3 rivers glass beadmakers

Artist's Bio

I have both a BS and MEd in Art Education and taught middle school art from 1972 - 2005. I have always been interested in working with my hands - making pottery, baskets, stained glass, etc. When I was younger, my parents took our family on a tour of the glass factories along the Ohio River. I was fascinated! In 1997, I had the chance to take a lampwork class with Kate Fowle. I came home from that class and immediately started buying the necessary equipment and cleaning out the basement so I would have studio space. Several years later I was able to travel to Italy and visit Venice and Murano.

Kate taught me to make beads using a minor bench torch and that is the torch I am still using. I also started using Moretti glass and it is still the glass I prefer. I have experimented with Bullseye and Borocilicate glasses but find that I will need to work with them more before I feel comfortable using them.

I have been hooked on making glass beads ever since that first class and have been able to take more classes with Inara Knight, Barbara Becker Simon, Stevi Belle, Will Stokes, Julie Clinton, Heather Trimlett, and Beth Williams as well as several more classes with Kate. I began to show my work at Arts Afire Glass Gallery in Old Town Alexandria, Va, in 1998, when they needed someone to demonstrate how beads are made. Since then, I have regularly participated in a number of retail shows and have my work in several other galleries from Oregon to Virginia. I began a collaboration with jewelry maker, Beth Carey, in 2000. I have made my once part-time bead making business into a full time avocation since I retired from teaching.

I have beads in collections given to the Bead Museum in Prescott, AZ, and the Bead Museum in Washington, DC. as well as in a number of private collections. My work has been included in a number of publications including 1000 Glass Beads (Lark Books), Making Glass Beads by Cindy Jenkins, The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking by Kimberly Adams, 2005 Bead Review, and more. I have been accepted into a numbered of ISGB juried shows including Metamorphosis (summer 2007) and other juried shows such as ‘Good Things/Small Packages’ - San Francisco (Summer 2006), ‘Once Upon a Bead’ (fall 2006), and the ‘5th Glass Birthday Suit’ - PGC, Pittsburgh (winter 2007). Check my web site for a complete list.

I spend my days in my studio in beautiful central Maryland, melting glass and thinking up new ways to use glass beads

Artist's Statement

Gallery