My Glass Journey

I was born in Chicago, USA and as a child travelled the world with my family. For first 30 years of my life, I was convinced that I could only excel at maths and science. I didn’t consider that I had have an artistic bone in my body.

I sort of stumbled into making lampworked glass beads when my sister sent me a bracelet of handmade beads for my birthday.

Returning to land, I worked for many years in finance with lamp-working as a hobby. However, glass is incredibly addictive and it wasn’t long before I was working exclusively at my torch.

For more than 14 years I owned and operated the tall sailing ship “Tradewind” (pictured) and carried passengers from the tropics to the subantarctic and Antarctica. Putting an 80-year-old Baltic Trader into worldwide passenger service was not easy. We sailed three times around the world carrying 20 passengers and crew.

The main reason for purchasing Tradewind was to offer eco-tourism sailing adventures to the Sub-Antarctic islands, which are the main breeding grounds for Antarctic birds and animals. I was fortunate to travel to the area many times.

Other highlights during this time were: sailing with the Australian Bi-Centennial fleet from London to Sydney in 1984; representing both Australia and New Zealand in the Tall Ships Christopher Columbus voyage and Parade of Sail from the Caribbean to New York and Boston in 1994; then the Tall Ships race from Boston to Liverpool.

I also sailed in two Sydney to Hobart yacht races and was part of the crew of the winning yacht on one occasion.

Glass as a medium has always been calling me. I love the fact that it is a unique material and the colours are stunning. It is a challenging medium but offers immense possibilities. My chemistry studies at university turned out to be a distinct help.

I believe that when a customer buys a piece of art, they also purchase the story behind the art. When I was young, little did I know that glass formed part of my DNA. My grandmother adored glass in all its forms and passed that love, plus her collection onto me. She would gaze at a piece and wonder aloud how the artisan produced that masterpiece. Now I could tell her how they are made.

My experiences when sialing continue to influence my glass art:

My favourite and best-known piece are called Barrier Reef Earrings – a miniature reef scene encased in glass.
My Monet collection of jewellery replicates his colour palette and stems from my visit to Monet’s Garden where I fell in love with his Waterlilies Series.
And my Kimono range is a result of living in Japan for six months and being captivated by kimono robes.
My Kandinsky series pays homage to the first abstract artist (Wassily Kandinsky) who’s works I saw in the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The pieces can comprise 30 or more layers of glass and each bead takes anything from an hour (one earring) to four hours (large sculptural bead) using glass sourced from many countries.

During my years working with glass, I have been privileged to study on Murano and have done classes with Loran Stump and Corina Tettinger.

A variety of kind souls have also answered questions on forums like Wet Canvas and I thank them all. One of the nicest things about the worldwide lamp-work communities is the kindness and helpfulness that I have experienced.