Bay City neon artist Josh Averill featured at Creative 360

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Neon sign artist Josh Averill tests a light in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City

Neon sign artist Josh Averill works on a sign commission in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Neon sign artist Josh Averill adjusts a flame in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Neon sign artist Josh Averill tests a light in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Neon sign artist Josh Averill adjusts valves in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Neon signs hang in Josh Averill's workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Neon sign artist Josh Averill tests a light in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Neon sign artist Josh Averill works on a sign commission in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Neon sign artist Josh Averill poses in his workshop on Jan. 15, 2023 in Bay City.

Walking through one of the doors of the unmarked two-story building on State Street in Bay City, three open flames can be seen raging.

The sound of high-voltage electricity crackles from across the room.

Tubes of glass and metal tools are strewn about across multiple workstations.

People may be forgiven for thinking they just walked into the lab of a mad scientist. Then, the glow of neon pink lights up the face of Josh Averill as he continues his work.

Averill, a Bay City resident, has been making and repairing neon signs for about five years now under the business The Bends Glassworks. His creative skills with the medium led him to Creative 360 in Midland, where his work will be on display for the next month.

Averill has always been expressing artistic vision, painting graffiti street art when he was younger before learning how to do body piercings, which he has been doing for the past 22 years.

When he first considered making neon signs, Averill's mentor, Tom Dymora, helped him learn the steps to making the signs. He soon realized that the medium was right for him.

"I can still use words in neon, similar to how I did with graffiti, so there is a mesh here," Averill said. "I find it a bit better. I like the medium more, it lasts a lot longer and I can connect with people's nostalgia."

Averill first thought neon would be an easy art form to get into and that he could do it from his garage. But that was far from the case.

Neon sign making involves many steps, large equipment and dangers, Averill said. After sketching a design, he starts with tubes of glass that are lined with phosphorus. He bends and blows these tubes into the shapes he wants using heat from flames, taking care not to break the glass in the process.

Next comes the assembly, in which Averill places and welds glass together to form letters, shapes, or words. He then removes impurities from the glass with a vacuum, as any impurity would cause the gas not to light.

The fun part comes next, when Averill adds the elements to create the colorful glow of neon signs. Despite the name, neon is not the only gas used in the process. Both neon and argon are common gases used to make colors in these signs, he said, each used to give off different colors.

Neon gas is mainly associated with warmer colors like red or orange, while argon is mainly used to create blues, greens, and purples. The type of phosphorus in the glass determines what color will show, with tiny balls of mercury added inside the glass tubes to make argon give off the cooler colors, Averill said.

Once he has the colors he wants, Averill will add a metal border to the sign, if needed. The sign is then ready to shine.

Through The Bends Glassworks, Averill will repair old signs for businesses and private collectors, along with creating custom commissions. The commissions are typically for commercial businesses, due to the amount of voltage needed to run these signs, though he still does the occasional home piece with electrical safety in mind.

Whenever he takes breaks from working on assignments from his shop, Averill will mess around in his studio and create interesting shapes with his glass. He may also upcycle items to use with neon lights, like when he took a streetlight lens to make a neon turtle.

Over the course of a few years, Averill has developed multiple pieces that will be displayed at Creative 360's Bayliss Street location in a joint exhibition with Bay City aluminum painter Mark Piotrowski. The exhibit is called Neon Wave and will run through Feb. 19, coinciding with a Neon Ball at 8 p.m. on Jan. 27.

Creative 360 Executive Director Laura Vosejpka said Averill's art adds a colorful punch to the studio during an otherwise gray, dreary season in Michigan.

"We just love the kind of ambiance and feel that you get from the actual glow from the neon," Vosejpka said. "It feels so great to be sitting in this gallery and to have that look around."

Since the exhibit's opening on Friday, Averill has received a lot of positive feedback on his work, along with some people purchasing his signs. While his work is for sale, he recommends that people work with him on commissions more tailored to their tastes.

However, Averill said there are now fewer people practicing his art form due to the difficulty of getting materials and the scale of the workshop needed to produce neon signs. He also mentioned the dangers of working with high voltages, open flames, glass shards, mercury and potentially leaded glass when repairing old signs.

As long as he can, Averill will keep working with neon, his medium of choice.

"If they do not outlaw mercury (because we are becoming a more green society), I think I will be able to do this for the rest of my life," Averill said.

Averill is in the process of moving his workshop to Saginaw, near his piercing studio, Hourglass. He can be reached at 989-415-4447.