CHIMACUM — Breakfast was inspiration for a Chimacum student whose drawing of a pig in a blanket has been immortalized in a glass sculpture at Tacoma’s Museum of Glass.
The colorful glass pig has been added to the permanent collection at the museum at 1801 Dock St.
Forrest Brennan, 11, who was on a field trip with his fifth-grade Chimacum Middle School class in February, participated in a museum activity in which one drawing is selected each month for transformation into glass.
The program, in effect since 2005, has resulted in a large collection of bizarre creatures that reflect the active imagination of young people, museum spokesperson Susan Newsom said.
Forrest’s father, Mitch Brennan — who also is his teacher — said that his son almost did not join in.
But he eventually drew a pig in a blanket, drawing inspiration from the breakfast that he had eaten the previous day at the Bayview Restaurant in Port Townsend.
He also was inspired by current events, according to a note included with the drawing that said: “The pig is in a blanket so he won’t get swine flu.”
Newsom said the drawing caught the imagination of the glass blowers, but “it was the humor in the note that pushed it over the edge.”
Each month, the museum gets hundreds of drawings from visiting students, and one is selected to be made into a three-dimensional glass sculpture.
Museum officials invite the student and his family to witness the sculpture’s creation and to supervise the design process.
Two copies of the sculpture are created, one for the museum’s permanent collection and the other for the family.
Forrest’s father, who has taught him for three years because the school uses a combined class model, said the sculpture will stay in the family forever.
“If it breaks, it breaks,” Mitch Brennan said. “I just hope that I’m not the one responsible.”
Forrest’s mother, Karen Brennan, who is also a teacher, said the experience has noticeably boosted Forrest’s self-confidence.
He is taking risks, she said, and is trying harder at school.
At the end-of-year assembly on Friday he addressed the whole school, something that his mother said was inconceivable just a few months ago.
“When I saw the pig emerge, I saw Forrest emerge,” she said of watching glass blowers make the sculpture.
The creation of the schoolchildren’s sculptures is a public event, usually held on the last Sunday of every month.
Forrest’s special day was May 30, at which time his parents, grandparents and friends were present in the museum’s auditorium.
“During the presentation, the glassblowers said, ‘We have the artist, Forrest Brennan, in the audience’ several times,” Karen Brennan said.
“And when the sculpture was finished, everyone burst into applause.
“You have no idea what that did for his self-esteem,” she said.
Forrest said that he likes the attention but thinks that a lot of his classmates “pretend that it isn’t happening and everything’s normal.”
He doesn’t plan to become an artist or a glass blower. He wants to design video games.
“He’s pretty pumped about this although he doesn’t always let on,” Karen Brennan said.
“After they made the sculpture, I told him that it was like winning the lottery,” she said.
“But he said, ‘No, Mom, it’s better than winning the lottery.'”
Visitors can watch glass blowers at work whenever the museum is open, except when the crew breaks for lunch, usually from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
The museum is open seven days a week through Labor Day.
Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, with free admission on that day from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Admission is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors, those with military identification and students; $5 for children 6 to 12; and $36 for families of two adults and up to four children younger than 18.
Admission also is free for Museum of Glass members, children younger than 6 and — on Sundays only — college students with identification.
For more information, see www.museumofglass.org or phone 253-396-1768.
