My love for glass blossomed when my grandmother gave me an antique glass sea ball from Japan as a gift. I noticed the pontil mark and, seed bubbles in it. I wanted to know what made this glass ball so much more beautiful than the modern glass you see today in glass sea floats. It was artist made and not mass produced! Handmade glass pieces such as vases, paperweights or beads have a distinct look about them that molds and machinery simply cannot reproduce.  I started collecting sea balls which then led to glass paperweights. I learned to respect the beauty of hand made artisan glass.  Lampwork was to soon follow.

I am currently a member of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers and use their collective heads as a great source of inspiration and knowledge.  It is also a valuable guide to follow concerning ethics in the Lampworking community.  I am also a member of a local Lampwork group "The Arizona Society of Glass Beadmakers" the ASGB.  Here I am able to learn and share techniques, learn from other like minds and of course...PLAY with glass. 

I have always wanted to be an artist since I was very young.  I would flitter from one art medium to another.  I have taken quite a bit of different classes, painting, ceramics, beading, crocheting and photography to name a few.  Each one of these arts has been a passion of mine for a time.  I became a stay at home mom after I graduated college with a Speech Therapy degree.  As soon as my children grew legs and feet long enough for a bit of independence, I devoted myself to my hobby Lampwork.  I had read my favorite book "Passing the Flame" by Corina Tettinger, and as soon as I could, took a Lampwork class where I caught "glass fever".

 It is amazing how Lampwork has been around since ancient times and the beauty of a glass bead is still timeless and forever evolving.  What I strive for in my art is to create timeless pieces that capture the essence of my imagination inspired by the beauty I see.  If I can do this, it is as if the magic of a fleeting dewdrop has been forever preserved in a piece of glass.

Lampwork has been the most devoted and passionate art I have experienced.  I can think up an idea or an expression and create a piece that captures the beauty I felt or wanted to capture while I was making it.  Each day brings a new experience with glass.  I hope it will always be an experiment with me because I want to be unique, one of a kind and different.