“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
It's hard to imagine a more dangerous form of art than working with glass. Glass artists toil and sweat in front of kilns that burn at a raging 1550°F to 2000°F. Burns and cuts are common. What emerges, though, is magical—transformed through the fire of the kiln and the artist's own breath into a beautiful work of art.
The Reconstruction era ushered in a period of Black excellence, power, and wealth. Black communities such as Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, flourished because formerly enslaved people now had opportunities to be educated, to own land, and to create a well-connected, interdependent network of success. It was common for entrepreneurs in Greenwood to refer customers to one another and help their employees start new businesses. Booker T. Washington, founder of the National Negro Business League and the Tuskegee Institute, said, "If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else."
Glass artist and Tulsa native Cedric Mitchell embodies that spirit. For him, every piece is connected.
For Cedric Mitchell, entrepreneurship is art, and in business, as in glassblowing, a big part of that art is overcoming your fears and never giving up. Mitchell approaches his business plans like he approaches creating a new glass sculpture: creating sketches, then taking those sketches into the studio to refine and see those ideas take shape. When something shatters, he picks up the pieces and keeps working.
When something shatters, pick up the pieces & keep working.
Mitchell—like most young folks in North Tulsa—was a born hustler. He knew nothing about Greenwood's history until well after he'd graduated high school. He became one of Ahha's first students, then was introduced to glassblowing through a friend. He used to just show up every day and sweep the floor until somebody asked him to do something in the studio. Within six months, he was teaching students.
Mitchell wasn't quite done with hustling and getting into trouble. He just hid it well. While his art was being featured on HGTV, Mitchell was serving a mandatory 45-day stay in jail for multiple DUIs. On the day he sat in front of a judge awaiting a possible 10-year jail sentence for marijuana possession, a cover story in the Tulsa Voice magazine dropped, putting a spotlight on Mitchell's dedication and good deeds at the studio. The article, along with letters from staff and the board of directors at Tulsa Glassblowing School, convinced the judge to give Mitchell probation instead of jail time.
Taking full advantage of this blessing, he continued learning, teaching, and sending applications to studios, including Joe Cariati's in LA. He moved to Southern California in 2016 to work for Cariati, while pursuing his own brand: Cedric Mitchell Design. He continues to refine his craft and hasn't stopped teaching. Mitchell, Corey Pemberton, and Annie Evelyn founded Crafting the Future, a nonprofit that connects BIPOC artists with opportunities that will help them thrive.
Cedric Mitchell may not have known about the history of Black Wall Street during his youth, but there is no doubt that he carries the fire of Greenwood's "lifting as we climb" spirit.
▪️ STORY BY Carlos Moreno | PHOTOS BY CRYSTINA BOND
Featured in Issue No. 1
The inaugural issue features stories of entrepreneurs from Tulsa, New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles and London. It connects the spirit of Greenwood that began in North Tulsa, Oklahoma to the rest of the world.
