Why Glass Fruit?
I adore fruit, especially berries. I like to look at them, touch them, smell them, eat them. I wanted to be able to wear them and decorate with them too! Since I also love glass and work with it as my favorite art medium, it seemed logical to make fruit out of glass. Simple, right? Until I discovered that nobody in the world was making lifelike berries out of glass. I couldn’t find anyone to teach me so I had to figure out how on my own. It took awhile.
After many, many attempts I managed to make the first glass raspberry that looked real. I made several more glass raspberries, strung them on a wire and wore them as a necklace. When people stopped me in the street to ask how I kept the raspberries from staining my blouse I knew I was on the right track. Since then I have taught myself to make many other berry varieties and have developed them into a line of jewelry. The jewelry and the glass berry sculptures are sold in galleries around the country, and have found homes with other berry lovers as far away as Moscow and South Africa.
I discovered that, like me, most people have some happy childhood memories of berry picking. Whether it was blackberries, blueberries or gooseberries, we all remember the heat of the sun, the sticky fingers, the smell of the warm berries and the incredible explosions of taste that made all the mosquito bites and thorn scratches worthwhile. Many of us also associate those memories with lost family members. Because I picked blueberries with my beloved Nana, they will always make me think of her.
Even people who weren’t privileged to go berry picking when they were young love the sensual appeal of berries ‑ their brilliant colors, luscious shiny or velvety skins, tastes and fragrances. Berries speak to us of abundance and healthy pleasures. I want my glass berries to help you capture some of those pleasures in a permanent form.