"Modern Funk: Funk is Form": Performative Glassblowing with Cedric Mitchell
Tulsa Glassblowing School
October 4, 2025
"It takes a long time to sound like yourself." That’s how artist Cedric Mitchell, quoting Miles Davis, expressed the journey he’s taken to get to his own style in his chosen medium, a form of glassblowing he calls “modern funk.” Originally from Tulsa and now residing in California, Mitchell has shown his art around the world and collaborated with brands like Nike, Meta, and LEGO, but he’s never stayed away from Tulsa too long. He recently collaborated with Tulsa Artist Fellowship to showcase his modern funk in a live “performative glassblowing” session as part of their Open House weekend.
If you’ve never seen glassblowing before, you might think it’s a solo art. But watching it up close proved it’s a collaborative effort—a live ensemble act, even. On this day, Mitchell and five other helpers worked together in a continual process of heating and sculpting. They moved in sync like an orchestra, with Mitchell sitting center stage like a conductor, slowly crafting the piece with his crew. The helpers repeatedly put the piece into the furnace, quickly returned it to the maestro, and then carried it back into the furnace. Only the maestro knew when the song would end.
Watching someone who’s truly mastered a skill—who’s lived and breathed it when no one was watching—do it live is an awe-inspiring experience. What would be impossible for most has become muscle memory to Mitchell. His mastery shone through in his composure in the face of 2,000-degree furnaces and hand-held blowtorches that, at the slightest human error, could cause life-threatening injuries.
As Mitchell and his team of helpers created art, dj noname. played a soundtrack that, like Mitchell’s modern funk, was rooted in Tulsa. For some in the crowd, songs in the set like “Best Mood” by dj noname. and Steph Simon were clearly as familiar as a Sunday Afternoon; for others, this event was an introduction to a sound that they never knew existed. It’s one thing to see art inspired by Tulsa; it’s another to hear Tulsa at the same time.
Before the big-name collabs, Mitchell started his art career as a rapper and producer, making music at a time when it wasn’t cool to say you were a Tulsa artist, and when venues didn’t want to book local hip-hop acts. Today, he’s providing his own platforms for Tulsa hip-hop artists. In addition to djnoname., this event featured Keeng Cut—an artist with a style as funky and flavorful as the art that Mitchell creates—performing a two-part act with a three-piece band called The Rowlands. Showcasing his “Flavio Cútatore” alternate persona, he coddled the microphone like a ‘60s Motown artist, bending his words around each bar like molten glass.
It’s risky business doing a live demonstration that blends hands-on work with musical performance, and there were a few edgy moments. Mitchell’s wireless mic struggled at times; some of his spoken story got lost in the fade-outs, but his art filled in the missing pieces. Later, one of the helpers, dressed in a heavy protective coat and two oven mitts that dwarfed her arms, frantically called for the other helpers to open the cooling doors as she cradled a molten hot piece. Luckily, the piece made it safely to the large cooling machine.
Even with those near-mishaps, the event was a thrilling mix of craftsmanship and cohesiveness, much like Mitchell’s own career. In his remarks, he described finding very few results in Google searches for “Black glassblowers” or “Black glass artists”; it’s a field where he didn’t see many people who looked like him. The art “just needs more references,” he said—and he’s become that reference now for many aspiring artists. In addition to his huge public profile, he’s given out over 200 scholarships for Black and Brown artists to go to craft school, not just in glassblowing but in textiles, painting, and other crafts, helping kids who see themselves in him.
Mitchell’s appreciation for his hometown culture was as evident in this performance as it is in each piece he creates. In the heat of the moment, he has sculpted a career and a design house that has brought him into partnership with iconic global brands. It’s also given him a way to take Tulsa around the world, one piece at a time.
