When Jaime Guerrero steps into the glassblowing studio, he’s not just lighting a furnace. He’s sparking something much deeper.
In early 2025, Jaime partnered with Pittsburgh Glass Center and the Latino Community Center, a nonprofit organization based in Pittsburgh to launch a powerful initiative: free glassblowing classes for Latino youth in Pittsburgh. On the surface, it might sound like an art class. But for the students who travel over 45 minutes each week just to be there, it’s something else entirely. It’s a safe haven. A source of pride. A place to belong.
“Before I am an artist,” Jaime says, “I am a craftsman.”
That’s more than a statement of skill, it’s a philosophy. Jaime teaches the fundamentals with intention and care. His students begin with the basics: gathering molten glass, blowing a bubble, and crafting clear cups, forms that may seem simple, but hold the essence of the craft. Jaime is meticulous about technique, not to push perfection, but to build a foundation. A foundation that says: you can do this.
The young students, just 4–6 per session, show up with quiet determination. They ask questions. They try. They fail. They try again. And under Jaime’s guidance, they learn not just how to handle hot glass, but how to trust their hands, their instincts, and their ability to work as a team.
But this program is about more than learning to blow glass. Jaime shows up every single week, not just as an instructor, but as a mentor. He checks in. He listens. He creates a space where kids can shed the weight of daily worries and just be kids. Where fear fades, and curiosity takes over.
“It’s therapeutic for these kids to have a safe space,” Rosamaria Cristello, founder and executive director of the Latino Community Center shared. “To be given the opportunity to just be kids and have something to be proud of.”
Jaime knows what that means. Raised in Los Angeles, he once walked the same tightrope many of his students face, surrounded by challenges, lucky to avoid trouble. He saw others, just as talented, fall through the cracks. That’s why he started his first program for underserved youth in South Central L.A., teaching over 500 kids how to work with fire and form. For many, it was their first encounter with possibility.
When he moved to Pittsburgh in 2018 to raise his family, he brought that mission with him. Now, he continues to teach both at Pittsburgh Glass Center and in his own McKeesport studio, offering classes to underserved communities, not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary.
At the end of the most recent session, families gathered for a pizza party to celebrate. To see what their kids had made. To feel, in that warm studio, that they belonged.
Jaime Guerrero’s work reminds us that art isn’t just about creating something beautiful. It’s about helping people feel beautiful. Seen. Capable. Connected. And in our glowing studio in Pittsburgh, surrounded by heat and heart, that fire keeps burning.
Attend our June Hot Jam Open House to see a glassblowing demonstration by Jaime Guerrero. Learn more about the Latino Community Center at www.latinocommunitycenter.org.
