I am a glass artist living and working in the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania, and am the founder and sole member of Hyaline Expressions Glass Art.

I grew up thinking that I didn’t have artistic “talent” because I didn’t like drawing or painting. I was a scientist, driven to try to understand rocks from a very young age. Beginning in 2017, I discovered that I am an artist. I just hadn’t found the medium that inspired me to develop my skills and allowed me to express my creativity. That medium is hot glass.

Glass feeds my inner scientist and my inner artist. I love how material science informs the art and how the art drives material science. Blowing glass feels like I am performing jazz with magma. The formation of bubbles in molten silicates drives some of nature’s greatest spectacles, volcanic eruptions. I have spent years walking through and working to understand landscapes that include mountain-sized piles of glass fragments from stupendously large eruptions. Now, I am excited to work on a much more intimate scale to control the formation and form of single bubbles. I love the fluid nature of hot glass and the flexibility it allows, combined with the immediacy of the transition from fluid to solid, and the focus it requires. Resolving that tension requires skill and improvisation to support each other and is a tremendous source of challenge and joy.

My primary interest is in creating forms, sometimes utilitarian, sometimes purely sculptural, with complex color patterns. Often, I am inspired by the textures and colors of natural materials, especially rocks and minerals. I am also inspired by the beautiful depth of color in the glass itself and the interactions of light and color. Much of my work draws on the mathematical and physical properties and artistic affordances of glass cane (rods of colored glass) and murrine (disks of patterned glass, fabricated from cane). In this work, I seek to explore the application of ancient techniques to create modern aesthetics.

I also love how glass blowing, like all art, is a process of continuous learning and development, even after many years. I enjoy seeing my teachers learn from their work, just as I learn from my work with them. I am thrilled to be at a place where I am proud to share my pieces with others, but I look forward to many years of learning and growth as an artist. You can see my work on Instagram and Etsy under my personal studio, Hyaline Expressions.

I began blowing glass in an introductory class at our local community glass studio (at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem) in 2017 and have been taking classes and blowing there regularly ever since. I have also taken classes at the Corning Glass Studio, Urban Glass, and the Salem Art Works.