When I consider the creative influences that inhabit and define my work, I am immediately drawn to my very early childhood.  As a child, a favorite place to play was a nearby sand lot.  I designed elaborate roadways, made buildings out of plastic blocks and populated my imaginary city with colorful cars, plastic animals, wildflowers and colored stones.  I also remember lying on the cool backyard grass and watching clouds drift across the sky.  As I would stare at the drifting shapes, magical faces and shapes of animals would emerge.  I even remember collecting caterpillars, arranging them on the pavement, and watch the patterns they'd create as they crawled away. 

The joy and expression I found as a child in the colorful rhythms and movements of nature are very present for me as an artist today.  When I eventually started my formal art studies, I was immediately drawn to movement and color:  I studied oil painting as well as dance.  Eventually, I began to choreograph and design lights for the stage.  I also studied and made films and videos.  You might say that things started to come alive for me; static forms began to be understood in terms of motion through time. 

I love to play with the rich color palette available with today's contemporary glass.  My work often explores rhythms and tension created by patterns of color.  By combining murrine, dots and lines with broad strokes of opaque and transparent colors I can explore depth in an otherwise flat piece.  The combination of opaque and transparent glasses allows glimpses of light to be caught by the viewer and a particular shape within the glass to be enhanced.  I am always curious as to how the viewer's eye will wander over, through and around a piece.  Sometimes a piece will change in hue or shape by even the slightest movement by the viewer.

By varying the temperatures used in the firings in the kiln, I can achieve variety of finishes and textures.  I allow haphazardly placed elements to mix in the firing process to form unique designs.  I often cut up these pieces and re-assemble them to create new shapes and patterns.  Sometimes, I add mica, copper or silver into the glass for even greater variety of texture. 

I am constantly experimenting.  I layer, I fuse, I cold-work, I sand-blast, I pull, I slump, I smash with a hammer, I fuse again, I cut, I drill and re-combined… and this may be my process for one individual piece!  I even combine warm-glass techniques with hot-glass techniques. 

I find that my desire to experiment often draws me to extremes.  If the colors seem to clash, then I will combine them.  If the piece is symmetrical, then I'll combine unbalanced elements within the confines of it's symmetry.  If I begin with something that is balanced, then I'll add color and line, cut it and add to it, and stretch it or push it's proportion until the work eventually teeters on new dimensions, proportions and balance.  And if the there are complementary elements, I will seek opposing or contrasting elements to jolt and surprise. 

Glass allows me to fully explore and express my passion for color, texture, light, movement, rhythm and design.