MaryAnn Ready - What would a day be without an art activity of some sort? ART began filling my mornings, days, nights and/or wee hours when I retired from my career with children and their families. Where else could I go and find such rich rewards and deeply satisfying activity for myself? How else could I stay in touch with myself? After taking as many classes as I could find in Washington and California, I flowed into paper crafts, altered books, visual journaling, soul cards, cigar boxes and now, prayer flags. Participating with other ‘Sparrow’s Nesters’ will be an honor....
Marilynn Dondero-Rich - Dancing Moon Studios, Ferndale, Washington.
I consider myself both a glass and fiber artist. I have worked with fiber all my life in various forms; I have worked with glass for twenty years. A visit to Pilchuck School for a day with the artists exposed me to glass blowing and information that in Seattle there is a school, Pratt. I called and signed up for the next class. It is hot and heavy work, and yes you will burn yourself! I figured that I would never have that kind of studio. Next, a bead show that changed my life, the Society of Glass Beadmakers (now International Society of Glass Beadmakers, or ISGB) in 92. I saw much at that show, but what caught my eye was the glittery dichro glass. I took a class in fusing and also silversmithing. It turned out this was not the direction for me to go as I soon found out with taking a beadmaking class on the torch. I soon found out I was hooked on this kind of glass work; it became my passion soon turning at one point to an obsession. I work mostly in soft glass, Italian, Effetre and U.S. Bullseye, and some Japanese. I also work in hard glass, boro. I have been known to use bottle glass because I like the color of those wonderful green bottles.
I feel that glass is a seductive medium and an every learning challenge. Working with glass is a Zen thing for me. There is so much you can do with the material if you think of it in the right terms; it is liquid that has hardened. Since it is fluid, it can be manipulated to about anything you can imagine. All it takes is a bit of imagination, work and much practice. I have taken classes from a number of artists and from there have created my own style. Each time I set down to the torch I try to play a bit and push myself to try different projects. Even though I have done torch work or lamp work for approximately fifteen years, feel to have just scratched the surface. Since I also like fiber, paper, metal as well as passion for glass, thinking up projects that can use a multitude of materials is challenging and fun.
I sell my work through shows, both bead and quilt, galleries in the states and abroad.
