularly at the Blue Star Arts Complex during First Thursday and First Friday and around the 1906 S. Flores St. arts complex during Second Saturday. They also are hiding marbles for Síclovía on March 30 and planning a couple of hunts with egg-shaped pieces for Easter.

On a recent misty evening, Harper hid a marble along Roosevelt Avenue, than sat back on a friend's porch to watch the action unfold.

“It's really interesting, within moments of posting something, cars start pulling up — bicycles, everything,” Harper said. “There were flashlights all over the place.”

Members frequently work in pairs or groups. Husband and wife team Joel “Turtle” Cruz and Veronica Ariana Reyes have found 15 marbles with their 13-year-old son HumbleSage.

“It's something to do with the family,” said Cruz, 38, who describes himself as a collector by nature. “That was the aspect that really appealed to me. It was something we could do on a frugal note, and still do together.”

Ryan Closner and his fiancée DiAnne Dominguez also like to make marble hunting a family affair with their children. But the couple recently struck out on their own to find a piece Harper hid en route to Big Bend. It was a three-and-a-half hour drive, but “luckily we have a Prius,” said Closner, 27, a system administrator at Brooke Army Medical Center. “The gas wasn't too much of an issue, so we just took off and went after it.”

With the clues posted on Facebook, Closner and Dominguez were able to locate the prize near a fence post outside of Ozona. Recently, the couple sprang for a $50 tab at the Filling Station Tap Room to thank the artists for creating the group.

Still somewhat new to the group John Eric Guerra has yet to find his first marble, though he came close to snagging a couple of pieces hidden in Spring Branch.

“I was working out there the next day and it was so far out, I thought maybe they could still be around, so I stopped in at a coffee shop and a little bar and grill that they hid one at, and they had already been picked up earlier that day, so I missed out,” said Guerra, 28, who works in pest control.

With a 2-year-old child, it is hard for him and his girlfriend to get moving, Guerra said, “and by that time they're already found.”

“I'm buying one, really,” he said. “I'm at that point here I just kind of want one already.”

In the months since Esferas Perdidas began, the project has “grown into more than I thought it would be,” Harper said. “People have been posting things online that I never expected, thanking me for the spot I hid a marble, because they hadn't been outdoors and now they're outside. I think it's inspiring people beyond looking for marbles, which is more than we could have expected.”