I have worked in the culinary field for 23 years as a chef and instructor. I find that experience is a great foundation for working in glass. The two disciplines are so different, yet there are so many techniques that translate from one to the other.

I approach glass from the knowledge that I need to know how everything works; how cold and heat affect raw materials, how time and temperature produce different outcomes, and that there are recipes to follow. I know that practice is necessary to produce consistent results.

For years I have worked in a very temporal environment. Food has shelf life. If it is not eaten, it will spoil. I create art when I carve vegetables into flowers, ice into sculptures, gingerbread into mansions, and sauces into paintings.

Now I am working in a permanent environment. What I create today may be here for my great, great grandchildren to see. I like the legacy of glass. It is the permanency that challenges me to become bold-to push my limits. I love pushing the boundaries of my knowledge to create something completely new.

As a child I always loved campfires. I would find an old bottle to throw in the fire. Once it was hot, I would push a stick in it and stretch it. I now know this was the beginning of my love of glass and the desire to work in this unique medium. That child is never far away when I work in glass today.

I love being playful with my art.