issue-2023-05

2023: May Issue

PNWglassguild.org

Rae Williamson

Upcoming events: pnwglassguild.org/events/

(Bolded events are Guild sponsored)

2023

May
26-29 Rose Festival display, Portland OR

June
2-4 Rose Festival display, Portland OR
5 Board Meeting via Zoom
9-11 Rose Festival display, Portland OR
9-11 Sorticulture, Everett WA
10 Play Day: Soldering, Seattle WA
16-18 Edmonds Art Festival, Edmonds WA
23-25 Lake Oswego Arts Festival, OR
25 General Meeting via Zoom

July

15 Art In The Garden, Battle Ground WA
16 Guild Picnic, Turner OR (near Salem)
21-23 Salem Art Festival, Salem OR
28-30 Bellevue Arts Museum Fair, Bellevue WA

Members can log in and submit their events by clicking About>Contact Us, and filling out the Submit Calendar Event form



Contents

  • Featured Artists: Shawna Hovey, Janet Van Fleet
  • Gathering of the Guilds
  • President’s Message
  • 2023 Board of Directors
  • Welcome to our Newest Members
  • Editors’ Spotlight: Kelley Knickerbocker
  • Editor’s Spotlight: Glass Guru Part II
  • Charity Table
  • Why Do I Volunteer?
  • Rose Festival
  • Vendors Fair
  • General Meetings
  • Guild Notes
  • PNW Glass Events, past & future
  • Sponsor Discounts and New Sponsors
  • Featured Sponsor: Glass Bird Studios
  • Thanks to All Our Sponsors

Read the whole issue on the website:
https://www.pnwglassguild.org/article-cat/issue-2023-05/

(If you’ve just clicked the link and are seeing this page again, scroll down)

Featured Artist: Shawna Hovey

Portland, Oregon

I started creating with glass in November ’08, after a bout with Breast Cancer, followed by Heart Failure. I realized that I needed to jump off the hamster wheel of my toxic and stressful life, into a life where I could live and grow into my best life. It was then, on a whim, that I turned into our neighborhood glass shop to inquire about taking a glass class. I took one abbreviated introduction class. Since then, glass has flowed from my soul, evolving into what it is today… scenic mountain, ocean and sculpted floral jewelry, as well as other wearable art. With that one class, I was on my way to Bliss…Creating with glass lit a fire that still burns brightly.

In fact, if I get too far away from my glass, my heart starts to falter.I am a glass fuser, creating primarily with dichro. I love its brilliance and how it inspires me to create. I don’t know what I’m going to create when I start. I get to watch what materializes, What I hear from so many is that my creations are like no other dichro work they’ve seen. I believe this is due to my shaping techniques, and finite attention to details… Details take time and patience, which I think many are not equipped with

You can make dichro sing, glow or scream with brilliant color; but,also, have it fall flat (lack luster) depending on the detailing of your cold work. Knowing when to stop is key.For me, it’s when the involuntary smile shows up on my face.What do I find most challenging with glass? The scariest, was having to drill my first hole into glass! But once I mastered that, it opened up a whole new world for me. That’s when I started sculpting glass into jewelry. I felt fearless! But, I had to pledge to myself, to never be devastated over broken pieces… ‘You can always make earrings’.

I have been a member of the Glass Guild in the past, and held office briefly. But, due to health reasons, I wasn’t able to continue. I don’t currently teach classes. But I do see it in my future if the opportunity arises. I’ve participated in previous Guild Shows. Though, this year, it dawned one morning when I arrived, looking around and breathing it all in… I have found my people! Generally, I’m an introvert, but being with ‘like’ beings, and creativity that abounds, I am my best self. There is nothing better than when creative minds collide! Exhilarating…Being involved with the Guild, it’s the Artists, creativity, and learning that I enjoy most.

Featured Artist: Janet Van Fleet

Battle Ground, Washington

I am a retired teacher. Somewhere in the midst of teaching, I fell in love with glass. Before teaching, oil painting was my passion. That dwindled during my teaching years. With glass, I looked forward to coming home after a challenging day at school to take a piece of glass out of the kiln and see my creation magically transformed into a piece of beautiful light. That joy and love of creating has continued and now 20+ years later I’m enjoying creating as my primary job while retired.

With my oil painting and drawing experience, I naturally gravitated toward painting with glass. While I haven’t officially taught glass classes, I have shared my knowledge with others in my studio. And who knows, teaching might be the next step.

I believe glass is the ultimate medium in art…the light of our world…connecting heaven and earth. The joy of seeing glass transform into something new and even more beautiful is indescribable. The challenge is letting go of expectations and allowing the glass to transform. I’m the tool that manipulates it, but ultimately, glass creates the results.

Gathering of the Guilds – Another Successful Year

This year’s show was a huge success with 23 artists, lots of dedicated volunteers, many, many compliments from the people who attended and really well crafted booth layouts. People should be very proud of their participation based on compliments on the wonderful artwork and that people who attended were so very grateful we had the show again this year.

Linda Roman

Attendance for this year was 13,526 people coming in the hall. The majority of the people came in the afternoon of each day, which jives with the unexpected first day of sunshine and hot weather we had on Saturday with people doing outdoor activities in the morning and then coming to the show and cooling off and shopping. Compared to previous years, we did well, surpassing the 13,077 of 2022 and 12,334 of 2019 and moving toward the high we had in 2018 of 18,048.

Carlyne Lynch
Rosalind Cooper
Lynn Kennison

Every guild reported increased sales from previous years. We are still waiting for three bills to come from the LLC, the convention center and the furniture company before we know how much the guild made, but overall, sales were higher than last year. Our group booth which also included New and Emerging Artist members had total sales of $7500!

One interesting observation was that each guild reported items sold this year were primarily smaller items, art cards, and products that could be worn or put outside. The potters were especially surprised that a lot of their larger pieces didn’t sell this year as they have in the past.

Greta Schneider
Mitzi Kugler
Kylea LeMond

Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out the Survey Monkey survey. The results will be compiled in time for the June board meeting and the June general meeting, but generally, there were concerns with the booth layouts, the load out process, how the demos were announced and providing a schedule beforehand, and the volunteer sign up system. Except for problems with the AC temps, people enjoyed meeting and working with the artists and vendors, talking to the visitors and reconnecting.

Dijenaire Frazier
Sharon Dunham
Jennifer Hart
Terry Thomas
Happy Shoppers
Debbie Vourlas
Kory Dollar

PNWGG Winners May 2023 – The award winners are as follows:

Best Booth in Show: Marvelous Mosaics
Best demonstration: Barb Kienle
Best Overall in Show: Tie between Mitzi Kugler and Barbara Wells
Most Creative Use of Glass: Mari Aoki Knight
Beat Overall in Show: Tie between Mitzi Kugler and Barbara Wells
Best Non-Fused Glass: Gerald and Rose McBride

Our Demonstration Area: An exciting attraction at this years show was return of our demonstration area. Several artists took time away from their booths to show attendees many aspects of how we create beautiful art. Barbara Kienle won as the best demonstration of how to make cute suncatchers with framed scenes. She let visitors make their own and then she took them to her studio and fired them. Other fun demonstrations included: Carlyne Lynch / vitrigraph, Greta Schneider / dichroic glass jewelry, Kathie Wise / mosaics, Gerald McBride / his water attachment for grinders, Roz Cooper / vases and Lyn Kennison / lanterns.

Roz Cooper glass vase demo
Gerald Mc Bride tool demo

Greta Schneider dichroic glass

To Our volunteers – We couldn’t do it without you!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who volunteered and helped before, after and during the show this year! Events like GotG which are a huge benefit to us as individual artists, the art and glass community in general and also our glass guild…cannot happen without volunteers! We realize some of you may want to volunteer mostly to get the reduced commission…..and some of you are in a booth by yourselves and have to work before or after the show or have friends or family help out to some extent during the show and we tried to make at least some workable hours available to everyone. We would also like to give a special thanks to people we know came and gave their time either to help someone earn a lower commission or just came and helped because they want to support the guild and the artists who were there.

Rae Williamson and Mitzi Kugler
Ken Hashagen

Whatever motivated you…..that time spent benefits all of us and makes the show run so much more smoothly. We had some new and unique situations and booth set ups this year and it was much more complicated than in the past to find out how many people we might have signing up and to figure out how many volunteer hours were needed, and available, and how to make them available to the artists in a fair manner….so everyone could take advantage of the commission reduction to some extent. We will probably do a few things differently next time but considering all the new people we had, and the variations on types of booths and numbers of artists in the different configurations, it went pretty smoothly.

Also, a special thanks also to those who helped get the gallery display pieces picked up and delivered to the show and even more…..helped get all of it back to the storage unit in the relatively short time span that we had on Sunday afternoon. That is an extremely important job and we know it occurs when everyone is tired and ready to just pack up and go home! There was a little confusion about the Airtable and the Sign Up Genius… Airtable only gave us an idea how many people might be available for certain types of jobs, not actual shifts. Sign up Genius, which Mitzi was thankfully able to set up online, made it much easier for people to get their actual shifts in and know what was still available. We will all be discussing ways to make the sign up system plus actually keeping track of hours done more efficiently next year. There was definitely a bit of a learning curve on volunteer hours this year….but all in all it went well.

Volunteered, Voluntold Volunteers – Member Janet Van Fleets’ Grandson and Husband.
Lesley Kelly, PNWGG Coordinator for GOTG

On behalf of the Pacific Northwest Glass Guild we would like to extend a HUGE thank you to our Lesley Kelly who coordinated our participation in this year’s Gathering of Guilds…a job well done!!!

Our artist/vendors thank you for your unending patience, encouragement and problem solving…you are the perfect person for the job.

Considerations for next year.

The demonstration area in the lobby area was a huge hit with attendees, and demo areas created by the individual guilds were extremely popular. There is a lot of interest from all the guilds in having a joint demo area up in the front of the hall, and we will be working on putting a proposal together for that.

The show will be on April 19-21, 2024, and will be in Hall D of the convention center. This is great news for us as Hall D is bigger, has two dedicated loading docks, and also is the first area that everyone who parks below the convention center comes to as they come off the elevators. This will be important as the I5 parking won’t be available due to construction and the only place to park will be in the lots under the center. The expanded space in the hall and a joint demo space could free up space for more booths and possibly more options for sizes of booths.

See you there!!!

President’s Message

As I write this message Spring weather has taken a turn toward summer temperatures, hope you were able to enjoy some outdoor recreation or just outdoor relaxation. Speaking of enjoyment, I hope that you had an opportunity to visit one of the many in person events over the past month. Whether it be the Art in Bloom show in Seattle and their great outdoor art and weather, or the vastness of the Oregon Convention Center with an abundance of creative arts at the 2023 Gathering of the Guilds. Or even your local community open studio tour. I believe whenever you can support other artists and view their souls, they share with us through their artwork it is time well spent. May you have more opportunities to enjoy many in person events throughout the spring season.

Now, a plea from the leadership of the Guild, WE NEED YOU! We are recruiting for the next group of leaders to move the Pacific Northwest Glass Guild forward and build on our past success. Two of our team leaders have announced their intention to step away after their current term is over, they are Membership and Sponsorship team leaders. The time to step up and volunteer has never been better, so you can learn from them over the next few months. Please reach out to any of our current board members or me anytime for more details on how you can assist us deliver great programs.

“Creativity requires the Courage to let go of Certainties.” ~~Erich Fromm

2023 Board of Directors

The 2023 PNWGG Board of Directors are:

  • President – Terry Thomas
  • Vice President – Rachel Dollar
  • Secretary- Haley Wigent
  • Co-Treasurers – Linda Roman and Kate Nicklos
  • Sponsorship Chair – Linda Gerrard
  • Membership Chair – Rae Williamson
  • Newsletter Chair – Greta Schneider
  • Communications Chair – Stephanie Johnston
  • Website Chair – Karen Seymour

A special thank you to Jennifer Hart who has volunteered to shadow Rachel Dollar during 2023. We are looking for other members to shadow board members in the upcoming year. This will aid in a smoother transition as new board members step up in the future. It also gives you a chance to see behind the scenes and what it takes to keep the Guild engaging and relevant in your glass journey. Reach out to Terry Thomas (president@pnwglassguild.org) to volunteer or if you have any questions.

Welcome to our Newest Members

Please take time to reach out and connect…even if you don’t live in the same area. The wonders of technology brings us all just a few clicks away. Members can find contact info for these folks and other members if you log-in to pnwglassguild.org and go to “For Members” (which only appears when logged-in) and choose Member Contacts List.

Keryn Anchel Portland OR
Kelly Bates Canby OR
Pam Bielenberg Albany OR
Christi Churchill Aberdeen WA
Kathleen Doty Portland OR
Linda Ethier Portland OR
Dejenaire Frazier Portland OR

Lindsay Konopka Portland OR
Bonnie Moss Turner OR
Dianne Muhly Corneluis OR
Scott Philips Canby OR
Matt Seger Seattle WA
Dorothy Wayne University Place WA
Tawna Wilsey Freeland WA

Editors’ Spotlight: Kelley Knickerbocker

33’F, 2007 16″ x 18″ Clear textured glass, opaque and transparent smalti, sandblasted glass, semi-opaqued glass tile on mirror substrate.

Soloist, 2010 10″ x 10″ Layered art glass, unglazed porcelain, Italian enamel glass on mirror substrate.
Sunspot, 2010 10″ x 10″ Layered art glass, unglazed porcelain on mirror substrate.

I’m a mosaic-based visual artist/instructor, in practice for nearly 20 years now. My studio is in my hometown of Seattle, but my collectors, clients and students are all over the world. I’m strongly materials-based, and like many mosaic artists my first-love material was stained glass, which I explore in a rather structural way. Over the years I’ve branched out to many other types of glass, including blown glass and the amazing, challenging recycled glass of Seattle’s Bedrock Industries (all glass lovers must visit!), and now combine it with everything I can get my hands on. Never gets old.

Chill Season, 2011 10″ x 10″ Layered art glass, unglazed porcelain, millefiori, fused glass skittles on mirror substrate.
Points of Balance, 2012 18″ x 18″ Confetti glass, unglazed porcelain, vintage Italian enamel glass, gold-leafed Italian enamel glass on mirror substrate.
Red Earth Yield, 2012 6″ Square Stained glass, vintage Italian enamel glass, copper sheeting, gold-leafed Italian enamel glass on mirror substrate.
True at the Same Time, 2012 30″ x 14″ Slag glass, glass gems, glass disks, glazed and unglazed porcelain, millefiori, beach slate, broken rocks, and art glass on a handformed substrate.
A Circular Logic, 2013 16″ x 14″ Glass gems, glass stringers, glass cane, glass beads, porcelain, wire, pigmented cement mortar on handformed substrate.
Pirouette, 2014 21″ x 13″ Recycled glass tile (Bedrock Industries), gold-leafed Italian enamel glass, mortar.
Tether, 2015 10″ x 8″ Italian enamel glass scrap, mortar.
Ring Study No. 4 (Rosary) 2016 14″ x 12″ Clear iridized art glass, horn rings, glass tile, mortar.
Snake Seed 3, 2016 5″ square Tumbled clear textured art glass, Italian glass, gold-leafed Italian enamel glass, mortar.
Shedding Light, 2016 21″ x 12″ Tumbled clear textured art glass, gold-leafed Italian enamel glass, faceted glass tile, mortar.
Weight and Sea, 2017 15″ x 13″ Crockery, iridized glass tile, glass tile, glass beads, mortar.
Glad, 2018 40″ x 9″ Recycled glass tile (Bedrock Industries), blown glass, millefiori, mortar.
Suture Self, 2018 18″ x 16″ Tumbled cut glass, wire, shell, metal shavings, mortar.
Among the Furrows, 2019 23″ x 20″ Recycled glass tile (Bedrock Industries), paper towels, crockery, Italian gold-leafed enamel glass, mortar.
Rough Opening, 2019 16″ x 12″ Tumbled clear textured art glass, glass tile, epoxy putty, steel cable, metal shavings, mortar.
Remote Possibility, 2022 9″ x 8″ Twigs, clear textured glass (over blue-pigmented mortar), recycled glass tile (Bedrock Industries), epoxy putty, rust accretions, mortar.
Wintergreen, 2022 7″ x 8″ Salvaged iridized glass, glass tile, unglazed porcelain, Italian enamel glass, epoxy putty.
After Mercator, No. 1, 2023 4.5″ x 9″ Recycled glass tile (Bedrock Industries), crockery, cut/faceted glass blobs, glass beads, mortar.

For more about my work and courses, find me at Rivenworks.com, https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=rivenworks%20mosaic on Facebook, @k2makes on Instagram, and https://mosaicartsonline.com (online courses). I’ll also be teaching a series of 4-day abstract exploration workshops in Seattle this September.; hit me up at kelley@rivenworks.com for more info.

Editors’ Spotlight: The Glass Guru, Inc, part 2

Bob Thompson

and His Fabulous Glass from Around the World

(Bob is not only a member of our guild…..but spent most of his life working with incredible glass products from all over the world that were used in mostly architectural projects. He lives in Portland OR and has also been a longtime supporter of our guild plus done classes with and purchased glass art from many of our members. He is sharing some of his unique history with glass here. We will break this story and photos into three parts over the next three newsletters. The last section will show his more recent innovative use of mostly non fusible glass using special UV glues.) (Note from Greta: I had seen some clear holographic glass out in the garden area at OHSU years ago and always wondered about it, It was so pretty and unusual….and it turned out to be one of Bob’s holographic products! Mystery solved!)

Bob Thompson, our Glass Guru

I have always been an independent, confident and risk-taking sort and this seemed an opportunity too good to pass up, the time was right and it gave me a chance to finally take charge of my own destiny. I bought the glass inventory, took the computers, peripherals, AutoCad software, along with my pick-up truck and glass rack and, at 55, launched, head long into the glass business. I joined a couple of Canadian interior designers I had met, a local interior designer I had done some nice glass projects with and a contractor to open a kitchen and bath show room and design center in a small storefront on the Main street of downtown Tigard.

From this relatively humble beginning, I ended up, ten years later, doing three-quarters of a million dollars in decorative glass, shipped all over the country, Canada and Hawaii and importing some $50,000 worth of glass at a time from Japan. One factor in my favor, was that the Asahi rep. on the East Coast, who had been hard at work marketing to the professionals all this time, decided to get married and move to Paris.
This left me as the sole distributor in the country. Whenever a firm was looking for some of this wonderful glass, they were routed straight to me.

Raindrop textured glass
Patterened and holographic glass

Since Asahi had no real interest in the American market, I had to produce the catalogs, promotional material and samples to educate and help my customers realize the variety of manufactured decorative glass that existed around the world. There were also a number of processes that could be applied to the glass to make it do anything their creative vision demanded. As my knowledge, confidence and breadth of resources grew, so did my inventory, selection and capability increase to be able to supply an ever-expanding menu of glass and services.

It was amazing to discover that there were over 250 patterns of textured glass on the market as well as beautiful acid-etched patterns from Spain and Japan, plus an array of back-printed, back-painted and laminated patterns from Japan. The U.S. had stopped doing acid etching on glass in the 60’s due to environmental restrictions, which left sandblasting as the only obscuring process available. Unfortunately, this was a maintenance nightmare as it opened up the ‘pores’ of the glass to dirt, grease, fingerprints, etc. Fortunately, Asahi had two different textures, a ‘Soft’ and coarser ,‘Plain’, of acid etched, clear glass which I was happy to supply years before it became part of the main stream glass market.

Along the way, I also discovered the availability of ‘privacy’ panels made with iridescent marbles, 3-D glass tiles from Czechoslovakia, cast glass art panels from Murano, Italy, holographic, light refracting, laminated glass, electro-chromic glass that would darken at the touch of a button and glass that looked like marble or wood grain. We also developed the capability to laminate fabric, paper and screen wire between the glass and found people with the ability to laminate vinyl wall covering patterns behind the glass, slump large panels for shower enclosures and privacy panels and silvering the backs of the textured and colored float glass.

For me, it was like the ‘Golden Age’ of creative glass projects and I did a house where all the interior doors were done with ‘1/2” Cross-Reeded’ glass and one with laminated glass with silver squares, bank teller side panels for a wonderful bank in Manzanita, OR., and a large residential exercise room with an entire wall of ‘Peach Mirror’ made from Spanish ‘Pink Rosa’ glass that reflected the outside landscape and always made you look gorgeous like you had just stepped out of the tanning booth.
I was the Maestro, orchestrating projects such as a condo next to the Sellwood Bridge where all the surfaces in the large, white carpeted bedroom were done with a deep green, back-painted, surface reflecting glass including the fireplace surround, closet doors and stereo speakers. The fixtures in the bathroom were gold-plated.

Rainbow holographic
Textured clear glass

A similar project was the kitchen in a house out in the country near Hillsboro where all the cabinets, appliances and back splashes were done in a medium blue, beveled, back-painted, surface reflecting glass that expanded the space and reflected the fields and surrounding farmland. Commercial projects included the dark blue, sandblasted panels in the Police Memorial Plaza next to the Hawthorn Bridge, ‘Opal 80’ glass in the Ed Carpenter installation inside the Salem Cinemas in Salem and the glass tower in front of City Hall in Orlando, FL., also by Ed Carpenter, with both ‘Opal 40 and Opal 80’ glass.

This unique glass by Asahi, discovered by chance in Singapore trying to match a competitor’s glass, is a glowing blue that transmits a ‘sunshine yellow’ light in the transparent version and a baby blue glass that transmits a deep, opal-fire orange light in the opaque version. Asahi made 1000 cases of this glass and swore to never make it again because of the highly corrosive effect on the glass tanks.
I used the opaque version again to surround the entire conference area of the BMC Software headquarters in Houston, TX. and as the top of a steel and glass conference table I designed and had constructed for an architectural firm. I sold some to David Hutchhausen for use in his laminated glass constructions done with a glue developed for NASA and shown at an exhibit in the Bellevue Art Museum. Finally, I used up all that Asahi had available and now have the last remaining remnants in the World.

More textures and patterns

I did the personnel shelters at the Economy Parking area at the Portland Airport and the glass around the conference room of the Delta Crown Room lounge at the airport. This was done with an acid etched ‘Blind Glass’ pattern from Asahi where you can’t see straight through the glass, but can at a 45 degree angle. This was supposed to be a prototype installation for Delta’s lounges throughout the country. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, the project got scrubbed after a couple decided to have an amorous frolic on the conference table, not realizing that they were on full display at an angle. Management was mortified and another good project was foiled by human nature.

I did the glass for the Donor Board and inset into the floor for the Engineering Building at OSU and the historic photos on gold reflective, back-coated glass inset into the walls of the main TriMet light rail station in Hillsboro with valuable help from Gil Reynolds. There were ‘Azurelite’, crackle glass counters for the Neil Kelly showroom and cobalt blue panels in a construction company office that I ‘cracked’ with a center point punch on the lower edge, so the resulting pattern propagated into a tree form. There was the lounge at SeaTac done with some dichroic glass, a black tile bathroom countertop with dichroic blue glass tiles at the intersections, Street of Dreams houses where a boy’s shower door had marbles applied, Murano panels along the top of an interior shower in a townhouse in the Pearl District and many more that have faded from mind.

Gathering of The Guild Charity Table

A charity table was set up at the 2023 Gathering of the Guilds to support Mercy Corps. Thank you to all the participating artists for donating their artwork to a great cause.

Their art allowed the Gathering of the Guilds to send $1,283 to Mercy Corps – a global team of humanitarians working together on the front lines of crisis, disaster, poverty, and climate change to deliver aid in the wake of emergencies.

Thank you to all for allowing us to make an impact.


Special note: If you are the artist of these two pieces, please contact Terry Thomas to claim.

Why do I volunteer?

If you are thinking about how to get involved, Linda Gerrard’s article will help answer some of your questions…

I joined the Glass Guild about 10 years ago and have been the Sponsorship Director for nearly that entire time. From early on, I decided that I would attend the Board meetings as well as the general meetings that were held each month so I could see the organization from the inside out. We hadn’t had a Sponsorship Director for several years and I thought this was an area I could help out with. As Sponsorship Director, I not only brought in new sponsors, but I lead the team who did the Vendor Fair as well.


Additionally, I was also on the planning committee. There were around 8 of us who got together and tossed around ideas for the general meetings. Once we decided on a few topics for several monthly meetings, someone would volunteer to contact the Sponsor, potential Sponsor or member to see if they were interested in presenting to the group. Well, I have to say they nearly always said yes and this made for very interesting general meetings.

I was fortunate to be able to attend a Guild sponsored class where I gained so much knowledge about particular technique from an expert. When the Guild didn’t bring someone in for a couple years, I took it upon myself to contact one of my favorite artists and see if they would come to Portland to do a class. I did that for 3 or 4 years and all the participants were thrilled they could take these classes.


So, you’re probably wondering why I would volunteer to help out in so many areas. Well, after attending several meetings and seeing how generous everyone was to answer questions and help new fusers (which I was), I decided that I wanted to be contribute to this wonderful organization.


Have you heard the phrase “Many hands makes light work”? Have you experienced the kindness and giving of other members? Have you participated in a class sponsored by the Guild? Have you received a discount from a sponsor or participated in a sponsored activity like empty bowls? Did you attend one of the Vendor Fairs? What am I getting at? That’s easy, we need YOU to volunteer so the Guild can continue bringing these fabulous things to our members. None of the positions are hard to do and we have lots of people who are there to help out, so give it some thought. Where can you help out?

2023 Portland Rose Festival Booth

Stop by the Pacific Northwest Glass Guild booth in the Maker’s Market at the 2023 Portland Rose Festival CityFair. Say hello, talk glass with, and perhaps buy from Guild members there.

2023 CityFair Dates & Hours

  • May 26 5pm – 10pm
  • May 27-29 12pm – 9pm
  • June 2 – 4 12pm – 9pm
  • June 9 – 11 12pm – 9pm

Location: Tom McCall Park, Downtown Portland

Rose Festival CityFair is Portland’s largest waterfront event. Open three full weekends, CityFair features exciting attractions, concerts, and exhibits plus great food and shopping.

Vendor Fair 2023

The sixth Pacific Northwest Glass Guild Vendor Fair held on May 6th was fantastic! We had six Sponsors selling glass, vitrigraph, hardwood stands, a grinding tool, dichro and vitrigraph pots. All were discounting their products, but some were greatly discounted so both our attending members and Sponsors definitely benefitted from the event.

All the participating Sponsors were local to the Portland metro area, but many others were represented because they donated so many wonderful items for our prize drawings. We sold tickets for the 82 prizes we received, or purchased using money donated, from our Sponsors.

So many prizes (thanks to our generous Sponors)…so many winners…

Donations or discounts, on a yearly basis, is how a business maintains their Sponsorship, and they really came through for us again this year! The following Sponsors made cash or product donations for the event: Creative Paradise, CBS Dichroic, CRLynch, The Last Stand, Glass Bird Studios, Spirit of Glass, Bullseye, Marvelous Mosaic, Display Glass Art, Glass Alchemy, Skutt, and our own Lesley Kelly donated a fabulous cutting system. The cash donations were used to purchase more glass and glass-related products for prizes. Between the donated cash and the number of tickets we sold, the funds really helped pay for the event!

These prizes are wonderful and make for a great event, but don’t forget that many of our Sponsors offer you a discount as long as you mention it at the time of purchase (or use a code). Before you buy, be sure to log in to the website and see who offers a discount and take advantage of it. If you buy from them and they know you are a member of PNWGG, they will renew their Sponsorship year after year.

In addition to the great buys and prizes, we also had a wonderful meal of BBQ meats provided by the Guild and a variety of sides and desserts provided by our attending members.

I want to thank the members who volunteered to help with all the tasks required to make this a successful event. This wouldn’t have happened without you! Respectfully Linda Gerrard

General Meetings 3:30, 4th Sunday via Zoom

Slumping, Draping, Kiln Casting etc.

Barbara Cashman – talked about SilkeMat and how you use it. Lael Bennett gave information on how to fire on stainless steel screen without the glass sticking.

Leaf by Lael Bennett shaped by firing on stainless screen

Next meeting June 25th: Public Glass Art 3:30 via Zoom

Where do you find public art, how do you get such commissions, what challenges should you expect. We’re assembling a set of local artists who have done public installations. If you’ve got some experiences to share or know someone who might have, please contact VP Rachel Dollar to get in the speaker line up (it makes things run so much smoother to know who to call on next).

Guild Picnics instead of meetings in July and August

Guild Notes


The Board meeting April 3rd primarily discussed upcoming events: Gathering of the Guilds, the Vendor Fair, and the Rose Festival booth. The next Board meeting is June 5th

For a second year Lesley Kelly organized lots of members in putting on a great PNWGG part of the Gathering of the Guilds in Portland. See related article.

The Sponsorship team: Linda Gerrard, assisted by Rose McBride, added several new sponsors and updated our relationships with others. They also organized a great Vendor Fair in Beaverton OR See related article.

As mentioned elsewhere, please stop and say hi to the members in the Guild’s booth in the Maker’s Market at the Rose Festival.

Summer Picnics?
Karen Seymour has volunteered to host a potluck picnic brunch at her home in Seattle August 13th at 11am.
Portland…..
How about doing one for your area? There are quite a few members in SW Oregon (Eugene and Salem), another cluster near Bend and more near Longview WA. Even if there aren’t many members in your area you can announce a date and have some non-member glass friends over. If we stagger the dates in July and August maybe some of us from other areas will be able to come. Contact President Terry Thomas to schedule yours.

You’re part of the team: Please send in photos of your glass events, new techniques you’re trying, problems you’re having etc. so we may include them in the next newsletter!

Picnic in Seattle August 2022


Pacific NW Glass Events, past & future

Here are some of the finished pieces from the soldering Play Day in March (Debbie Marchione’s waves and Karen Seymour’s rainbow). There was enough interest to do it again June 10th. See the event listing for more info.

Think about holding a Play Day of your own. There’s a list of topic under Glass>Play Days Log in first and you can see the videos too.

In addition to the Gathering of the Guilds and The Vendor Fair mentioned in separate articles several members participated in
• The Best of the Northwest Art Show in Seattle (Lael Bennett, Cheryl Chapman, and Mitzi Kugler)

• Seattle’s Art In Bloom Garden Art Studio Tour (Karen Seymour, Lael Bennett, Bridget Culligan, Charles Friedman, and Janiene Fitzpatrick).

Stephanie Johnston’s studio was on the Gorge Artists Open Studio Tour

Cheryl Chapman at the Best of the Northwest

Lael Bennett at Art In Bloom

Mitzi Kugler at Best of the Northwest

Janiene Fitzpatrick and glass at Art In Bloom

Bridget Culligan’s wisdom of owls at Art in Bloom

Charles Friedman’s shells, balls and planters at Art in Bloom

Please send us photos of your glass events!

(Do YOU have this year’s events on your business website — lots of members haven’t updated to this year yet when I went looking for events for the calendar)

Having a photo makes it so much easier to invite people to participate in an event next year. If you are part of or go to a glass event please take some photos and send the best 2 to the publicity team (400 to 600 px or “medium” resolution, about 500 KB, not more than 1MB).

General meetings in 2023

Zoom, usually on the 4th Sunday of most months, at 3:30pm. Contact Rachel Dollar, our VP, if you have suggestions for future topics. You don’t need to be a member to attend our General Meetings but we would love to have you join.

Early Summer Events:

Logged in members can submit their events under About> Contact Us, Submit Calendar Event tab

(Guild sponsored events are in bold)

May
26-29 Rose Festival display, Portland OR

June
2-4 Rose Festival display, Portland OR
5 Board Meeting via Zoom
9-11 Rose Festival display, Portland OR
9-11 Sorticulture, Everett WA
10 Play Day: Soldering, Seattle WA
16-18 Edmonds Art Festival, Edmonds WA
23-25 Lake Oswego Arts Festival, OR
25 General Meeting via Zoom

July

15 Art In The Garden, Battle Ground WA
16 Guild Picnic, Turner OR (near Salem)
21-23 Salem Art Festival, Salem OR
28-30 Bellevue Arts Museum Fair, Bellevue WA


Featured Sponsor Glass Bird Studios

Introducing Modeling Glass by Glass Bird Studios
Lois Manno developed Modeling Glass after taking a workshop at Bullseye Glass to learn how to make images with powdered glass. She loved the method but didn’t like all that wasted powder, and decided to try and figure out how to turn the powder into something she could sculpt with more control and less waste. That’s how she got the idea for Modeling Glass.

“Renewal” was made in response to the terrible forest fires that have plagued my home state of New Mexico. The fern tendrils are made from Modeling Glass tack-fused to sheet glass and then mounted on a brushed metal panel painted with pine branches.
“Desert Springtime Mask” shows how dimensional Modeling Glass details can be. Each of the cactus plants and the rock detail was sculpted individually and then tack-fused to a flat mask shape made with sheet glass. The mask was then slumped over a ceramic form.
“Winter Woods” measures 9″ x 12″ and shows the delicate effect you can achieve with Modeling Glass. The forest and the snowy branches are made of a series of layers of Modeling Glass tack-fused onto transparent blue backed glass.

The Modeling Glass Starter Kit is a unique two-part kit consisting of a Powdered Binder and Liquid Medium that artists combine with water and their own powdered glass or fine frit. The resulting material has the consistency of clay and is smooth and easy to work with. It won’t stick to your hands or tools. The binder and liquid medium are food-grade and nontoxic. The Starter Kit contains an instruction sheet plus 3.5 oz. of Powdered Binder and 2 oz. of Liquid Medium. Refill sizes are also available, which are each double the amount in a Starter Kit.

You can work with Modeling Glass (MG) in many of the same ways you would work with clay: roll into coils, roll into a flat sheet and cut out shapes, or press into silicone molds. MG holds its shape without freezing. When fired to tack fuse temperatures it will hold an amazing amount of textural detail. It can be thinned with water and used to create beautiful palette-knife textures. Combine colors to make your own blends. Before firing, dry MG shapes can be sanded, carved, and otherwise modified, virtually eliminating the need for extensive cold working after firing. It can be painted with enamels for beautiful effects. During firing, the binder and medium will burn away, and do not affect the compatibility of the glass. It can be used with either COE 90 or 96 glass, and at full-fuse temperatures, colors remain true.

An assortment of feathers made using Modeling Glass, ranging from 13″ to 15″. Each one is hand sculpted and unique, no molds are used.
This flicker measures approximately 7″ long and is 3mm thick. It was sculpted from white Modeling Glass and then was painted with Rogue Enamels before firing. Painting unfired Modeling Glass is similar to painting on watercolor paper, as it is very absorbent.

Lois has also written an eBook called Exploring Modeling Glass: The Basics and More. It can be purchased on the Modeling Glass website! The book contains 81 pages of clear, step-by-step instructions and 160 photos. Featuring seven complete projects, you will learn the basic techniques for mixing, sculpting, and combining Modeling Glass with enamels. The book includes project templates and all firing schedules (designed to work with both Bullseye and System 96) in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. This eBook is suitable for all levels of experience.

The cover of the eBook.
This Holiday Plate measures 10″ x 10″ and features two ornaments that were cut out of red Modeling Glass with gold mica and contour-fused onto backing glass. Note how the ornaments were also used as stencils for the powder work before they were fused in place.

Glass Bird Studios
Albuquerque, NM
www.modelingglass.com
505.459.9828
glassbirdstudios@gmail.com

Thanks to our Sponsors!

These companies and organizations are an integral part of the glass art community. We thank our Sponsors for supporting our Guild through either generous donations or by offering discounts to our Members. Please take time to thank them for their generosity when you visit their businesses.

Gold Level Sponsors




Silver Level Sponsors

Artifex Toolworks – Glass Alchemy – HIS Glass Works