Recognized as one of the coolest towns in the USA, Floyd, Virginia is home to a melting pot of eclectic artisans. And literally melting metals in this melting pot of artisans is the newest creative business proud to call Floyd its home! Blue Ridge Alchemy is the town’s newest art gallery, standing apart from the others by showcasing the art of glass blowing!
Blue Ridge Alchemy is owned and operated by Floyd locals, Kenan Tiemeyer of Shady Grove Homestead Arts, and Caleb Storm Dickman of Liquid Fire Glass. The shop is located at 115 Sweeney Street SE, near the heart of town; behind DJ’s Drive-In and along The Crooked Road – Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. Blue Ridge Alchemy features live glass blowing, classes, bench rental, and a retail gallery space. While browsing, guests can watch glass creations being made before their eyes!
This exciting new gallery experience occupies a storefront that was home to a television store in the 1970’s. It was then a floral shop, and finally a secondhand store. The proud, new owners tell us that customizing the space to their needs took six months, but they were particularly excited to add a glass lathe and a sandblast room! They have also been working hard to install a top-of-the-line ventilation system to service a great, creative workspace.
These two talented artisans met twenty years ago at Seeds of Light in Blacksburg, a business that belonged to Caleb’s mother. From there, their friendship and business relationship began.
Kenan has been working with flamework glass for over two decades. He grew up in Michigan and moved to the mountains of Floyd after earning his BS degree in Communications/Film and Video Production. Shortly after the move to Virginia, he married his wife, Tree. She is also a creative artisan who owns and operates The Enchanted Tree, which features her own glasswork, beadwork, woven items, and honey from the couple’s homestead hives.
Over the past two decades, Kenan has been increasingly focused on creating ethereal scenes of energetic beauty that speak to the soul, utilizing vaporized pure gold and silver. His primary aim has been to create large, solid orbs and paperweights. Kenan has sold his work all over the world and has taught and exhibited throughout the USA, Japan, Canada, and France. After spending much of his career working alone in his secluded Indian Valley studio, he is thrilled to have a spacious studio and gallery in the town of Floyd. There, he can showcase his work to the public and teach the art of working with vaporized precious metals.
Growing up, Caleb’s family included many builders and craftsman. This led to Caleb discovering the detailed complexity of glass. The time he spent helping his mother at Seeds of Light increased his fascination and love of handmade art and glass. Crossing paths with Kenan in the early 2000’s helped start Caleb along his glass blowing journey, and he apprenticed for a year under Kenan’s guidance.
Caleb pulls his inspiration from nature, music, visionary art, and crystals. His never-ending urge to combine materials into wearable, functionable art led to his craft of mixed media. He strives to make unique and rare pieces.
In addition to glass and mixed media, Caleb was also drawn in 2014 to the magic of copper electroforming. Electroforming is the delicate process of fusing copper onto other mediums such as leaves, crystals, glass, and other natural materials. A low voltage charge is passed through the materials using a rectifier over an extended period. This new technique helped Caleb to coalesce his artistic vision and it energetically enhanced his work. Utilizing a combination of glass, crystals, copper, and organic elements became the overall basis for Liquid Fire Glass.
After the year that Caleb apprenticed with Kenan, the friends parted ways to explore life on their own. Although they kept in touch and worked together occasionally, they each continued to follow their own artistic journeys. Eventually, however, their shared passion for glasswork brought them together again.
The old friends decided to collaborate on a new idea. They set out to create a unique environment in which to learn and teach new glass techniques while showcasing the beauty of functional and non-functional, borosilicate (Pyrex) glass art. Blue Ridge Alchemy features not only the art created by Kenan and Caleb, but also other local handmade art and novelties.One of the most exciting features of Blue Ridge Alchemy is the classes. Able to accommodate up to ten students at a time, the classes will range in skill level from beginner to advanced, covering a variety of different techniques. Beyond teaching their own classes, Kenan and Caleb are looking forward to hosting other teaching events for the public, featuring talented, well-known artists from around the country.
Blue Ridge Alchemy will also host collaborative events that will feature Kenan and Caleb working in cooperation with other renowned glass artists to create collaborative bodies of work that will seem to be from out of this world! They hope these events will create more awareness for, and a better knowledge of, the styles and techniques preferred by different artisans.
Kenan and Caleb are beyond excited to bring Blue Ridge Alchemy to the Floyd community, and to share the amazing and magical craft of glass blowing with everyone who visits!

Blue Ridge Alchemy
Kenan Tiemeyer and Caleb Storm Dickman
115 Sweeney St SE, Floyd, VA • (540) 745-4904
www.facebook.com/BlueRidgeAlchemy/