Pipemakers, what is your background in art?

Very interesting people!

I went to magnet schools and was a "gifted" student. I finished high school 1 year early.I was making complicated beadworks by age 16 and started a little business that payed for my travels with the Dead.
I took a stained glass class in 1992 and loved it!

My first hot glass experience was 1999 in Humbolt,CA. My boyfriends roommates both blew glass and I got to watch :)
bythe next year,I was part owner of GreenHouse. I was lucky to learn from 40+ glass artists (it was kinda overwhelming!)
I made glass part-time
I gave up the stores in 2004 in favor of glass working full time
I have taken 3 classes; Dichroic Alchemy taught a class in my shop in 2001, Chris Rice and Jackie Koba in N.Y. 2004, and John Kobuki in Seattle, WA in 2005
I support my family of 4 on my glass.
my man/partner of 9 years is my distributor
christina cody

I am a business major with a focus on accounting with a minor in anthropology(study of mankind). I never viewed myself as an artistic person with the predispositions of colorblindness, but that has all changed. My attention to detail and love for geometric patterns along with some high school graffiti training, I am self taught for the most part. bought my own torch and eight months later hereI am. One day I showed some interest in one of my friends pieces after a well deserved break between classes, and he said he knew somebody who could get me started. I never really intended to lampwork, it was really coincidental

Man i wish i had art classes in high school. Our school canceled all art, music, and psychology classes for the sports teams to stay in new uniforms.

I'm still resentful.

i took every art, photography and drafting classes i could in high school. got accepted to go to college for architectural engineering, then i got an offer to become a machinist so i scrapped college and started on my apprenticeship. worked as a custom (one off) machinist for about 10 years. learned from an old german and an old hungarian. learned lots of lost stuff that you dont learn in school at all. never any cnc. got sick of that and started to teach myself glass. been doing it self taught for the last 5 years. i am also a dj. not the wedding kind but the big electronic music party kind. been doing that also for about the last 5 years.

art was the only class in hs that i never cut...even went to great lengths to sneak back onto the school grounds to get to art class. took art every summer school for fun. took college pottery classes while in hs.

needed a job after hs. saw an ad in the classifieds: "glassblower wanted, will train" went there, told them i wanted the job, they said well it gets real hot, i said, "i don't care." they said, "can you start tomorrow?" i said," sure what do i wear?" they said," anything you want, but just don't wear those pantyhose. " sort of apprenticed/on the job training 2 years full time.

then ended up taking a glass break for 20 years.... became a registered nurse, worked hard/supported my family, critical care ccu/icu for 20 years, blew my back out and got really burnt out on the medical scene.

back to glass part time 2001. started reading everything i could find, the forum, have attended the past 6 agi's. spent a week with rex trimm learning about graal. took a 3 day john kobuki class.

kept working part time in hospital til 2 years ago, quit cause i needed time off to go to agi & some festivals.

gotta have your priorities ya kno.......

so... matte eskuche and RAM are pipemakers..!!! yes.