Featured Artist: Athena Hornsby, concrete, Washington

My love of art was born at a young age due to necessity and boredom. I made mud pies and macaroni mosaic and potholders out of old socks. Yes, old socks. Imagine taking bread from the oven with old socks and yes, we made bread too. Before bread became artisan, it was just bread. When I was in the seventh grade an art teacher inspired me and, though I never pursued anything at the time, the seed was planted. I went through a phase in life called ‘making a living’ and then finally gave that up and just chose art. I have dabbled with flowers, fabric, beads and baking and finally settled on glass as my choice for perfection.

Basically, I am self-taught but I love to learn and continue to take classes in stained glass, mosaic and glass fusing. I have studied under international masters of contemporary mosaic such as Martin Cheek and Christine Stewart. Other classes and workshops are done locally. I, myself, am a teacher of stained glass, mosaic and fusing. Sharing the love of glass inspires me as well, making me continually reach for new ideas and techniques.