I first started my journey in glass art in the cold shop of a local casting studio, working on machines like wet saws, flat grinders, and lap wheels. Occasionally I would help coldwork or bevel large sinks and countertops made out of recycled float glass. This was an unpaid internship and after closing I was allowed to practice flameworking on their Nortel major-minor bead torches. 


  As soon as was able to afford a flameworking class I jumped at the opportunity, and I was hooked right away, I tried my best to stay current with classes by taking at least one a year from 2015-2020. I have been active in both champs trade shows at a national level and small local events, holiday sales and flame competitions across the country. I’m extremely passionate about competition because it always provides a healthy challenge for myself, I enjoy pushing my abilities to the limit, and being under a time constraint is always a fun added challenge. Competitions are great for building community and fostering a learning environment as well. Glass has provided many opportunities for me to travel for these events and for that I’m very grateful. 


  My current body of work focuses on recreating the rarely documented history of pipe making, such as Indigenous American “calumet pipes”, ancient Chinese opium pipes, and antique Germanic wine pipes or “gesteckpfeife”. One of my favorite things about the glass craft is that it allows for the opportunity to teach subjects like history by replicating ancient objects or techniques.


 I have also been working on incorporating modern technology, such as photo editing software (photoshop/procreate) and a vinyl plotter to achieve image transfer for “Graal” without using photo-rayzist products or a darkroom. Printmaking and linocut were among my first lessons in studio art so I’m always excited to learn new Image transfer techniques and processes and apply them to glass.