It was the playing with fire that first got me interested in glass. I saw a Flame Working demo, glass artists melting and shaping rods of glass in the open flame of a propane torch, and I was fascinated.

As soon as I was able, I bought my first kiln, got a torch, and spent the next year and half hunched over a flame, twisting and shaping glass. Torch work taught me how glass liked to move and flow as a material. It was great fun making beads and pendants; although, eventually I felt limited in the scope and size of pieces I could create.

Switching from one glass addiction to another, I began exploring Kiln forming. Using sheets of glass, stringers, enamels, frits, and molds in kiln work allowed me to work bigger and opened up many more techniques to explore. Fortunately for me, I met some amazing teachers along the way.

And as in glass, life, or any other art, there’s never really a finish line. Like striving to reach the top of a mountain, you’re creating something, then trying to make it better the next day, and the day after that. It seems like a good way of life to me.

Originally from a small town outside of Boston, I eventually settled in the Western North Carolina mountains. My best move yet. There’s just something about this place.