Featured Artist: Winter 2020 Karen Seymour

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Karen Seymour sets up to fire icicles

Karen got started in glass in 1998 when she went looking for a table for her back yard and couldn’t find anything she liked so decided to build her own. The result was a 48″ glass on glass appliqué koi pond that had all her friends and relatives wanting one too. That led to teaching classes and publishing two pattern books. In 2013 she wanted to make a lava table but couldn’t figure out how to do it in flat glass so she got a kiln. Several other tables resulted, including one portraying an 18″ dichro ammonite fossil.

Snow Melt Lampshade, Karen Seymour
Maple Lampshade, Karen Seymour
Solar Lanterns, Karen Seymour

President’s Message Winter 2020

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Hello all you fabulous glass people! I hope this message finds you all happy, healthy and being creative!


We had our state meeting on October 25 and elected our board members for 2021. A big thank you goes out to Sue Merritt as our new Vice President, Sue Bracknell our new Secretary, Lesley Kelly our continuing Treasurer, and Lyn Kennison, as President. Thank you all for stepping up. A big thank you also goes out to Carlyne Lynch for all her hard work as the Web Director, Margie Rieff, for her work as Membership Chair, Linda Gerrard, Sponsorship Chair, Sharon Dunham, for the Newsletter, Charlene Fort, Communications Chair, Mitzi Kugler as past President, Suzanne Tyler for being the Secretary, and Greta Schneider for her work as Vice President. Everyone has worked hard this year to keep the guild going. Thank you!

At the state meeting, Karen Seymour presented a video talking about using different firing schedules to get different results. It was very informative and can be watched by going to the website under videos.


The board is constantly working on bringing new events, videos, and playdates for people to learn and grow in their glass creations. If you have an idea for a new playdate, something to present at the general meetings, or for making a video, please join us at the board meetings and talk to us about it. We welcome new ideas. Please check the calendar on the website frequently to see when Zoom events will be happening.


The new website is almost ready to launch. By early 2021 it should be up and running. When it is, you will receive a reminder to renew your membership, if it is due. It will be easy to do it on the website.


Take care of yourselves, stay creative and enjoy the holidays!
Lyn Kennison,
President PNWGlassGuild

A Word From One of Our Sponsors—COLOUR DE VERRE

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Craig Smith
Colour de Verre Molds
Larry Jacobsen

Colour de Verre principals are two people with very different skill sets. Craig Smith is a ceramic designer and master mold maker. Early in his career, Craig designed and created wares for the craft gallery marketplace, work that has been featured in presentations of The Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. Later in his career, he developed complex ceramic and porcelain mold systems for other artists and industries throughout North America and Europe.
His business partner, Larry Jacobsen, started his career in high-tech marketing specializing in children’s gaming and entertainment software. Craig serves as the company’s creative director and is responsible for all the company’s designs. Larry leads operations and marketing.

Prior to starting Colour de Verre, Craig had been experimenting with glass. He met with glass artists to learn about their processes and how they worked with glass. He quickly realized that most glass workers were intimidated by the idea of creating their own molds. However, these same people were eager to expand beyond the plates, platters, and bowls that are staples of glass fusing. Craig saw an opportunity to combine his knowledge of ceramics, glass, and mold systems to create the technology and systems that form the basis of Colour de Verre.

  • Good design—The founders wanted to create sophisticated designs that served as a springboard for the artist’s own creativity. They didn’t want to “hem in” the artist, but, on the other hand, wanted designs that inspired users.
  • Informative content—Craig and Larry realized people need good instructions, firing schedules, and inspiration. The company shouldn’t be about selling molds, but, instead, about enabling a successful, creative experience. This also meant sourcing and testing reliable separation agents. Craig found a separation agent used in metal casting called ZYP. It was the perfect primer for Colour de Verre’s molds and has since become an ubiquitous tool in the casting community.
  • Quality—Larry and Craig partnered with domestic art potteries to produce Colour de Verre products. This made it easier to monitor quality and to bring new designs to the market quickly. Further, it was important to the founders that the people producing Colour de Verre products were making living wages, and were working in a healthy environment. All of Colour de Verre products are made in the Pacific Northwest.

Fast forward 15 years: Colour de Verre sells its product through every major art glass distributor in North America and Western Europe. In the Pacific Northwest people can purchase Colour de Verre products through Bullseye Glass or online through Colour de Verre’s website. However, Colour de Verre’s website serves a more important role than just a sales portal. It hosts a plethora of project sheets, firing schedules, and educational videos. While there have been imitators, Colour de Verre is still known as the originator of this format and the premier product line.
If you have questions about Colour de Verre or its products, don’t hesitate to call or email them. Contact information can be found at www.colourdeverre.com/go/contactus.

In Memoriam—Mary Gudjohnsen Stoneman

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1952 – 2020
Mary was biased towards action; she was always busy with activities and hobbies. When she was younger, it was co-ed softball, tennis, coaching the kids’ soccer teams, and parent involvement with the school music programs. Later, came a passion for fused glass art. What started in 2005 with a class at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology on the Oregon Coast turned into a lifelong love, including over a decade selling her art at the Beaverton Farmers Market, a two-year term as President of the Oregon Glass Guild, and attending many art and craft shows around Portland and the state. The many attendees of her semi-regular “glass days” in her garage studio would attest to her dedication to the craft, too.

Mary passed away peacefully in her home early in the morning of April 12, 2020 from metastatic breast cancer. Notification of a service or Celebration of Life will follow at some later date when gatherings will be safe to have. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to Providence Hospice, P.O. Box 13679, Portland 97213, or a cause that is important to you. Or, in Mary’s spirit of action, plant a tree (literal or metaphorical), start learning another new language, or just act decisively when you know what needs to be done

In Memoriam: Mary Hornig

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1955-2018
Mary passed away at Riverbend Hospital in Springfield on December 27th, her 63rd birthday, from complications associated with a brain tumor.

Awarded a Masters degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University in 1987, she pursued a long career as a Registered Engineer, working with several entities including ODOT and the City of Springfield.

In the mid-’90s Mary turned her attention away from engineering and started working with the glass arts. In addition to being a prolific artist, she started and ran the Kilnworking Department at the Eugene Glass School, taught classes at the U of O Crafts Center, and through private classes, seminars and individual instruction helped hundreds of other artists throughout Oregon achieve their artistic goals. She served as both State President and Eugene Chapter President of the Oregon Glass Guild. While working at The Eugene Glass School Mary met Chris Mini. They fell in love and were married in 2006. Together they started Tabby Glass, an architectural art glass studio. Mary was also instrumental in bringing to market the patented ShapeCaster art glass casting system.

In Memoriam—Brenda Blanchard

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1951-2016
Brenda Joyce (Liston) Blanchard of North Portland took her final breaths Saturday, July 16, 2016, surrounded by family and friends (including Bob Heath, Sharon Dunham and Lyn Kennison) after a long battle with rheumatoid arthritis and interstitial lung disease.


Brenda was a creative artist and working with glass as an art medium was her passion for over 30 years. Starting in 1983 with a class in stained glass, she discovered her love for glass art. In 1997, she ventured into the world of glass fusing. In 1998, she launched her own glass art business. Working with glass was a healing process for Brenda. Brenda’s art inspirations came from nature, for her nature scenes were both spiritually connecting and captivating. Her goal was to provide others with the same serenity that she felt during the creation process and the dragonfly was her signature artwork. In 2013, she became co-president of the Oregon Glass Guild.

In Memoriam—Ruth Brockmann

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1955-2013 (authored by Hal Bond)
Ruth Brockmann started working with glass in the late 1970’s, mainly involving herself with stained glass and etched glass. In the Summer of 1982 she was chosen, along with Gil Reynolds and David Ruth, to be interns at Bullseye Glass to help fine-tune the production techniques of the emerging fused glass movement with its genesis at Bullseye Glass. By the end of the Summer the three were sent out to glass studios across America to share their knowledge of fusing glass.

In 1983 the Bullseye Glass Company published Book One of Glass Fusing, which soon became the Bible for neophyte glass fusers throughout America and beyond. A collection of Ruth’s glass masks were on the cover. By the late 1980’s Ruth started to cast particles of glass fit into custom molds shaped from clay positives made by her.

Continued

In Memoriam—George Kjaer, OGG’s Founder

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1956-2005
OGG was born in the mind of George Kjaer, an amateur glass blower from Eugene, Oregon. He envisioned an organization that would nurture emerging glass artists, offer opportunities to network for the established artists while introducing the general public into the intricacies of the art of glass. He was a founding member of the Eugene Glass School and served as its president from inception until 2004. For years, Eugene’s reputation for glass was linked primarily to bongs and pipes, Kjaer said. But the Eugene Glass School aimed to change that. Each year about 100 students took workshops at the school from established artists from around the world. Workshops focused on utilitarian objects, such as cups, glasses, coffeepots, jewelry, paperweights and fountain pens.

Kjaer was born Nov. 2, 1932, in Clinton, Iowa, to Jens and Maria Dixen Kjaer. He married Eunice Freise on Sept. 11, 1956, in New Salem, N.D. Kjaer was board certified in neurology and psychiatry and practiced psychiatry in Eugene from 1965 to 1998.
A memorial service was held December 3, 2005 for George Christian Dixen Kjaer of Eugene, who died November 27th of lung cancer. He was 73.
Editor’s Note: I recently found my copies of past OGG newsletters from as early as January 2000. The guild started in the eyes of George Kjaer whom I met at Hot Glass Horizons. George was handing out information about the glass guild during the HGH Show and Sale event. He was the reason I got involved in the Oregon Glass Guild over two decades ago. He hosted a guild retreat at his Eugene B&B to help us get our organizational bearings. This issue of the guild’s newsletter honors the lives of influential guild members who have passed on. There have been many different iterations of the glass guild; I hope we can capture our diverse roots as we move forward

Editor’s Note: I recently found my copies of past OGG newsletters from as early as January 2000. The guild started in the eyes of George Kjaer whom I met at Hot Glass Horizons. George was handing out information about the glass guild during the HGH Show and Sale event. He was the reason I got involved in the Oregon Glass Guild over two decades ago. He hosted a guild retreat at his Eugene B&B to help us get our organizational bearings. This issue of the guild’s newsletter honors the lives of influential guild members who have passed on. There have been many different iterations of the glass guild; I hope we can capture our diverse roots as we move forward.