About the Artist

I use many images from nature in my work. Abstracted forms of water, clouds, trees, flowers, and fire are recurring themes. Water appears in much of my artwork. I believe this is because my subject-feelings tends to be fluid. Whether chaotic or calm, life too, is justly exemplified in uncertainty and inevitable change.

The result of what I learned I call mind viewing. The process: go to the studio, turn on the lights, light the glory hole, look around at my space and my tools. What I see are massive amounts of unfinished glass vessels, glass cut offs, well used jacks and blow pipes. Without thinking too much, I put on music and start the day.

Over two thousand degree heat blasting on my face, that's where I find peace and familiarity. I always have the need to work

Some things are put aside and come back to days later. The main thing is not to think about the art world and what's acceptable and what's not, but to use all the aspects art hand to capture my mind.

Ikebana

Ikebana is the art of association of ideas and impressions of nature expressed through flowers. In Ikebana the elegance of a branch conveys the change of the seasons. A single flower symbolizes nature. Bamboo symbolizes integrity since it doesn't bend. The Amur Adoni represents good luck. The evergreen pine suggests the abode of a deity.

The original school of Ikebana is Ikenobo. Other schools have emerged since its beginning over 500 years ago, yet Ikenobo, merging traditional styles with creative interpretations is often called "the soul of Ikebana". In the 16th century the "rikka" style using contrasting but complementary materials arranged in a single vase to express the beauty of a natural landscape was developed. This was followed by"shoka", a simple style in the 18th century that integrated three main branches that form a unity to express life's perpetual change and renewal. "Free style" is the most recent in Ikenobo's long tradition and uses plant materials in new individualistic ways. "The Ikenobo school considers a flower's bud the most beautiful, for within the bud is the energy of life's opening toward the future" states Sen'ei Ikenobo, the 45th headmaster of Ikenobo in Japan.

Lattichino

Italian tradition of twisting two or more colors of glass together and then applying the result over transparent glass, giving a candy cane look.