Glass artist Justin Hurst hiding three treasure chests containing handmade marbles across Baxter, Cookeville, and Livingston as part of the 10th anniversary of the World’s Biggest Marble Hunt.
Hurst said he decided to celebrate his 15th year as a glass artist by splitting 15 marbles into three separate cases for local residents to find. Hurst said he will hide specific marble tokens that finders can later redeem for a full treasure chest containing at least five unique pieces of handmade glass art.
“You can’t beat a big treasure hunt,” Hurst said, “And this year I believe Will said that we are on track for the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest treasure hunt and as of right now there are 409 treasure chests that are registered that will be hidden all around the world.”
Hurst said the World’s Biggest Marble Hunt began in 2016 and features a global collection of artists and collectors who hide marbles for the public to discover. Hurst said the event is currently on track to challenge the Guinness World Record for the largest treasure hunt, with 409 treasure chests registered to be hidden worldwide this year.
“Hopefully people get out and be able to find a little bit of joy,” Hurst said.
Hurst said he specializes in borosilicate glass, which requires a table-mounted torch and higher heat levels than traditional furnace glass. Hurst said he uses 24-karat gold and .999 silver to fume the glass, creating one-off pieces of contemporary art.
“Most rewarding part of marble creations for me is making something that will be around a lot longer than I will because borosilicate glass as far as I’ve been able to tell and talking to different scientists, it’ll take over a million years before it even starts to degrade,” Hurst said. “So we still have art around from thousands of years ago before the invention of borosilicate glass, so it’s truly something that you can put on the shelf and hand down for generations.”
Hurst said his interest in the craft stems from his background as a journeyman machinist and a fascination with the history of marble manufacturing in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. Hurst said while mass-produced marbles were invented in the early 1900s, his work focuses on individual artistic expression with marbles ranging from a quarter-inch to three inches in size.
“I’ve been a glass artist making marbles for 15 years, originally I just always liked marbles, I used to be a journeyman machinist, and it’s a little bit of a OCD kind of thing, but just the idea of making something as perfectly round as I could while also making it beautiful always appealed to me,” Hurst said.
Hurst said participants can join the World’s Biggest Marble Hunt Facebook group to access clues and local hide locations starting July 23.
