Artist's Statement

I grew up in a family full of awe and reverence for the beauty of glass. Louis Comfort Tiffany, the internationally recognized glass artist, is my great-grandfather, and my life was full of the mystique of glass. Then, during the sixties, I fell in love with the art nouveau works of Beardsley, Horta, Guimard and Mucha. The organic qualities of art nouveau aroused my innate love of the natural world, making me aware of the beauty and art within nature.

I did not pursue glass as a profession however. In 1976 I completed a doctorate in biology with a specialty in microanatomy. In the many hours spent peering through the electron microscope at the most minute of nature's structures, I was regularly awed and humbled by the sensuous beauty of those forms. Though I loved glass, pursuing it as a profession never occurred to me.

In 1988 I took a course in glass blowing and within months decided to devote myself to glass blowing full-time. My science background, however, has continued to inform and direct my use of form and color. Those sensuous forms revealed by the electron microscope appear again and again in the curves and shapes of my glass.

I strive to allow the glass to retain a sense of fluidity and liquidity in its final form. My pieces are highly organic in shape with at least some asymmetry. I strive to allow shadows and optically active surfaces to emphasize the form of the glass. One line of vessels ‚ Dress Forms ‚ emphasizes the fluid curves of a woman dressed in classic, flowing fabrics.

In 1995 I developed a technique whereby glass can be blown onto (and remain integral with) a copper pipe. With this procedure I have created finial and finial-like components which can be incorporated into large structures. I have used this technique in glass and metal furniture, lamps and department store display fixtures.

Currently I am working with pearl lusters on the surfaces of glass vessels. Lusters maintain most of the optical qualities of glass but add lovely and mysterious effects. I use the luster on the inside of a vessel to deepen the outer surface of the piece, the way a finish does on fine wood furniture. Used on the outside of the vessel, lusters provide a layering effect ‚ the true color of the piece is seen through a satin veil. Lusters accentuate the curves of the glass in much the way that a sheer stocking accentuates the curves of the female form. They can deepen the color dramatically, or soften the sharp shine of glass into a sheen that broadens and emphasizes its contours.

The joy of working in this medium captured me over a decade ago, changing the direction of my life. The beauty of glass fascinates, drives and absorbs me. It challenges me to use my experiences in the minute world of the electron microscope and, drawing from those memories, forms and colors to create a new world in glass.