STARworks Glass will host an open house and sale featuring glass artist Eddie Bernard. The event will be Friday, May 6, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

Bernard is a glass artist, expert glass studio technician and owner of Wet Dog Glass LLC. Working with glass since 1988, he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts in glass at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1996.

He has taught and assisted in intensive workshops at the Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, N.Y., Penland School of Crafts, in western North Carolina, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, in Deer Isle, Maine, and The Glass Furnace, in Turkey, and has instructed glass at Tulane University, in New Orleans.

"I like to think of myself as a poet who uses three-dimensional images instead of words on paper, " said Bernard. "I turned my attention to manufacturing glass studio equipment because I saw a need for better engineered, more user friendly and energy efficient products."

He and his wife, Angela, moved Wet Dog Glass from New Orleans to STARworks after their business was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"We came to STARworks to consult on the development of a glass lab and liked what was going on here so much that we ended up relocating," he said. "STARworks and the region have been very welcoming to us."

A variety of the artist's work will be exhibited, and he will conduct a studio demonstration. The demo piece, which he has already dubbed "S Is For Spring," will be one of Bernard's signature alphabet creations. He has invited Anna Josefina Compton, another local glass artist, to collaborate with him to make small components that will become part of the final sculpture. The piece will be auctioned at the end of the event, with proceeds benefiting the STARworks Glass high school program.

"We will also be selling a variety of glass art pieces, including vases, bowls, pitchers and stemware," said Nick Fruin, director of STARworks Glass.

The reception is free and open to the public. STARworks Glass Studio is located at 100 Russell Drive (rear entrance) in Star. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, visit www.starworksnc.org or call (910) 428-9001.