Featured Artist: Pam Bielenberg, Albany OR

I am a fused glass artist belonging to the Fire and Light Glass Guild out of Corvallis, OR, and the Pacific Northwest Glass Guild. I have been fusing glass since about 2014 after I fell in love with the medium at craft shows and just had to learn how.

We built a new house during the pandemic lockdown so I was able to add a wonderful glass and craft studio in place of a spare bedroom and wire the garage for kilns.

My glass hobby brings me joy and I like to add whimsy to my work: Cocktail and beer pint ornaments (#BoozerFuser), smiling llamas and slugs, funny chickens, and yard-art flowers created by my 80-something mother. I like creating with others and miss having access to the Oregon State University Craft Center, so I make my own glass crafting groups with family, friends, and neighbors. I even prep simple projects for the many children at our house on Easter Sunday. Glass art is more fun when shared! I keep considering doing classes for small groups, but just haven’t launched that idea.

My favorite glass to create with is dichroic for jewelry, and Bullseye’s streaky with blues and/or greens for backgrounds — ocean scenes, sky with flowers, and night-time with Bigfoot, among others. I fuse with COE 90 from Bullseye.

My biggest challenge is kiln programs. I now have three kilns and mess up the firing schedules on a regular basis!

I participate in about six sales every year. The three I have coming up are

I am facing a time-crunch with my recent breast cancer diagnosis and treatments taking most of the spring and summer, my daughter’s wedding later this month, and a three-week trip to Europe planned for October, so I had better get to creating. But–maybe not as much as I would normally, since I have noticed the shows I have participated in this year have significantly lower sales than in the past. We may be in for some interesting times with the current economy. Wish me luck!

You can see more of Pam Bielenberg’s work in the Members’ Gallery