Artists selected for the 2009 BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass are:

Artist Statement
Flowers accompany our rites of passage and carry deep symbolic meaning: they are collections of individual gestures, an expression multiplied, a gathering for remembrance. My designs borrow from traditional Italian milleflori, or thousand flowers, technique; yet strive for a more original style. In my work, milleflori is about multiple worlds coming together to form something intricate yet complete and serene. My art embraces the lovely and the fragile. The radiance of glass intensifies my relationship to color, more than paint and fiber ever did in my years as a painter and textile designer. In glass, I have found a material that helps me convey the vivid richness I feel as a part of my spiritual and artistic transformation after experiencing great loss. I work from living plants interpreting their colors and structure. I have modified a method used to make cold bundled composite canes. I am inspired by the paintings of Fra Angelelico, Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Roelandt Savery, and Gustav Klimt. My approach to the expressive possibilities of color comes from the theoretical work of Johannes Itten and Josef Albers.


Biography
Art has always been a central part of my life. From the time I could pick up a paint brush I studied with Alton S. Tobey. From him I learned all of the formal aspects of creating art including color, composition and form. Above all, I learned how to use art to express my inner being, and my reactions to the world around me. Although I had tinkered with glass along the way, I began my recent series about ten years ago. Looking back, I think I have always been drawn to glass: it exits in one form or another in all of my earlier work. I have benefited from my proximity to UrbanGlass, where I have been fortunate to study with Erica Rosenfeld, Klaus Moje, Jeremy Lepisto and Mel George. Kirstie Rae, Cappy Thompson and Scott Chaseling. Although I have been most persistantly supported and inspired by Robert Panepinto and his crew, my spirit has been touched by the multitude of talented artists who use UrbanGlass as their primary studio. I'm an artist who has experienced many life transitions. Along the way I attended The New York School of Interior Design, attained a Bachelors degree in Museum Studies and World Religions from Salem College and a Masters degree in Art Therapy from the College of New Rochelle. My relationship to art is intensified and enriched from these experiences. My work is about the mandala form, Sanskrit for circle. This form is used as a part of a meditation practice which helps me to focus attention on a spiritual dimension. The mandala becomes a pathway to the unconscious and ultimately towards a unity of heart, mind, spirit and body. In this wholeness, I have found a place which holds a paradox of complexity and simplicity. From this serene presence I hope to communicate the importance of being abundantly alive.

I was selected by Bullseye Glass as a finalist in the Emerge 2006, and a finalist in The Art of the NorthEast 2007. I am deeply honored and humbled to have been asked by UrbanGlass to be the artist exhibited at SOFA 2008 in New York. While the forms and color in my work will change, the spiritual connection I attempt to capture is the cornerstone of my life.

Resume
Education  
Master of Science – Art Therapy College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY
6 years of training in art glass techniques, fused glass, hot shop and coldworking, Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY, Studied with Klaus Moje, Jeremy Lepisto, Mel George, Kirsti Ray, Scott Chasling, Erica Rosenfield, Cappy Thompson
Bachelor of Arts – Museum Studies, Salem University, Salem, W.VA
Design Certificate (Plus 42) Credit Hours, New York School of Interior Design, New York, NY
Alton S. Tobey, Professor Emeritus Yale School of Fine Arts Pupil 1964-2001

Professional Experience
2006-Present    Art Therapist/ Director of Expressive and Recreational therapies assisting people living with AIDS/HIV Greyston Foundation, Maitri Center, Yonkers NY
2005-2006    Art and rehabilitation therapist for inpatient adolescents and geriatric population, Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center, Harrison, NY
2004-2005    Art therapy support groups for people and their loved ones living with and recovering from cancer, Guilda’s Club Westchester, White Plains, NY   
2003-2004 Intern    Continuing Day Treatment, Cognitive art therapy for adults with chronic mental illness, Thesis topic: Cognitive Art Therapy Using Art History to Help People with Schizophrenia and Schizophrenia-Like Illnesses, Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center Harrison, NY  
2002 Intern    Substance Abuse and Detoxification, Cognitive and psychodynamic group art therapy for clients with dual diagnoses and addictive disorders St. Vincent’s Hospital, Harrison, NY
2001 Intern    Adolescent Behavioral Group and Individual Art Therapy, Rye Hospital Center, Rye NY

Selected Exhibitions
    Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
    Labriola Gallery, Stamford, Connecticut The Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
    Glassblowers Ball, Chelsea, New York
2009    Kuivato Glass Gallery, Sedona, AZ
2008    SOFA NEW YORK, Park Ave Armory, New York  
    ARTQUEST 2008, Florida
    SOFA CHICAGO 2008, Navy Pier, Chicago
    Artists of Urban Glass, Brooklyn, New York
2007    American Craft Council, Baltimore, Maryland
    Brooklyn Designs 2007, Forte Lofts, Brooklyn, New York
    Artist’s Choice, Juried Exhibition of Art Therapists’ Art, CNR and WATA      
    The Artists of UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, New York
    Glassworks, Verdigris, Hudson, New York
    Turning Point Gallery, Media, Pennsylvania    
    Art of the Northeast, Juror: Valerie Smith, Silvermine, New Canaan, CT
    Fire and Form, The Glass Menagerie, Corning, New York  ACC Baltimore,MD
2006    E-merge, Bullseye Glass Co. Portland, Oregon
    The Artist of Urban Glass, Brooklyn, New York
    Bauhausing it! The College of New Rochelle, Juror: Robert Wolf New York

Publications
New Glass Review 30, 2009
Art/Life Magazine Issues 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198

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