ARTIST STATEMENT

For the last several years I’ve often been found foraging for discarded windows and shower doors to use in my art. The beauty of the old glass appeals to me, and my ability to reuse it - and keep it from landfill - speaks to my artistic narrative referencing our fragile shared environment. In my work I use enamels that mix ground glass with pigment. When a painted piece is heated in a kiln to as high as 1500 degrees, the paint bonds with the glass. The visual depth you see in my work is enhanced by my use of the enamels on the back of the glass rather than the front. I paint in reverse - so when viewing a finished piece you look through the glass to the layered image on the back. I may melt the glass on a bed of plaster to produce the texture of waves and clouds, or I may sandblast the surface to create the softness that invites you to touch. Instead of having a photographic look I want my work to be evocative of the sensuality of the ocean and the simultaneous innocence and fierceness it can demonstrate.

My life has been typically disparate, from an early childhood in a small farming community in northern Idaho, where we still maintain a family farm, to a career with the Congress in Washington DC. World travel and my pursuit of art continue the trend. But approaching retirement, armed with an MBA instead of a background in the arts, I set out to design my own fine arts education. Dozens of color, composition and glass technique classes followed from many of the greats in the field. Coupled with unabashed trial and error, I arrived at this point in my artistic voyage. My inspiration continues to be what I see through the windows of my floating studio on San Francisco Bay.

My work has been exhibited in shows from the west coast to the east as well as internationally. With the concept in mind that maintaining world peace is something like solving a puzzle made of glass, I created Peace Puzzle (pictured below) for the Peace and Freedom exhibition in Sweizel, Germany in 2018 - it was made part of the permanent collection of the Waldmuseum there.

I have taught glass working techniques in Maryland and various locations in the San Francisco Bay area. I currently teach private classes in my studio on a Sausalito houseboat.

PERMANENT COLLECTION

Zweisel Waldmuseum, Zweisel, Germany

JURIED EXHIBITIONS

2021  A Moment of Reflection, O'Hanlon Gallery, San Rafael CA

           Jurist Emebet Korn, Desta Contemporary Fine Art Gallery

2021  Here and Now, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato CA

2020  The Second Half - 50 and Over, Las Laguna Gallery

            Jurist Lori McBride, Las Laguna Gallery

2020  Reflections, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA

           Jurist Shelley Barry, SLATE Art

2019  Bridge to Abstraction, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA

           Jurist Stephen Wagner, Arc Gallery

2019  SiO2, Manna Gallery, Oakland, CA

           Jurist Janet Hiebert, The Crucible and Studio One

2019  Marin County Fair, San Rafael, CA - Honorable Mention

2018  Marin County Fair, San Rafael, CA

2018  Peace and Freedom International Glass Art Exhibition, Zweisel, 

            Germany - Piece retained in permanent Museum collection

2012  13th Annual Glass Auction, Liberty Museum, Philadelphia PA 

2012  International Glass Art Exhibition, Ehemaliges

            Mädchenschulhaus, Zweisel, Germany

2011  New Glass Sculpture, Gallery 555, Washington DC

2011  The First 10 Years, Longview Gallery, Washington DC

2010  Transcendence - The Magic of Glass, Sequim, WA

CURRATED EXHIBITIONS

2018  Discarded, Halocline Studio, San Anselmo, CA

2012  Allude, Weisser Studio, Kensington, MD

OTHER EXHIBITIONS

2020  Glass Gathering Online

2020  SPARK, Corte Madera, CA

2019  Marin Open Studios at Bon Air, Greenbrae, CA

2017  Sausalito Village Art Exhibit, Sausalito, CA

2016  Marin Open Studios, Sausalito, CA

2016  Sausalito Village Art Exhibit, Sausalito, CA

2014  Fireside Lounge Exhibit, The Crucible, Oakland, CA

2014  Open Studio, Floating Home Association Tour, Sausalito, CA

2013  Sausalito Village Art Exhibit, Council Chambers, Sausalito, CA

2012  Fireside Lounge Exhibit, The Crucible, Oakland, CA

2012  Artists of Issaquah, Sausalito, CA 

2010  Gallery Open House, Washington Glass Studio, Mt. Rainier, MD

2010  Excavate - Unearthing the Artist, Weisser Studio, Kensington, MD

2009  Gallery Open House, Washington Glass Studio, Mt. Rainier, MD

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

The Crucible - Oakland, CA

          Recycled Glass Dinnerware

          Team Building

          Recycled Weekend

San Francisco Waldorf High School

         Recycled Glass Techniques

Public Glass - San Francisco, CA

        Recycled Weekend

        Dry Plaster Casting

Grand Theatre Center for the Arts - Tracy, CA

        Dry Plaster Casting

        Fusing with Tempered Glass 

Washington Glass School - Mt. Rainier, MD

        Dry Plaster Casting

        Going Green

        Glass Lovers Weekend

        Social Living Bowl Fusing