I started my artistic connection with glass during a stained-glass class that was part of my course work at Oakland Community College. I knew by the end of the class that I would continue working with glass. I started making pieces for myself and that bloomed into gifts for family and friends. Once people found out that I did stained glass I started to get requests for repairs. That was a whole new process that intrigued me even more. Taking pieces apart and then rebuilding is like reverse engineering from creating from scratch. Next people started asking me to teach them how to do it and from there I started advertising stained glass classes.
By this time, I was a member of the Huron Valley Council for the Arts and my work was on display at The Art Shop. A former member that worked with fused glass moved and sold her shop in the process. I decided to take my glasswork to a new level and bought the supplies and equipment needed to create fused glass. I also work with frit (crushed glass) and assimilate it into my fused glass process.
My inspiration comes from many sources. First, my desire not to waste glass allows me to look at my mistakes and figure out how to convert them to “redesigned opportunities”. Second, I simply look at objects around me and try to figure out how to use them in ways they were NOT designed to be used. My most basic inspiration is to make items that have a purpose. Everyone can use a platter or a bowl but for me to take that concept and create something no one has seen before makes those simple implements not only useful but pieces of art.
In the future, I’d like to expand my use of frit in creating pictures as well as interfuse glass and wood for bowls and vessels.