About the Artist
a certain maverick quality in my personality often leads to whimsy, exaggeration, and deliberate misrepresentation in my work
Basket
This piece was inspired by scraps of wireform mesh and screening, lying in a heap. Grid molds in different mesh sizes were created for two of the pieces. The larger mesh size is seen in the clear base and the smaller is seen in the overlaying aqua form. The other elements were fused from gradations of colored glass frit and arranged in the 'basket'.
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During a visit to the Corning Museum while in college, I discovered several small panels of fused glass by an artist named Edris Eckhardt. They were brilliant, detailed jewels, made huge by the play of color and light. I was astonished that such beauty and complexity could be contained in such small pieces. Years later, in 1998, I bought a kiln and many books and took some workshops. Thus began an odyssey, on weekends in those first years, to learn the craft of fused glass.
Dancing Muse
The piece is composed of fused glass in 3 separate pieces: an Ionic column image in front of a drapery-like piece with a dancing muse painted on the back, and a semicircular piece behind the front and middle pieces that extends the visual space. The stand is made of marble pieces
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My life has been enriched by design through study, work and travel. I hold a degree in Architectural Science, Radcliffe College, Harvard University but have no formal training in art. My style combines a long-held fascination with pattern and pictorial art with a love of color and an interest in exploring spatial relationships.
Curves
Strong parabolic images in this piece were achieved by fusing layers of pre-fired elements together. Each element was created by fusing different sizes of ground glass (frit) together in various molds. Elements were overlaid and built up in layers for each fusing.
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My palette is glass frit (ground glass). I work with over one hundred colors in sizes ranging from powdered to coarse, both opaque and transparent, to produce color and texture. Generally, I fuse individual elements and then surround them with drifting color before fusing the whole together. A piece may require as many as five or six firings as layers and colors gradually build up. I often make a small model from wireform mesh when starting a new piece. This allows me to see the finished dimensional form and becomes the basis for making the final slumping mold that will shape the glass.
Overlapping Panels
This piece attempts to explore our perception of pattern. It is composed of two, offset panels of the same pattern. The top panel displays the pattern flipped vertically.
The base panel is smooth and uses black as its background color. The overlaying panel uses clear as a base color and the pattern is raised.
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The medium of glass fusing is fascinating because it allows me time to be reflective during the development of a piece. The build-up of color, design and shape during firings means that pieces change continuously. Thus, new ideas emerge as a piece progresses. Sometimes a piece determines its own final design.
Triptych
This piece, divided into 3 panels, evokes the mysteries of the universe. It was created by combining various colors and sizes of glass frit and fusing them together in layers until the color intensity and shapes were evocative. Natural iridescent qualities in the adventurine green pieces of glass, seen in the upper right corner, give added interest to the piece.
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My studio is in a quiet, rural part of
Southeastern Connecticut. On bright
days, I work in sunlight overlooking
meadow and woods, listening to the
sounds of classical music and birdsong.
I welcome your comments and feedback.
If you wish to be
notified when new
pieces are added to the site or of
upcoming exhibits,
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