Featured Artist Fred Buxton, Keyport , WA

Fred in his studio.

I am a native of Washington State, living most of my life on the Kitsap Peninsula, just a ferry ride from Seattle. I was raised in a family of highly creative people and dabbled in various mediums including pottery, sketching, painting, and metal work. Art has always been part of the fabric of my life, but I never really considered myself an artist (sound familiar?). When I retired in 2011, I had intentions of becoming a metal sculptor, but found it to be too much like the work I had done early in my career in the Shipyards.

I have been fascinated with fused glass since the early 1980’s when I met a couple of glass artists during a local studio tour. In 2014, I was introduced to a local glass artist who needed display stands fabricated. Being a welder, I worked out a deal to make stands in trade for lessons. I immediately fell in love with kiln formed glass and knew I had found my medium for artistic expression. After working out of a cramped corner of my garage for two years, I built a studio and began offering basic fusing classes. In 2019, I joined Loraine Wolff at Waterfront
Glass Studio where I currently create and teach.

I feeI indebted to many people in the glass community who have shared their knowledge and
experience. I have been inspired by and taken classes from some of the best artists in the field
including Michael Dupille, Ann Cavanaugh, and Donna Sarafis.

I believe as artists, we should
always be learning and growing. Next on my list to take classes from are Miriam DeFiore, Paul
Messink, and Linda Humphrey.

Although I love trying almost anything that can be done with glass in a kiln, my main focus is
Impressionistic landscapes and the human form. I work primarily with sheet glass, frit and
occasionally enamel paint to create my images. To achieve clarity and depth in my pieces, I
developed a technique I call my “flip technique” where I work on both sides of the glass and
then fuse layers together. I start each piece with a vision and a plan. But as anyone with fusing
experience will tell you, glass melting in a kiln does not always do what is expected. One of my
mentors gave me the most profound advice: “Go where the glass takes you”.

My love of sculpture and curiosity for all things done with glass in the kiln has me exploring and
experimenting with glass casting. Learning mold making, sculpting and developing firing
schedules for casting are a whole new adventure and completely different than painting
landscapes with frit.From 2016 through 2019, I taught “Painting Landscapes in Frit” classes
at my home studio and at studios around the country. I hope to begin teaching again in 2022
with a plan to do individual or small classes where I can provide more personal instruction.