I was first introduced to glass blowing in 1981 while attending a stained glass class at Pilchuck Glass School, I was hooked and have been involved with blown glass since. In 1985 I received a BFA degree in glass from California College of Arts and Crafts. For the next ten years I worked for Dale Chihuly on his glass blowing team. In 1997 I built a glass blowing studio on Vashon Island, WA. Since 1989 I have been working on a series of blown glass hats. I use the hat shape to explore what I feel is a universal human need to decorate everyday objects and create decorative objects. Inspired by contemporary folk and outsider art, I started a series of images made from cut up pop and beer can pieces, nailed to plywood, in 2011. Using pop and beer cans provides an amazing palette to create with. I build an image from a photo, the cans are cut up into mosaic pieces and nailed piece by piece, layer by layer to create the image. I like being able to use the colors and text on the cans to create texture and depth. Many of the scenes I create are historical sites that still live and breathe keeping history alive for me, and I hope for the viewer too. I had shoulder surgery several years ago, as a way to ease back into the physically demanding glass blowing process, I began a series of blown glass garden flowers. The garden flowers led to a new recycled product of garden pendants made from recycled bottle bottoms. Recently we added the smaller Lollipop flowers for home and garden. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like Loading...