Instructors Bios

:

Mark Abildgaard:

Janet Alexander:

Janet is an accomplished metal artist, jeweler, and author. She is a Finalist Winner in the prestigious 2015 Saul Bell Competition. Her work is shown in museums across Texas and published in several books and magazines. She is also the author of many online tutorials, magazines, and books. Her work is shown on the cover of the October 2014 Metal Clay Artist Magazine. Janet has over 40 years experience in jewelry metal arts as a bench jeweler, designer, and instructor. She is a National Jewelry Instructor, teaching at conventions and bead shows, including Bead & Button, Interweave Bead Fest, Adorn Me, and Metal Clay by the Bay. Additionally, she appeared on HGTV's Crafters Coast to Coast and That’s Clever, demonstrating jewelry making.

Janet has a BFA in Metals from the University of North Texas and has studied metal working with several Master Jewelers. She has GIA certification in diamond grading and stone setting. Additionally, she has certification in Precious Metal Clay with Rio Grande, Crossover Certification with Art Clay, and is a PMC Connection Senior Instructor.

Evelyn Baker:

Evelyn Gottschall Baker works and resides in beautiful Buena Vista, Colorado. With over twenty years of professional experience in the arts, more than six of which has been dedicated to the field of glass fusing, she strives to capture the intricacies of nature through keen observation and attention to detail.

“Primarily experimenting with techniques that add texture and dimension to paintings and sculptural work, my most recent work focuses on using Pate de Verre in non-traditional ways to produce three dimensional glass sculptures. My professional career began as a Graphic Artist and Illustrator.

As Advertising Manager and Senior Illustrator for the Department of the Army, I created highly detailed, exacting paintings and drawings. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree I became a Test Engineer for a large U.S. defense contractor. During this time, I studied watercolor and oil painting, and took classes in stained glass, which allowed me to pursue a part-time career as a stained glass artist. I chose to work in stained glass, as I wanted to explore a style different from my painting style, which was detailed and realistic. I took my first fused glass class in 2011, primarily to create components to incorporate into stained glass pieces. My initial interest in fused glass quickly grew into a passion, which I eagerly pursued by taking a number of classes, many of which were through D&L Art Glass in Denver. Now that I have retired, I am able to dedicate my time to following my passion.”

“Living in Colorado, I find it natural to try to capture the beauty of our local landscape into works of art using glass. My initial desire to simplify my style was well suited for stained glass, but as soon as I discovered glass fusing, I began re-introducing detail and realism into my art. During the past year, I have fully embraced this realistic style, and have begun to use both traditional and non-traditional casting and mold techniques to create sculptures that depict the beauty around me. I live in an area surrounded by 80% public land, and on daily walks am able study the intricacies of nature - What are the characteristics of the leaves? If I try to create this branch, what leaves are appropriate to include? What rock and twig samples should I take to incorporate into my pieces? How can I capture fallen leaves that were pushed by wind and water against the branches? I strive to take viewers to that place where I looked down and was inspired by what I saw.”

“During the past year, I have experimented extensively with glass powders, developing a unique method of sculpting glass paste into dimensional forms that are fired without the use of molds. My experience as a Test Engineer has proved invaluable in shaping the discipline necessary for the methodical, detailed testing required to create the complex firing schedules for this method, which must account for shrinkage, varying thicknesses, and the way in which heat affects individual components. It is my pleasure to share this technique through teaching other artists, as well as through the display and sale of the resulting sculptures.”

Jannette Bechdolt:

Jannette spent a career as a project manager in operations, marketing, new product and soft-ware development. Upon her husband’s retirement, she retired too and turned to her stained and fused glass hobby as an outlet for her creative interests. Jannette has spent the last 16 years teaching stained and fused glass classes in the Denver, Colorado area. During six of those years, she worked and studied; taught and developed her own classes under the expert guidance of Diane Schell, owner of A Bashful Rainbow Stained Glass. Diane was truly a friend and a mentor. Upon Diane’s death, Shannon Abott, owner of Bella Glass Studios invited Jannette to teach her specialty fusing classes as well as beginning and intermediate stained-glass classes at Bella Glass and Jannette spent another six years there. Today, Jannette teaches out of her own studio, sponsors an ongoing Glass Artist study Group and continues with her custom stained-glass work. She is known for her hand-beveled dichroic jewelry, her quilted, and 60-degree diamond platters and bowls and her annual Christmas ornaments.

You can find her kayaking with her husband and playing with her grandchildren when she takes a break from glass.

Lisa Becker:

Alice Benvie Gebhart:

Alice Benvie Gebhart earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Art Education with concentrations in painting and printmaking. She worked as a teacher and painter for many years before discovering kiln-fired glass. She now works exclusively as a full time, professional fused glass artist. Benvie Gebhart is best known for her colorful fused glass landscapes and is represented by galleries across the country. Heritage Art Gallery and Glass Studio in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, is her home base where she enjoys inspiration from her New England landscape. She shares her expertise by teaching fused glass classes nationwide.

Linda Billet:

Linda Billet is a glass artisan working out of her Central Pennsylvania studio. Her initiation to glass techniques was a semester of glass blowing at Harrisburg Area Community College. However, her craftsmanship is mainly self-taught. She enjoys the freedom of this eclectic education. Currently, her work is a combination of fused and mosaic glass techniques which she feels allow greater control of pattern, texture, and detail. Experimenting ensures that her work is absolutely unique.

Billet draws inspiration from her experience in fabric and her passion for nature. While working with glass she uses dimension to her full advantage, even if it is only a quarter of an inch. Billet says, “I want people to see into my work, not through it. I am flattered when people feel compelled to touch it. If someone is intrigued enough to use their fingers to see what I’ve created, then I have accomplished what I set out to do. My hope is for people to look at glass in a different way.”

A huge chunk of Billet’s art career has been working in residencies. In these projects, people come together to make a large art work. In her words, “Residencies were a way that I felt I could help all types of people (Kindergarteners, mentally ill adults, max security prisoners, special needs kids or any willing participants) learn to communicate and collaborate in a fun way that ultimately builds their self-belief.  But as in most cases where one intends to help, they end up also benefitting as well. Residencies have furthered my understanding of my own self and my craft.”  I cannot imagine “work” that is more fun than I have in my profession.

Nadine Booth:

Nadine started working in glass when she moved from her home town of Pittsburgh, PA to Hobart, IN back in 1991.  She took a class in stained glass and has been hooked ever since.  Now living in Glendale, AZ, she continues her self-taught glass artistry, at her home studio, Hidden Glass Studio.   In 2012, she was looking for a challenge within fused glass and after a trip to Yellowstone, she began to learn and explore the makings of nature scenes.   The inspirations were endless!

After investing countless hours exploring, experimenting, testing, color correcting and creating various techniques, Naturescapes evolved.  Each time Nadine creates a nature panel, she includes more advanced details within her fused glass panels.  Nadine’s technique uses one base sheet and adds various forms of glass, torching, coldworking and several kiln sessions, that brings depth and texture to invite the viewer to take a walk into nature.   

She has shown her glass work at the AZ State Fair, Las Vegas’s Glass Craft Expo’s own Gallery of Excellence and in the Fine Art Festivals within Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California and in two select galleries in New York.  Nadine’s techniques used in the Naturescapes have won multiple awards and numerous commissions for her.  She has been invited to teach at various glass studios in AZ, MI, TX and at her own studio.   She has developed a loyal following of students, who have taken her classes more than once!  Her classes are timed for the students to enjoy a stress-free atmosphere, to have fun, learn various techniques to use within their nature panels and to leave with a complete finished project.  All processes in the Naturescapes are easily transferrable to any size and any glass COE.  

Looking back, Nadine is thankful for her years working in glass.   Glass has motivated her to be creative and has kept her attention with numerous and limitless possibilities to explore shape, texture and color… it’s never boring!  

Cortney Boyd:

Education Coordinator at D&L Art Glass Supply

Cortney is a glass artist and educator based in Denver, Colorado. She has worked in glass for over 20 years, specializing in kiln-formed practices. Prior to moving back home to Colorado, Cortney was a  Visiting Assistant Professor for Southern Illinois University where she taught numerous courses in glass, art education and graphic design. She has also taught workshops at Pilchuck Glass School as well as various schools, studios and museums across the United States.

Cortney holds a BA in Printmaking and Art Education from Hastings College and an MFA in Glass from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Cortney is the co-owner/operator of Flux Studio LLC, a community glass art studio and gallery in Denver.

Tim Carey:

Barbara Cashman:

Barbara J Cashman has been a glass fuser since 1979 and was an early pioneer in commercial fused glass tile, opening GlasTile Inc in 1990, which produced quality handmade production and custom glass tile.  A creative problem-solver, Barbara was encouraged to find a safe, non-carcinogenic refractory product that the hobbyist and professional alike would be comfortable using in their glass art processes. Enter SilkeMat®--recognized internationally as an innovative mold-material for glass fusers. From there, she has added a special rigidizer for her refractory blanket and an easy-to-use devitrification solution for use on glasses prone to devitrification. Barbara resides in Greensboro NC with her husband John O’Brien & presently, 3 furry “kids”: Foxy Fluffy Butt, Misty & Cinnamon.

Joseph Cavalieri:

Joseph Cavalieri has work in the permanent collection of the Museum of Arts and Design (NYC), the Leslie-Lohman Museum (NYC), and the STAX Museum (Memphis,TN). He works in a material with a powerful spiritual history: painted stained glass. Since 1997, Joseph has exhibited internationally, taught workshops around the world, and has been invited to over ten artist residencies.

Joseph Cavalieri has been exhibiting painted, air brushed and silk-screened stained glass since 1997. He has had over 12 solo exhibitions. His subjects range from portraits of the Simpsons (being killed off), to portraits of Jackie O, Queen Elizabeth II, and Isaac Hayes. Cavalieri comes from a graphic design background, art directing at GQ, People and Good Housekeeping magazines in New York City. Joseph’s MTA Arts for Transit public art commission can be viewed at the Philipse Manor Train Station in Westchester, New York. Cavalieri is a New Yorker, currently based in the East Village of Manhattan.

CAVAglass.com

Ian Chadwick:

Ian Chadwick is an award winning kiln-formed glass artist and educator who has been exhibited widely around the world.  Ian has a background in sculpture and stained-glass window design, disciplines which he applies to his constantly evolving range of kiln-formed glass art.

The glass Ian produces uses rotational symmetry as a tool to achieve patterns which exhibit a hypnotic, op-art effect. Ian uses kiln-forming techniques to produce sheets of striped, colored glass which are then deconstructed and reconstructed into mandala-like patterns. These arrangements are then kiln-fired and cold worked to produce the finished piece. This work embodies Ian’s interest in the esoteric art of sacred geometry, commonly found in the rose windows of cathedrals and the mandalas of eastern religious lore.

https://ianchadwickglassart.co.uk/

Cheryl Chapman:

Glass Enamel Artist

Although she has been creating with glass since 1990, in 2006 Cheryl joined her local artist’s network. This sparked an interest in painting, and more specifically, painting on glass. Cheryl has developed an unique process and style of reverse glass painting.

Cheryl employs techniques of traditional glass painting such as the “grisaille” technique of creating shadowing and texture with black enamel and combines it with opaque high fire glass enamels for color. She starts by creating drawings that are imbued with a bit of whimsy and then begins the painting and firing process, which can take as many as six turns in the kiln to produce the final piece.

She enjoys creating pieces of art that are colorful with a splash of whimsy. Cheryl currently divides her time between painting, spending time with her animals and husband, local traveling and sight-seeing.

Cathy Claycomb:

Dani Collette:

Dani Collette is a glass artist with a BFA in Sculpture and Glass specializing in Stained Glass. She received her degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2013 and has been working with Glass ever since. For the past 6 years, Dani has been a valuable asset for stained glass companies in Portland, Oregon and Saint Louis, Missouri. Through these experiences, Dani has been able to create large custom works of art for clients nationwide. Working for these companies has also allowed Dani to breathe life back into damaged works of art through her restoration and repair skills.

Although Stained Glass is her current focus, she also incorporates Blown and Kiln-Formed Glass into her art practice. She is inspired by bright colors, light and line work. Glass is a medium with a language of fragility and strength, transparency and opacity, stillness and movement and playing with those dichotomies is the fulcrum of her work. 

Kelly Crosser Alge:

Kelly began working with kiln glass in 1995. Most of what she knows about glass is the result of "learning the hard way." Her education is a compilation of endless questions and experiments, piles upon piles of mistakes, some lucky A-Ha moments, and A LOT of reading.

Glass has gripped her from day one. In its many forms, glass is the one medium that has allowed her to create using combinations of art techniques she loves from other media. Collage, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, painting, photography, and design all come together with glass and heat as common ground.

http://www.modernancientglass.com

Miriam Di Fiore:

Miriam Di Fiore, originally born in Argentina, has spent most of her life in Italy where she continuously finds inspiration in the rolling landscape and woods. With over 30 years of experience working with fused glass, her work has been displayed in numerous exhibitions along with public and private collections. In 1980, Miriam co-founded the Vetroricerca glass school and enjoys teaching all over the world.

http://www.miriamdifiore.com

Addison Doty:

Addison Doty has worked as a professional photographer for over twenty five years. His images of artwork are featured in award winning books, catalogs, periodicals, and exhibits worldwide. His clients include galleries, collectors, artists, and museums. Addison lives outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico where he just spent the summer picking mushrooms and canning as many tomatoes as he could.

Michael Dupille:

Debbi Elmer:

Debbi has played in multiple art mediums….drawing, ceramics, weaving, woodcarving, and jewelry….but found glass in 1998 and has devoted over 25 years to the study and development of techniques in fused and cast glass art. She received her BA in Art at the University of Texas at El Paso in 1981 and is often in her studio trying to push boundaries and working at new or different techniques and processes.  

Timberidge Glassworks was established in 2013 when Debbi retired from a corporate career.  Her studio is in a new building behind her home in Tyler, Texas where she teaches and works.  She is now involved in the start up of art therapy in conjunction with veterans and oncology organizations in the community.

Debbi’s work has been exhibited in Las Vegas, Anchorage and multiple venues in Texas. She has developed techniques and processes in glass that have been introduced and demonstrated at the National Glass Show in Las Vegas. Her work is represented in many private collections across the country. It ranges from large wall installations up to fourteen feet across to large bowls and sculptures to very small pieces only three to six inches across.

www.timberidgeglassworks.com
www.facebook.com/timberidgeglassworks

Meredith Gill:

Patty Gray:

Joshua Hershman:

Joshua Hershman is an American born artist dedicated to developing new techniques of glass working that combine optical physics with the fluidity of glass to make his contemporary sculpture. By harnessing light though hand-polished lenses, Hershman employs unique methods of casting, coldworking, and photography in his boundary-pushing work. He currently lives and operates a private studio in Oakland, California.

Originally from Colorado, Joshua Hershman first began working with glass at the age of 17. Hershman graduated from the Craft and Design Program at Sheridan College, received his BFA with Distinction from California College of the Arts, and earned his MFA from Alfred University. His work has received numerous awards, was included in the Bullseye e-merge international glass competition, Young Glass 2017, and can be found in numerous private collections as well as the permanent collection of the Ebeltoft Museum in Denmark and The National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia. Hershman has been invited to participate in several artist-in-residence programs including North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland, D&L Art Glass in Colorado, the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee, and most recently completed a semester-long residency at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Jessi Hicks:

Jessi Hicks is a stained glass artist with a degree in Interior Design. She has been in love with stained glass art since she started practicing over 6 years ago. Jessi is an avid hiker and finds inspiration for her art while in nature.

Sarinda Jones:

Sarinda Jones is a kiln-formed glass artist with a background in fine art and art history. She has studied at the internationally renowned Pilchuck Glass School as well as North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland. Sarinda shows her work internationally and has been commissioned to create a variety of glass sculpture pieces for private and commercial patrons. 

"A minimalist approach gives my work a contemporary feel and illuminates the simple beauty. Glass is a smooth, seductive and mysterious substance yet at the same time, a very ordinary substance. It can be as common as a wine glass or it can be a treasured work of art. It's part of our world culture. Glassmaking has been estimated to have been around for over 5,000 years. The same piece of glass can appear to be invisible at one moment and opaque another through its display of reflection. Glass is a chameleon of sorts, an illusionist. Right down to the chemical structure of the glass. As a glass artist, the alchemist of the molecular structure of glass instructs the glass to behave in a certain manner. This is where the playground of an artist and science comes together."

Petra and Wolfgang Kaiser:

Saman Kalantari:

Maggie Keenan:

Residing in Denver, Colorado, Maggie is a skilled glass artist. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in 2017. Following her graduation, she immersed herself in the world of stained glass restoration, honing her craft in studios both in Pennsylvania and Colorado. Notably, she contributed to the preservation of large scale historical church windows in Pennsylvania. Upon relocating to Colorado, Maggie held her own as restoration technician for local studios. In addition, she demonstrated her proficiency as a fabricator, producing new windows for both religious and residential spaces.

In recent years, Maggie has embarked on a journey to establish herself as an independent glass artist. Her focus has shifted towards the creation and installation of kiln-formed, leaded glass windows for residential settings. She dedicates her time to the exploration of art glass, employing techniques such as fusing, glass painting, and leaded assemblies to craft her pieces. Additionally, she has greatly enjoyed sharing her working knowledge with others as they build their own craft. 

Richard La Londe:

Kent Lauer:

Paulette Lizano:

Paulette is a glass artist and educator in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Dating back to 1986, in a backyard workshop, her love and passion for glass began.  Paulette explored glass and went on to receive a Bachelor of Architecture from Louisiana State University and shortly afterwards established Lizano’s Glass Haus in 1995.

Through her work, she is able to capture the interplay of light, reflection and movement, creating forms that shift and change depending on how they are viewed.  Each piece becomes an exploration of the relationship between material and light, and how these elements transform one’s perception of space.  Her architectural background deeply influences her approach to glass art; the precision of geometry, the play of light and shadow, and the careful consideration of form are all essential elements in her work.  However, glass offers a new freedom – an opportunity to experiment with organic forms, colors and textures that transcend rigid constraints.

Paulette is driven by the desire to create pieces that evoke a sense of wonder and connection, inviting the viewer to experience the subtle beauty in light and form.  Glass, with its ability to both reveal and conceal, provides and ideal medium for this exploration.  Paulette’s work ranges from traditional stained glass to fused glass and a combination of the two; as well as mosaic work in large and small.

Shelley Long:

Shelley Long loves to paint and to teach others to paint, hoping that they will find the same joy in it as she does! She developed her deep love for painting at a very early age. Her family owned several traditional ceramic shops, as well as a plaster mold company in the metro Denver area for 40 years, giving her a broad range of experience with several different mediums, from earthenware & porcelain clays to plaster & hydro-cal. Growing up in the shop casting molds, cleaning greenware, hand-building, sculpting & mold making were all a part of here every day childhood, however, sitting at the table during painting classes and seminars, soaking up information and painting along with the students was by far her favorite way to spend the day. Tapping in to the previous generation's wealth of knowledge, learning from her own mother and many other talented teachers, some from as far as Germany, gave Shelley a broad range of techniques and perspectives. She began teaching ceramics and reproduction dolls in her  shop in high school, and since then has been teaching in her own studio and others around the U.S.. Shelley continued her learning process to become a certified teacher for Doc Holliday Colors, Kimple (Creative Paradise), Colors For Earth and even Donna Dewberry bringing in new mediums like wood and paper. To this day she continues to take classes to broaden her own experiences so that she can pass it on to her students. Her latest creative journey has been in working with fused glass.

Becky MacKenzie:

Becky MacKenzie has worked with glass since 1978, tucked in between a nursing education career and raising a family. For the last five years she has devoted her energy to expanding her stained glass knowledge and skills. Becky completed a two year apprenticeship with Connie Sanchez at the Glass Warehouse in Denver before teaching beginning and advanced stained glass techniques, as well as a variety of other stained glass topics. She believes in teaching the science behind the skills, so that each artist leaves her classes with the knowledge and tools necessary to be their own best creator of art.

Kate MacLeod:

Lois Manno:

I've been an artist most of my life, working in pastel, acrylic, scratchboard, watercolor, etc. and as a professional freelance designer. But when I tried glass for the first time about 7 years ago, it was life-changing. My first workshop was about "painting" with frit, and I loved working with the powders, as the effect was similar to pastel in some ways. What I didn't like was the mess and lost powder. I'm thrifty and a control freak, and seeing all that powder sifting around made me crazy. What, I wondered, would happen if I mixed powdered glass with a binder of some sort? Could I get that powder under control?

At the time I was such a newbie I knew almost nothing about things like pate de verre (except that it is beautiful), and my exposure to other techniques was minimal. In a way, my ignorance freed me up to experiment, as I didn't really know what wasn't possible. I started doing research online about other ingredients that have been added to glass over the years, and I put my own twist on it, experimenting with different combinations, and adding a liquid medium of my own formulation.

Once I perfected the mixture, I was able to make a material very much like modeling clay, that could be used to make 3-dimensional shapes without the need for complicated mold-making (did I mention that I'm both a control freak and into instant gratification?). Thus, Modeling Glass was born.

Now I'm teaching my process of making glass feathers using Modeling Glass, and am excited to see what other artists will be able to make with Modeling Glass!

You can see more of my art at www.glassbirdstudios.com, and on Facebook at Glass Bird Studios.

Joanna Manousis:

British – American artist, Joanna Manousis lives and works in the United States, creating sculptural objects and installations in glass and mixed media. She has earned numerous awards and internationally recognized nominations for her work, including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Nomination in 2017, The Margaret M. Mead Award through the Burchfield-Penney Arts Center in 2011, the Hans Godo Frabel Award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Glass' in 2010, and a Bombay Sapphire Award nomination for 'Excellence in Glass' in 2008. Manousis has created her work within major public museums and studio residency programs, including The Toledo Museum of Art, OH, The Museum of Art and Design, NY, The Corning Museum of Glass, NY, and Cité Internationale des Arts, France. Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions and art fairs including The Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark, The British Glass Biennale, UK, Salon Art + Design, NY and FOG Art + Design, San Franscisco. Holding a Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Alfred University, New York, and a First Class Honors Bachelor Degree in Fine Art from The University of Wolverhampton, England, Manousis has worked, studied and taught in Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.

Peter McGrain:

Paul Messink:

Paul Messink is a kiln-work glass artist who draws on prior drawing and painting experience to create hand-painted, multi-layered glass panels that present nature in deep dimension.  While mostly self-taught, he has been fortunate to learn from artists such as Richard LaLonde, Susan Taylor Glasgow, Mark Salsbury, Annette Baron, and Don Schneider. Messink was awarded Best in Show in the 2014 IGAA Group Exhibit GATHERING: Contemporary Glass from the Heartland (Indianapolis, IN), and was Category Winner in The 2014 Glass Prize, from Warm Glass UK (Bristol, England). He has also received Best in Glass in the 2012 and 2014 Royal Oak Clay, Glass and Metal show (Royal Oak, MI), and Multi-Media Artist of the Year in the Art Comes Alive 2013 competition (Cincinnati, OH).

Jaclyn Miller:

Jaclyn Miller is a contemporary stained and fused glass artist working and living in Arvada, CO whose works center around themes of nostalgia and memory, often in an attempt to make tangible the fleeting experiences that connect us. Her compositions exist where thoughtful craftsmanship intersects with playful subjects and concepts, and she is constantly seeking new ways to manipulate glass surfaces to continue to define her vocabulary in glass.

Kari Minnick:

Kari Minnick owns and operates Kari Minnick Art Glass Studio, where she produces architectural commissions & fine art & introduces artists from other media to kiln-glass. Her glasswork has won several prestigious awards and is held internationally in private, corporate, and embassy collections. Minnick began her career as a painter; earning a degree in studio art from the University of California at Davis. An exhibiting artist and dynamic educator, Kari shows her work and teaches her signature classes internationally.

Craig Mitchell Smith:

"In 2006, I discovered my medium in glass. Medium not only in the sense of the substance used to create my art, but as a voice through which the spirit speaks. I love glass for its metaphors of the human condition. At its best, it is colorful and transparent, brittle when cold and malleable when warm, stronger than it looks, enduring the ages if treated with care and respect.

Isadora Duncan, when asked what her dance meant said, 'If I could tell you what I mean, I wouldn't have to dance.' I never set out to make something beautiful or meaningful. My work is a response to beauty or meaning. I work in glass to tell you what I mean.  I prefer to have my glass speak for itself."

Craig Mitchell Smith is the artist and owner of Craig Mitchell Smith Glass in Lansing, Michigan. He is known for his colorful creations inspired by nature, exhibiting his artwork in various gardens including the Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis, Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, and Disney’s Epcot Center.

Jessi Moore:

Moore is an artist and educator currently based in Corning, New York.

Moore was first introduced to glass in Seattle, Washington, when her parents kindly agreed to her enrolling in a local glassblowing program for students. From the moment Moore took her first terrifying and exhilarating gather of glass, she was hooked on the material and its endless possibilities for artistic expression.

Before moving to Corning, New York to work for The Corning Museum of Glass, Moore spent fifteen years honing her craft. Teaching, making, and helping others instruct led her all over the country, including to: Seattle, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

While Moore was initially drawn to the drama and excitement of glassblowing, it was the expressive potential of kiln worked glass where Moore found her artistic voice. Her current body of work combines several glass working techniques, including pate de verre. This meticulous technique involves arranging particles of glass into molds that are then heated to sinter the glass together.

Moore holds a B.A. in American Cultural Studies from Western Washington University and a M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Her resume and portfolio are available online at www.jessimooreglass.com

Tonya Nelson:

Tonya Nelson, a Colorado native, fondly remembers her childhood artistic ventures of creating animals from balls of mud and decorating them with leaves, sticks, and seeds. She chuckles as she recognizes that forty plus years later, her fused glass art is created in much the same way with pieces of glass, frit, stringers, and confetti.

Tonya began creating with glass in 2011. She has won several contests with her art and is gaining recognition within the fused glass community. While having no formal art education, her art is heavily influenced by the late sand and fused glass artist, David Alcala.

Tonya has been a registered nurse for 25 years and continues to work full time in the emergency department. She lives with her supportive husband Brett, in Pueblo, Colorado, and shares her home with 5 dogs, 2 horses, and manages a feral cat colony of 10 to 15 cats.

Anne Nye:

Alyssa Oxley:

Alyssa Oxley has been working with kiln formed and cast glass for about 15 years. She has experience in commercial art, interior and graphic design; and despite her paying jobs, has always maintained an active, independent fine art studio of her own.

Her current work in glass is strongly driven by time spent outside along the Otter Creek near her home in Vermont, or walking the school campus abutting her property.

Oxley learned a lot of what she knows about glass from working in the Kremer Glass Studio in Pound Ridge, New York. She currently teaches kilnforming glass classes at South End Glass at Davis Studio in Burlington and summer intensives in places like the Corning Museum of Glass Studio, Corning, New York, Snow Farm Craft School, Williamsburg, Massachusetts and Helios Glass Studio in Austin, Texas.

Richard Parrish:

Richard Parrish operates a studio for kiln-glass in Bozeman, Montana. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. He was awarded best artist in his category at the Western Design Conference Exhibition in 2008 and 2009. His work was selected for the Corning Museum of Glass' New Glass Review 27, and he was awarded the American Craft Council Award of Achievement in 2003. His artwork is in numerous public and private collections in North and South America, Europe, and Japan.

Richard has taught architecture and design at The University of Michigan and Montana State University. He teaches classes in kilnformed glass throughout the world, focusing on the visual elements of design and color theory, as well as inspiration, meaning, and intent. Richard's glasswork includes speculative work, functional objects, and architectural installations & design elements.

Joan Paschall:

Joan Paschall was born an artist. Her first mural was executed at an early age, a mixed media piece of lipstick and tile that unfortunately was not appreciated by her audience. She quickly learned to positively channel her creativity. In 1978 she received stained glass supplies as a gift, and she has been painting in glass ever since. In college she majored in painting, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Loretto Heights College. Her education helped sharpen her skills as an artist and designer. Her colorful patterned style is particularly effective in her favorite mediums of stained glass and acrylics.

Joan is highly acomplished as an art instructor. During an artistic career spanning over thirty years, she has taught for a national arts and crafts store, demonstrated products for manufacturers, and sailed the world as an arts instructor for several cruise lines. Joan has worked for a professional stained glass studio where she was teaching and designing commissions. She has won several awards and exhibits her work regularly. As a published designer she is flexible, energetic and skilled in expressing all art mediums. Her mission is to help and inspire us all to be a little more creative.

Alina Deac Pelegrin:

Having illustrated, painted and sculpted various expressions over the last couple of decades, Alina turned her attention to the mosaic fine arts with explorations in color and andamento, followed by advanced studies in application and cutting techniques. She specializes in mixed media, using different cutting styles and in-laying techniques to create landscapes, portraits and abstract mosaic works. Alina taught a variety of mosaics classes nationally and internationally; she currently teaches at different locations around Denver. Alina is a member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists.

Martha Pfanschmidt:

Martha Pfanschmidt resides on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State where she lives on five quiet acres in the woods. Her love of art and of creating beautiful objects has caused her to explore a variety of media; she works in printmaking, painting and kiln glass. Martha has been a professional artist since joining a printmaking studio in 1982 where she created her own prints as well as learned to be a master printer. She received her MFA from Vermont College and has taught at universities as well as privately for 28 years. Her artwork is in many private and public collections, and has been shown all over the world. Her glass is represented by Bullseye Projects in Portland, Oregon and Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

www.pfanschmidt.com

Watch a video about Martha here.

Alysa Phiel:

Alysa is a third generation glass artist with over 25 years of experience. Having been taught by her grandparents, who had been a long time stained glass artists and studio owners for twelve years, Alysa now owns and operates Creations in Glass with her mother, and has done so for over ten years.

Alysa joined the staff at Sonoran Glass School in Tucson, AZ in 2009 as the Warm Shop Director where she has taught hundreds of students. She teaches a wide range of classes in fused glass, stained glass and mosaics, and is constantly experimenting with new techniques and materials. Her creativity and range of knowledge makes her a fantastic instructor for students looking to create any type of glass art. She is constantly helping her students challenge themselves and expand their skills as artists.

Alysa’s work is found in private collections all over the country and ranges from fused functional pieces and wall art to mosaic furniture and fountains. In addition, she has numerous commissioned stained glass windows installed in homes and churches all around Tucson. For seven years, Alysa has been a regular contributor of project tutorials to Glass Patterns Quarterly magazine, and she has taught sold out classes at Glass Craft & Bead Expo in Las Vegas for the past 4 years.

Cache Probe0549:

Narcissus Quagliata:

Beginning his studies in Rome and later completing his fine art studies at the Art Institute of San Francisco, Narcissus discovered glass as the most suitable material with which to express himself artistically. His interest in how art can transform the human image in the public and private sphere is central to his work. Narcissus is considered one of the world’s most significant glass artists, due to the volume and beauty of his commissioned pieces in public areas. "Taiwan Dome of Light," the largest illuminated glass ceiling in the world, and the glass dome in the Santa Maria degli Angeli church in Rome are just two of his best-known works.

Nathan Sandberg:

Artist and educator, Nathan Sandberg is based in Portland, Oregon. After working in the Research & Education department at Bullseye Glass Company for 8 years he started Nathans LLC in 2012 and has established himself as one of the top kiln-glass educators teaching today.

From Santa Fe to Zurich and Australia to Norway, Nathan is usually somewhere on the planet presenting fresh, innovative curriculum at a wide range of studios, schools and art centers. He is widely credited as the pioneer of the modern Vitrigraph methods which he began to develop at the Bullseye Factory in 2009 and have become one of his primary methods for creating work.

In 2015 Nathans LLC moved out of the basement and into a proper studio space in the Kenton neighborhood of North Portland. Today, Nathan uses OnGrade Studio as his home base and can be found there relentlessly producing work for exhibitions and developing new curriculum to teach whenever he isn't on the road. His primary material is glass although his installations commonly make use of other materials such as wood, metal and concrete. His artwork can be found in private and public collections around the world.

John Sollinger:

John Sollinger, or “Solly,” is an artist and educator based in Ashland, Oregon, USA. With stained glass pieces chaotically arranged, he produces mosaic wall hangings that portray plants and fire or water in realistic-to-impressionistic landscapes of Western American forests. His techniques developed in isolation, and his visual vocabulary was sculpted by biology. Solly has earned major awards in international, mosaic and all-media competitions.  He presents at mosaic conferences and offers workshops at home and overseas. In the USA his mosaics have been featured in popular press, coffee-table books, trade journals, art magazines and advertisements for art organizations and competitions.

Christine Stewart:

Australian Glass Artist Christine Stewart has been working in glass for over twenty years, a career which began in stained glass, undertaking both private and commercial installations and ecclesiastic restorations, and now specializing in glass mosaics, fused and slumped art glass, and dichroic glass jewelry. Christine is the author of five art glass books and three pattern packs with CKE publications which are distributed worldwide. She is internationally recognized for her dramatic designs, innovative techniques and eccentric use of color.

Kevin Tappin:

Kathy Thaden:

Kathy Thaden’s mosaics range from abstracts to commissioned work. Inspired by the Rockies and desert southwest, she links her art to her faith – with awe for Creation. A full-time studio artist, Kathy is a professional member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists, Episcopal Church & Visual Arts, and founding member and Past-President of Colorado Mosaic Artists. Kathy teaches mosaic workshops and leads mosaic retreats in Colorado and New Mexico.

Milon Townsend:

Nellie Trask:

Nellie Trask is a local glass artist who offers classes for D&L’s “Short Class Series for the Hobbyist”. For almost a decade, she has taken stained glass, mosaics and fusing classes with dozens of glass instructors, learning all the tricks of the trade! With years of experience teaching various themed workshops and her joy of working as a kilnforming artist, she has tons of class ideas and is excited to bring a wide variety of class offerings. Her work is featured in the Gallery of Dreams in St. David, AZ.

Frank van den Ham:

Frank van den Ham is an internationally renowned artist and designer working in glass. For over 35 years Frank has been working in glass and is best described as an artist who makes different worlds recognizable and aims to connect them. His fascination with Africa and the Far East combined with his Dutch roots make him a traveler between worlds, always in search of the additional, the complimentary, always in search of home. His homesickness for "there” gives his objects tension and warmth that inevitably touches the onlooker. Frank’s colorful, poetic compositions in glass give a surprising insight into his realm of thoughts and dreams. 

For several years Frank had a studio in South Africa to teach local people fused glass techniques. Now he lives again in Indonesia most of the time. His objects are exhibited all over the world and can be found in many museums and private collections.

Lisa Vogt:

Lisa Vogt is an award winning artist. She became interested in glass while pursuing an education in fine art. For Lisa, working in glass allows her to draw upon her fine arts background and own sense of style, drama and whimsy. She combines a historic medium with innovative glass techniques, for limitless design possibilities.

Lisa is the author of fourteen design books and a series of instructional videos. She frequently writes articles for industry magazines and fiction for publication. In addition to her writing, she lectures at national and regional seminars. Her work has been on exhibit in major cities throughout the country. She has been a featured artist on HGTV and PBS. A huge supporter of public art, Lisa regularly contributes artwork for auction to benefit local, regional and national charities.

For more than 25 years, Lisa has been expanding her body of work in glass art. Her home and studio are located north of Tampa Bay in Wesley Chapel, Florida, where she resides with her husband and two daughters.

Jennifer Walkovich:

Jennifer is a glass fusing artist and instructor who works out of her home studio in Tucson, Arizona. For the past twelve years, Jennifer has had the opportunity to learn from and assist numerous glass artists who mentored her and helped shape her into the artist she is today. Jennifer's designs are strongly influenced by geometry, requiring precision with measurements and cuts. Professional training as a color consultant has equipped her to bring competent color balance to her glass projects as well as her students' projects. Jennifer is passionate about art and considers herself fortunate to travel North America sharing her knowledge of glass.

Devon Willis:

A native of Massachusetts, but a longtime resident of Portland, Oregon, Devon Willis has worked as a Bullseye Sales Rep for 6 years and as the Sales Consultant for Bullseye Studio’s architectural fabrication department for one year. She loves sharing her knowledge of the incredible beauty and physics of kiln-formed glass with whoever will listen. When she’s not geeking out about glass you can find her on the soccer field, open-water swimming or enjoying a good book.

Wesley Wong:

Wesley R. Wong is an award-winning artist who designs and produces custom glass art from his studio in San Jose, California. His passion for glass started in 1981 with stained glass, which eventually lead him into mosaics and fused glass. His work features lots of bright colors and intricate patterns and has been exhibited in many juried glass and mosaic shows throughout the United States. Wesley retired from a career in software engineering in 2014 to continue his adventures in glass art. Wesley enjoys creating new techniques and sharing his glass knowledge with other artists. He has taught glass workshops around the country and internationally for the past eight years. Wesley teaches annually at the Glass Craft & Bead Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has been a regular contributor to the Glass Patterns Quarterly magazine since 2012.

Scandia Wood-Blackwell:

Scandia has been working with art glass, in various capacities since childhood. First as a hobbyist making stained glass creations, before transitioning to working directly for two of the art glass manufacturers. Scandia was initially the Marketing Manager for Spectrum Glass®, followed by several years providing assorted art glass marketing and educational services to Oceanside Glass & Tile®. These days, Scandia is finally fulfilling her life-long dream of earning a living as a full-time artist. She considers herself incredibly fortunate to now be able to spend most of her time in her studio creating fused glass paintings and home décor items for her own customers.

Scandia has led numerous fusing workshops, demonstrations and industry-related trainings sessions throughout the US, as well as in Canada, Germany and the UK since 2008. She thoroughly enjoys teaching and continues to offer technique-based fusing workshops for art glass distributors and at special art glass events. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of Texas @ Austin (focus on Intaglio Printmaking & Illustration).