By LISA NICELY

nicely@crescent-news.com

ARCHBOLD -- It's so hot it drew an Oscar-winner to northwest Ohio.

An Academy Award-winning director was in Archbold filming part of a series on glass making, wrapping up his work on Monday. His subject was Mark Matthews, the artist-in-residence at Sauder Village.

"Mark is one of the very few people on Earth to create their own art form in spheres," said filmmaker Robin Lehman of Rochester, N.Y. "He's taken this globe and done everything you can imagine. He's unique. He's also very talkative and fun and has interesting things to say."

Lehman, who has won two Academy Awards for his documentaries, "Don't" and "The End of Game," is making a series of at least four films about glass arts for the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, which will be sold at the museum. The first part of the series is completed, a second part is nearly done, and Matthews will be the third.

"The people I'm videoing are all different and breathtaking in what they do," said Lehman. "Mark has created his own art form, and it's beautiful. You can take anybody to look at his creations and there will be something anybody will like. That is rare these days in an art form."

Matthews said he is honored he is the subject of one of Lehman's films.

"Whatever project he's into he's dedicated to," said Matthews, who first met Lehman at a workshop at Corning.

Matthews said he has seen the film Lehman completed on artist Pino Signoretto and his solid glass sculptures. "That one was really an amazing piece of work because of the music he picked. He edited the video to music."

In glasswork, Matthews is recognized for his spheres. The film will showcase black and white geometrics, animals, rainbows and iridescence in spheres.

"I can tune the relationships really well in spheres," said Matthews. "We're going to try to show as much diversity as possible. The rough idea ... the documentary will have five- to eight-minute sections on making radically different spheres."

Matthews was working to get everything together prior to Lehman's visit.

"It's like the cooking show from hell," he said. "I've got all this stuff in stages in undress."

He said normally it takes a year or two to complete everything he is showing to Lehman for the video. Lehman was in the region since Friday.

"I try to do as little and as much as possible," Matthews said, adding that there will be at least 15 hours of video to go through.

Lehman said he decided to film at Sauder Village because it is Matthews' home base.

"I can't get six or eight different subjects without coming to him," he said. "He has to set the glass up and do it on his home turf. I think going to his place is the best way to capture all his imaginative forms within this globe."

Lehman, who does glass working himself, said the art form is very alluring.

"Glass is very seductive stuff," he said. "It glows when you heat it. It glows depending on how you heat it. Every color in glass when heated, it glows a different shade of orange. It's beautiful when it's hot.

"Speaking of colors, that's Mark's forte. He's very particular about what colors he puts next to each other. He's one of the most color-conscious people on Earth."

Matthews has used close to 300 different colors in his creations.

"It's an illumination of the periodic table," he said. "It's such a challenge to get your exact intentions with the color because you can't see it. That's why it's really important for glass artists to have good color theory."

Lehman said he also hoped to visit the Toledo Museum of Art's glassworks while he was in the region.