issue-2025-01

2025: January Issue

PNWGlassGuild.org

Karen Azinger’s Kiralynn Monk

Upcoming events: pnwglassguild.org/events/
(Bolded events are Guild sponsored)

January
11 Parklane Gallery Artist reception, Kirkland WA
13 Steel Queen Exhibit Artist Reception, Lake Oswego OR
18 Glass Artists of Central OR Meetup, Bend OR
20 Board Meeting via Zoom (note this is a date change)
26 General Meeting From Camera to Website, via Zoom

February
2 Glass Artists Brunch, Seattle WA
19-23 NW Flower and Garden Show, Seattle WA
22 Play Day: scrap melts, Seattle WA
22 Glass Artists of Central OR Meetup, Redmond OR
23 General Meeting: Organizing, via Zoom

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

Contents

  • Featured Artists: Sean Goddard, Andrew Jagels
  • President’s Message
  • Board of Directors
  • Welcome to our Newest Members
  • Play Days
  • General Meetings
  • Guild News: volunteers needed
  • Recent Event Photos
  • Coming Events
  • Featured Sponsor: The Last Stand & Diamonds Grind Glass by Gerald McBride
  • Thanks to All Our Sponsors

Read the whole issue on the website:
https://www.pnwglassguild.org/article-cat/issue-2025-01/

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

Featured Artist: Sean Goddard, Salt Spring Island, BC

Sean Goddard, www.seangoddardinsects.com, originally hails from Mississauga, Ontario. He began dabbling in glasswork while living in Whistler in the 1990s. What began as a hobby quickly turned into a cottage industry for Sean as he began to sell his new creations at the markets and galleries in the region.

“At some point , I made my first insect piece inspired by a book called An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles. One thing led to another and I was fortunate enough to have gained a buying audience that allowed me to carry on. The desire to further delve into the glasswork is met equally with the enjoyment of the biodiversity of nature in the insect world. There is so much colour and form that I don’t think I will ever tire of it and hope to continue to evolve my work to represent a slice of that world”

Currently, Sean Goddard Insect Sculptures are created on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. You can find them at various premiere shows located throughout the Pacific Northwest (see more info here) and Sean Goddard Insects Salt Spring Island Gallery (location details here).

For a closer look, watch this video provided by www.SaltSpringLife.com or come see him and his work at the NW Flower and Garden Show Feb. 19th – 23rd in the Seattle Convention Center, booth 1116.

Featured Artist: Andrew Jagels, Portland, OR

As a new member of our Glass Guild, it is such a pleasure to be a part of this vibrant community and to share a bit about myself with all of you. My art background is deeply rooted in my connection with nature. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I frequently immersed myself in the outdoors (sometimes literally), exploring the rivers, coast, and redwoods. It was in my father’s backyard studio that I first began working with stained glass, bringing to life a variety of flora and fauna, both real and imagined.

Fast forward to today: After engaging in studies of fine arts and zoological sciences, followed by nearly two decades of crafting grand, innovative creatures for theatrical productions worldwide with Oregon’s Michael Curry Design, I have rekindled my passion for glass. Now, with a unique fabrication perspective, I strive to create my own, exquisitely smaller works for more intimate audiences.

In addition to my passion for mechanics and kinetics, I work with a diverse range of mediums, including glass and porcelain, papers and textiles, gouache, wood, brass…and of course light!

The forests and waters of the Pacific Northwest offer sumptuous depths for my studies, and have become the sole inspiration for my current works. Currently focused on oceanic themes, I can still often be found along the coastline, exploring and observing the diverse environments.
I have included images of some of the concept sketches and glass studies I’ve been exploring. Presently, I am working on similar glass sketches of bubbles, barnacles, anemones, and whales. I look forward to sharing my completed body of work once my studies are finished!

Robin concept and sketch

School of Fish

Ocean Inversion study

3 Sunset sketches

In addition to my own artistic endeavors, I have been studying with Narcissus Quagliata for the past 3 years. This summer, I had the pleasure of working beside the maestro on his new masterpiece, “The Bench”, here at Bullseye Glass in Portland. It was also a joy to collaborate with our fellow Guild artist, Carlyne Lynch, and the amazing crew at Bullseye Glass. As my journey with Narcissus continues, I am honored to soon become a teacher and coach for his new “Painting With Glass Community”, beginning in 2025.

I wish you all great success with your own creations and I look forward to sharing more of our artistic journeys together.

Andrew and Narcissus

Andrew working with Narcissus on “The Bench” at Bullseye Portland

President’s Message

January 2025

Hi everyone,

I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year and hope that you all have a very prosperous and happy year.

Last year was very busy with Gathering of the Guilds in the spring, picnics and playdates all spring, summer and fall, a new venue at Margie’s Fall Sale in October, and Open Studios as well. In addition, the monthly meetings were a wealth of information on glass-related subjects which were very enlightening, including the month when we heard about innovative ways to pack and ship your glass. We also had several Sherlocking sessions at Margie Reiff’s house and hope that we can continue those sessions in 2025.

All these programs come to our members through the very hard work of our board and everyone who volunteers their time for the Guild. Right now, we have two positions on the board that we need volunteers for – the Website Team Leader and the Newsletter Team Leader. These are very important positions that are invaluable to the Guild. There are a number of Guild members who work on these teams and support the team leader to help make the newsletter and the website a keystone to the guild’s success. If you are interested in the duties of these positions, please contact Karen Seymour for information on the website duties and Greta Schneider for information on the newsletter duties. I hope you will consider helping us with these vital positions and help to make the Guild a successful and very useful tool for all our members.

President Lesley Kelly

Thanks,
Lesley

2025 Board of Directors

We are looking for members to shadow board members and/or join the various teams 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 president Lesley Kelly 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 bring 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.

Carrie Davidson, Leavenworth WA
Sean Goddard, Salt Spring Island BC
Tracy Ann Michel, Redmond WA

Play Days

From Carlyne Lynch:
One of the great benefits of being a PNW Glass Guild Member is being part of Play Days. I do many play days a month and this year I plan on posting them on the Guild’s calendar so more people have a chance to join me. I also encourage you to create a few play days yourself! Start out with people you know and also include a member close to you. You can log into the website and go to For Members>Member Contacts List and search by city or sort by zip code to find members in your area.

This is a great way to get to know people in your area and explore techniques together. Let’s get our community even more involved with hands-on experience! Create your own focused play day and send the event to our volunteer to put on the calendar (log in and go to About>Contact us, Submit Calendar Event form). See the Play Days page for more info and some ideas.

Before and after firing of one of Carlyne’s Play Day experiments

Watch the calendar for upcoming Play Days: the Feb 22nd: Scrap melts in Seattle is the only one so far.
Add yours soon and we’ll help get the word out.

There are also some meetups on the calendar if you want to get together with other glass artists without a particular project focus:
Glass Artists of Central Oregon Meetup Jan. 18th in Bend OR and Feb. 22nd in Redmond OR
Seattle Area Glass Artists Potluck Brunch Feb. 2nd

General Meetings

Meetings are usually on Zoom on the 4th Sunday of the month from 3:30 to 5:00 PM Pacific Time

January 26th: From camera to website. We’ll be discussing a few basic glass photography tips followed by how to get the image off your cell phone and onto a website with a bit of photo-editing thrown in too. This is to help you get your profile into the Members’ Gallery so that will be the specific example but the tips are going to be widely applicable. Bring your own examples and questions.

February 23rd: Organizing your stash. Mitzi Kugler has created a spreadsheet for inventorying your frit that she’s offered to share with members. Other artists are encouraged to share their tips for keeping their things organized.

Please contact VP Barb Kienle to get on the speaker’s list so she knows who to call on next. A diverse group of speakers makes the meeting more interesting.

Guild News

Website: We have switched our membership payment processor from Square to Stripe and it seems to be working smoothly now. If you have problems with a payment, please contact the treasurer.

The Guild is made up of busy people like you. Help us help each other by volunteering a few hours a month:

Can you proof? We put out an issue of the newsletter every two months and we’re looking for another Newsletter Editor to lead the team. You don’t need to write all the articles (Barb Kienle, Debbie Marchione, Karen Seymour, Greta Schneider, and Rae Williamson are currently also on the team) but you should have a sense of organizing the whole issue and making sure everything gets in without too many errors. Having a computer and some computer skills or being willing to learn is necessary. You need a word-processing level of skill but the work will be inside WordPress on our website instead of MS Word or whatever you use. You’ll need to attend Board meetings on the occasional Monday or Tuesday evening every couple of months so you can report on any new developments there. Please contact the Newsletter Team for more info.

Want to make the website more cell phone friendly? Like troubleshooting? We know the layout is dated and more slanted toward desktop viewing. With the new theme switch we just went through, we should be able to slowly modify things to make accessing the site’s features from a cell phone just as easy as on a desktop. We’re looking for a Website Team Lead who can report problems and solutions to the board and to the website maintenance contractor who does the heavy lifting on fixing problems and making back-end programming changes if needed. Knowing or being willing to learn a bit of WordPress is important, although no programming is required. Helping create and/or revise help files so we don’t have to figure things out from scratch each time is also part of the job, when you have some time. You don’t have to do it all yourself: Karen Seymour, Stephanie Johnston, Kate Nichlos, and Linda Roman manage various parts of the website. Please contact the Website Team for more info.

Want to be the first to know about glass events? The website team needs a new Event Coordinator to add events from the member submitted form and other sources to the Guild’s website calendar and emails. Having a computer is necessary. Some copy-writing and editing skills would be helpful. Debbie Marchione, who has been doing it, has to focus on other things for a while. Please contact the Website Team for more info.

Recent Event Photos

The guild’s holiday party at Linda Gerrard’s was lots of fun (thank you Linda Gerrard and Carlyne Lynch for sending photos).
The 11 people at the holiday brunch in Seattle were having so much fun that no one remembered to take photos.

Please send us photos of your glass events:

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 Newsletter team (400 to 600 px or “medium” resolution, about 500 KB, not more than 1MB if you can help it).

Coming Glass Events

General meetings in 2025 are via Zoom, usually on the 4th Sunday of most months, at 3:30 pm
(no meetings in April, July, August, or December).

Contact our VPs 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. Videos of many meetings are available to members by choosing Glass>Education from the menu.

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

Winter 2025:

(Guild sponsored events are in bold)

January
11 Parklane Gallery Artist reception, Kirkland WA
13 Steel Queen Exhibit Artist Reception, Lake Oswego OR
18 Glass Artists of Central OR Meetup, Bend OR
20 Board Meeting via Zoom (note this is a date change)
26 General Meeting From Camera to Website, via Zoom

February
2 Glass Artists Brunch, Seattle WA
19-23 NW Flower and Garden Show, Seattle WA
22 Play Day: scrap melts, Seattle WA
22 Glass Artists of Central OR Meetup, Redmond OR
23 General Meeting: Organizing, via Zoom

March

April
25-27 Gathering of the Guilds, Portland OR
(watch for more info soon)
26-27 Garden Art Tour and Sale, Seattle WA

Kiralynn Monk by member Karen Azinger


Until January 27th the Lakewood Gallery in Lake Oswego is having an exhibit of glass work inspired by Karen Azinger’s Silk and Steel Saga fantasy book series. Members Diane Muhly, Ann Cavanaugh, Carlyne Lynch, Linda Gerrard, Megan Cavanaugh, Greta Schneider, Dijenaire Frazer, Juliet Peterson Spaulding and Karen Azinger and her husband Rick Holmes are participating. There is an artists’ reception Monday January 13th from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm.

Looking Ahead: Volunteers needed NOW

Our glass events don’t happen spontaneously: it takes organizing and prep. Give a little time and energy, get a lot more fun, glass info and sense of community.

• Just a few hours a month helping one of the teams with the many ongoing, easily-leaned tasks will be greatly appreciated.
For more info contact: Newsletter/publicity team, Website team, Sponsorship team,

• Portland/Vancouver area Vendor Fair needs someone to start organizing now. Contact the sponsorship team lead.

• Gathering of the Guilds (GOTG) will need volunteers before the April 25-27 event. Contact Lesley Kelly

Featured Sponsor: The Last Stand and Diamonds Grind Glass by Gerald McBride

The Last Stand

I began creating bespoke hardwood display stands and frames in 2019 to showcase the stained-glass art pieces my wife, Rose McBride, was creating. By 2021 both Rose and I were busily fusing glass and I needed display options for my own glass art as well.

As other artists began seeing my display stands at Gathering of the Guilds and other art fairs and venues, they began showing me their art pieces or concepts for future pieces and asking if we might work together to create custom display stands to accent their art in functional ways. I loved the idea, and, with the ever-appreciated encouragement of Guild member, Charlene Fort, I began my first sponsorship with the Pacific Northwest Glass Guild.

There are endless possibilities for displaying your glass art. I work primarily with high-quality hardwoods, often with live edges, but I am known for following each artist’s lead to create what seems “just right to them for their artwork”.

Members of this Guild always receive a discount on any production wood bases I create to sell at the Pacific Northwest Glass Guild Vendor Fair or sales through other Guild events (Log in to PNWGlassGuild.org and go to About>Our Sponsors to see how to claim your discount). My prices for custom work always include all work from consultation to completion and I strive to keep my pricing highly competitive.

As you take each piece out of your kiln or off of your light table this winter and throughout the year, think about how you want it displayed for an upcoming sale and send me an email or give me a call. We can also arrange for you to come to our workshop and studios next door to the beautiful Willamette Valley Vineyards and Winery south of Salem, Oregon to work out the details. I look forward to working with you to give your artwork “that look”!

Bespoke display stand

Diamonds Grind Glass

Water feeds out at the grinder tip
right where you need it

As a glass artist myself, I know how much work goes into every piece of art you bring into existence. Sketching, planning, assembling components, testing, more testing, then reworking and firing until what you envisioned is right there before you.

Craftsmanship is all about beautifully created and finished pieces of art. For glass artists this means having well-finished edges as well as being able to grind glass to finish within delicate interior areas of a piece.

The great thing about our Guild is that we like to share with each other. We share what works and we share angst when we come up against problems that need a fix. I created the Diamonds Grind Glass tool to address a chief concern expressed to me by this Guild’s artists. “How can I work on the interior edges within lace to remove unsightly spikes or carve out areas within my art piece without immersing the piece in water in my sink to do this kind of grinding?”

Diamonds Grind Glass original “water-at-the-tip” roto-grinder allows you to set up your water source and tool anywhere you wish to do your work. We use this tool at our own studios. I sought testing of it by, and feedback from, several Guild artists before producing this tool kit for sale. They continue to sell well within our glass community and I will continue to offer them to Pacific Northwest Glass Guild members at the same discounted price in 2025 as in 2024 (for details Log in to PNWGlassGuild.org and go to About>Our Sponsors for details). If shipping is required, I will only charge you my cost to ship it to you.

You can order this highly useful tool directly from me at any time. It will also be fore sale at the 2025 Pacific Northwest Glass Guild Vendor Fair.

Happy New Year. Keep in touch.

Gerald McBride 503• 349• 5166

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