Artist's Statement

Glass is inherently beautiful, anyone can make pretty glass, and to be taken seriously as an artist I think you have to go beyond that. To me, making art is a task in mental problem solving~so each piece is unique.

I work on a large light box so that I can see the way the layering of the glass is affected by the light. I use dichroic glass, torch work stringer, prefired and resawn glass bar, and crushed glass to achieve depth, texture, and detail.

Each piece is fired flat on a kiln shelf the first time and pieces of industrial insulation are used against the glass as it melts which gives each piece texture. Each piece is fired at least twice in the kiln to get the effect I want. The final firing is a low fire in which the glass is slumped into a plate form, or into any form I want as I did for the leaves in "Big Pineapple".

I have been working in glass for ten years. After having received my degree in ceramics from the University of Nebraska, I became attracted to the idea that glass reveals more than ceramics. Who doesn't like glass? The layering and depth, the bubbles and textures which can be created with glass is more fascinating to me. I like the ability to go from opaque to translucent to transparent all in the same piece. What I'm always working toward in my glass is to not make it merely pretty and glitzy, but to create bold and graphic movement within each piece.