Many people ask….”How did you get started with glass?”
Well…the quick story is that a Brown University college friend of mine took a glass blowing class at the Rhode Island School of Design. I remember being so struck….that mortals, people I knew (and my friend as far as I could tell, wasn’t even all that interested in glass!) could learn about glass. This possibility had never entered my mind—truly it was a revelation. I signed up for a semester of glassblowing, loved it, got an A plus, and simultaneously thought…”oh no, I CANNOT waste my parent’s hard-earned tuition money on something so frivolous as this!”
Years went by and I did other things that were important, using my degrees in geology/biology/science education and traveling the world. Twenty years later however,
I found my way back…as we often do, if we are lucky, with what calls to us.
And… the longer story is that I was a girl who was taken with glass from the get-go. The best part of visiting my grandparents was spending time with the handmade marbles they kept in a paper cup. I savored each one, noting the smoothness and dents, streaks of color, and the miniature worlds inside. I was especially taken with the biggest one, a celestial blue marble with teeny weeny bubbles in it. When I held it to my eye, I felt as if I were leaving the world and being transported to deep space…
I was irresistibly drawn to glassiness; shiny bits of gravel on the sidewalk, garnets in beach sand, chandelier crystals that cast rainbows, and icicles playing with light on wintery windows. I collected geodes, shiny rocks, opals, beach glass, lenses, and sand and thrilled to how they played tricks with light and color.
I found my way to Seattle, as many glass artists do. I believe we are here— consciously or not—because this place, with its mountains, water, and cityscape, invites constant interaction between light and color. We are in a place that creates, on a grand scale, the visual effects that we love about glass. As a community of artists, we are inspired by this landscape and by each other’s forays into the world of glassmaking.
I am grateful that I can share my love of my favorite material through my kaleidoscopic drinking glasses. I also lead children’s glass camps, with the hope that I can kindle many “aha!” glassy moments for the future generations of glass artists.
Yours in brilliance,
Marcia
