Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace consistently invite us to enter a meditative state. Whatever the medium, each piece seems to raise more questions than provide answers. The artists, respected for their innovative work, have concluded the series for which they are most known, large-scale blown glass fruit and vegetable forms. Their subsequent work includes life-size figurative wood and glass sculptures as well as outdoor bronze installations and glass work that features blown vessels and cast panels with illustrations of the 'first facts' of bird identification realized through applied glass powder drawings. Most recently, the artists have been working on their Botanicals, a body of work that preserves real flowers in composite and glass. 
Kirkpatrick and Mace have worked collaboratively for the past 47 years after meeting at the Pilchuck Glass School in 1979. The artists have consistently explored seminal themes: principles of drawing as incorporated into glass, the metaphoric content of human relationship to nature and the appropriation of materials to support a visual idea. They recently installed a large public art project at the Seattle Center in Seattle, Washington. 
Kirkpatrick (born in Des Moines, Iowa, 1952) and Mace (born in Exeter, New Hampshire, 1949) have exhibited, lectured and taught extensively throughout the world. They taught for 12 years at Pilchuck Glass School. Their collaborative work is included in collections and museums around the world including the Corning Museum of Glass, NY; The Detroit Institute of Art Detroit, MI; The Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA; Hokkaido Museum, Japan; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY; Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Toledo Art Museum, Toledo, OH and The National Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 
Mark Doty, wrote in the introduction of the book, Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C Mace: "This might be the most complex yoking of all, the way that two sensibilities overlap, merge, separate, conflict and resolve. A continuing dynamic, itself both unstable and solid, evolving, transforming materials and processes as it transforms itself."
Kirkpatrick and Mace were recognized in 2019 for their outstanding achievement in the field of contemporary glass art by the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, and have been elected to the American Craft Fellows in 2005, interviewed for the Smithsonian Archives of American Art in 2006 and given the 2001 Chateau Ste. Michelle Libensky Award by Pilchuck Glass School honoring outstanding contemporary artists working in glass. Kirkpatrick served as a trustee on the board of Pilchuck Glass School for 16 years. 

Now, the artists split their time between a home and studio in Seattle, Washington, and a farm on the Olympic Peninsula near the Washington Coast. Their current Botanical sculptures grew out of a desire to capture the essence of a plant by preserving it through portraiture. Each plant is harvested as it shares its bloom, brought into the studio, deconstructed, dried and reassembled. The specimen is then suspended within layers of composites and glass. The finished work has been recreated through the artist's hand and dependent on the artist's view of the specimen by observing in life, the plant's structure, the result, a portrait of a flower.
Of their Botanical sculpture, Daniel J. Hinkley, plantsman wrote: "The works of Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace capture the improbable if not the impossible, the apprehension of not just a moment reflecting the magic and majesty of our natural world but the abduction and amplification of a precise moment of perfection. To say that the paragon of their subjects has been frozen in time implies incorrectly that what you observe in their work is not simply an expiration and preservation of a plant at its floral zenith. These flowers embody the mystery and beauty, comprehended and embraced by the artists, to such a degree that one might actually perceive its ultimate drop of petal, abscission of leaf or growth of root."
A selection of Kirkpatrick and Mace works is also on view now at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, in Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio. The exhibition showcases the groundbreaking creators who shaped the past and future of glass art.

In a heartbreakingly dark and beautiful panel depicting the Statue of Liberty afloat in a pond amongst lily pads, water grasses and small frogs, Jesse Olwen reveals his inner sadness about the state of affairs in the US and wider world today. Though the most recent, this is not the only one of his works to reference Memento Mori– a Latin phrase meaning, remember that you have to die. 
Olwen is a stained glass artist based in Montreal, working at the intersection of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary visual culture. His work reinterprets historic techniques through modern subject matter, exploring themes of memory, symbolism, and transformation. Through glass, he aims to create pieces that feel both timeless and culturally immediate.
States Olwen: "I don't know yet how my work can impact viewers on a large scale, but I do know that working with stained glass offers a unique way to express my message while also pushing the boundaries of the medium, which may be enough to hook some people. I want to show what stained glass can do and break it out of stereotypes that limit it. I want to show people that stained glass can exist in equal respect to other conventional artworks in a gallery or museum setting."
Bouncing from one high school to the next, at 16 Olwen was strongly considering dropping out. A local stained glass artist offered him a bit of foiling work to help her prepare for the holiday craft season. This mentor ended up encouraging him to finish high school, college and apply for an international exchange so he could see the world. 
After traveling and a long hiatus from artmaking, Olwen returned to Montreal to pursue glass in his own direction, a solitary path he is still navigating. Beyond basic copperfoil techniques, he  had no experience with glass painting and was feeling frustrated with the design limitations of the lead line. Someone gifted his mentor with a glass kiln that she passed along to Olwen, and eventually he found the courage to do his first tests and taught himself to paint on glass. Now in an improved studio space, Olwen is perfecting his painting skills surrounded by tables and benches he built to his specific needs.
He says: "Working with stained glass allows me to make art that is both physical and ephemeral: solid in its construction, yet constantly shifting with the light that passes through it. I am drawn to the paradox of permanence and fragility in this material. It can last centuries, yet remains vulnerable to the slightest fracture. That duality often mirrors the subjects I explore – the delicate equilibrium between beauty and decline, abundance and desolation."
In recent years, Olwen's focus has turned toward two main directions – landscapes that hover between the real and the imagined, and Memento Mori-style pieces that explore mortality. He approaches the landscapes not as faithful depictions of place, but as emotional and environmental reflections of a planet in flux. Each work is painted and assembled by hand, the glass is layered with paint and fired many times to achieve the highest quality glasswork. 
"This work is a labor of love, and I believe working with glass is my life's purpose. Glass artists in 2025 have a responsibility to keep interest in this artform alive, and that can be done by testing the limits, breaking the rules and drawing attention any way they can. Personally, I aim for a balance of paying respect to the traditional compositions, subjects and techniques while portraying contemporary messaging. In this way I feel like I'm wrapping new flesh on the bones of an ancient craft."

Laura Donefer is known for artwork that pushes boundaries by exploring memory, assault, bereavement, joy and madness. Celebrated for her innovative, colorful blown glass and flameworked Amulet Baskets, the artist has been using glass as the primary medium in her work for over 40 years, all while teaching, promoting the glass arts worldwide, and producing her unforgettable Glass Fashion Show (GFS). Donefer has produced 15 of her extraordinary fashion shows, many for the Glass Art Society (GAS). In fact, at GAS Murano 2018, her remarkable and ground-breaking event included 33 glass costumes worn by models as they glided past thrilled onlookers through the canals of Murano, Italy. 
Award-winning documentary filmmaker David Marshall of Blue Sky Projects Films has undertaken a years-long documentary project dedicated to capturing both the history of Donefer's GFS and the work artists are undertaking to present a captivating and memorable show at GAS's June 2026 conference to be held at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.
Writes Donefer's assistant and GFS participating artist, Jennifer Hand:
"Ten years ago this June, Rik Allen stepped onto a catwalk at the Corning Museum of Glass in a full astronaut getup accompanied by David Bowie's Major Tom and changed my life forever. I found my community in the rapturous throng of creative, compassionate and collaborative humanity who cheered alongside me that night: Die-hard lovers of glass art united by the magnificent spectacle of Laura Donefer's Glass Fashion Show. It was my first Glass Art Society conference, and though the days before the grand finale had been filled with inspiring content and exciting connections, nothing could have prepared me for the cascading emotions I felt witnessing the wild, weird wonder of the artists who had spent years creating costumes for this one-night-only performance. It would have been inconceivable to me at the time, but two short springs later, I danced in my own glass costume on Murano's grand canal to an equally exuberant crowd.
It may be challenging for those who have not had the pleasure of attending one of these happenings to fully appreciate their splendor, but for prior participants and audience members alike, the verdict is unanimous - there is nothing on earth like the GFS. Since Donefer hosted the inaugural show at the first Canadian GAS Conference in 1989, she has traveled around the world putting on versions of the event - including several at Corning, Toledo and Toronto, and one particularly raunchy romp in New Orleans. AACG member Beth Hylen, who has been in every glass fashion show except the first, credits the events with transforming her from a quiet librarian to a glassy diva. Hylen describes that experience as a "dream," saying, 'Strutting on the stage is so much fun. The energy behind the scenes is electric, and Laura encourages us to energize our performance on stage. I love working for months creating weird and wonderful wearable glass, and there's nothing like watching the artists who put so much time to create their creations seeing it all come together.'
An evening of transcendent beauty is arguably an end goal in itself, but the GFS has impacts far beyond the moment when the last bow has been taken and the last shard of glass swept from the stage. In the years leading up to each fashion show, Donefer provides her encouragement, advice and mentorship to each participant, building a sense of community and modeling her style of unapologetically ebullient leadership to each new generation of GFS artists. GFS veterans seeing each other in the wild at glass world events have a unique bond, and, if we're being fair, an almost evangelical zeal to lure outsiders into the fandom. Neither Donefer nor the models and artists for the performance are compensated for their time, materials or travel to participate - they work their glassy magic into exquisite wearable art out of sheer love of the community and the desire to make the audience gasp in astonished joy..
When Donefer delivers lectures on the history of the Glass Fashion Show, she shares a multitude of stories from her decades leading this singular aspect of the glass field - friendships made, injuries narrowly avoided, and institutional boundaries skirted. Profound storyteller that she is, her lectures are equal parts entertaining and educational, but alone they cannot tell the full story of this cultural phenomenon. Recognizing the magnitude of Donefer's contribution to the trajectory of the glass community, award-winning film maker David Marshall of Blue Sky Projects Films has undertaken a years-long documentary project dedicated to capturing… the Glass Fashion Show… 
Marshall has begun filming interviews with Donefer and her participating artists, including teams from Murano, Hilltop Artists in Tacoma and Project Fire in Chicago. Film crews will also be on hand in Corning this June to do cinematic justice to the detail and exquisite skilling of this year's costumes, which have been mandated by Donefer to be the most extravagant ever - headpieces, footwear, and head-to-toe glass on every model. Between the passion and labor of the artists and Marshall's thoughtful filmmaking, the documentary will properly honor and record the unparalleled contributions Donefer has made to glass history."
Enjoy this podcast conversation with Donefer, Hand, and participating artists Susan Bloch and Hylen, about their memories of and contributions to the Glass Fashion Show. Supporters of Donefer's Glass Fashion Show are welcome and encouraged to donate via GoFundMe to help defray the costs of production. Executive Producer credits are available above a certain threshold of donation, and inquiries can be sent directly to Donefer at [email protected]. To donate, please visit:
https://gofund.me/3e4039468

Investigating interpersonal themes and the notion of community, Jen Elek is a studio artist and educator based in Seattle, Washington. She creates objects and installations of colorful glass and neon light employed as a form of non-verbal communication. Her most recent glass series titled Doliums is inspired by large Roman clay storage containers. 
Elek received her BFA from Alfred University in Metal and Hot Glass sculpture in 1994, after training as a welder in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was a student of Michael Scheiner, Dante Marioni, and Ann Wahlstrom at Pilchuck Glass School, and studied with Maestro Lino Tagliapietra at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. In addition to creating her own work, Elek has assisted glass artists such as Dale Chihuly, Kiki Smith, Preston Singletary, and Tagliapietra, on whose team she worked as a key member for 15 years. A vibrant contemporary glass artist, she exhibits alongside artists of other mediums, breaking some of the barriers that have kept glass in the realm of craft and offering it as a worthy medium of contemporary art.
A member of the Northwest artist community, Elek's involvement in art organizations includes: Pilchuck Glass School, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Hilltop Artists, and as a guest lecturer at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Tacoma Art Museum, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Traver Gallery in Seattle. Elek maintains a studio in south Seattle with husband Jeremy Bert, a Pacific Northwest neon artist with whom she collaborated on their project Illuminated Forest as well as a permanent public installation titled The Illuminated Palouse for the Port of Seattle, located near the D gates at SeaTac International Airport.
Utilizing blown furnace glass, Elek creates sculptural objects that display the material's ability to reflect, magnify and represent bold color. Traditional and innovative processes combine in her work to create colorful landscapes of glass. In the spring of 2017, she was awarded the Pilchuck Artist at Work Residency where she developed a new body of work titled Visual Fun, which highlighted the infallibility and vibrant colors of glass. 
Elek has traveled to Canada, Japan, Australia, and throughout the United States teaching glassblowing workshops. In 2026 she will be an instructor at Tulsa Glassblowing School, Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 14 – 19, residency May 20 – 23; at UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, New York, June 23 – 27; and at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, August 31 – September 5. She will be a gaffer at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, July 9 – 26.

Ariana Makau, founder of Nzilani Glass Conservation, was the second person in the world – and the first woman – to receive a Master's Degree in Stained Glass Conservation from the Royal College of Art in London. Equally comfortable on a job site, at a board meeting or in a museum, Makau has over 30 years of experience with art and architectural preservation. Her work is most fulfilling at the intersection of equity, preservation and art.
Nzilani Glass Conservation is an award-winning firm and one of the few companies in the United States qualified to create new or preserve historical glass works. Makau's company specializes in architectural art glass providing safe, museum-quality services for private residences, historic buildings and museums. Collaborating with high-end metal and woodworkers, engineers, and general contractors to solve unique problems, Nzilani's creative solutions pair old-school fabrication with modern techniques.
With core values "Be Safe. Have Fun. Do Excellent Work", Nzilani leads the industry in best practices for protection from lead exposure with the idea that being aware of your environment frees one to do their best work and have fun while doing it. Working with stained glass requires following strict protocols regarding environmental safety, the proper handling of hazardous materials such as lead and asbestos, and a profound knowledge of structural integrity during fabrication.
Says Makau: "As the recognized leader in the field, we adhere to the most current Cal/OSHA Health & Safety standards throughout all processes. It is a cornerstone at Nzilani, and our highest priority, to maintain the health and safety of our employees, clients, contractors and all those who come in contact with the windows. This includes, but is not exhaustive of, material testing to identify hazards, sealing off of active areas and the work therein by certified contractors, and use of proper personal protection (PPE's) by our team."
Approachable and non-judgmental, Makau enjoys sharing her professional experience in classrooms, public talks, and national conferences that bridge the gap between health and safety regulators and those involved in stained-glass. She is also the executive director of The Fillet Foundation, which she founded in 2024 to "bring underserved people and overlooked places to the forefront of preservation." Her work experience spans numerous museums in the US and abroad including the V&A, the Met, SFMoMA, and Getty Museum.
Makau has served on the board of the Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA), is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), and a current board member of the Western Chapter of the Association of Preservation Technology (APT). As the Interim Collections C.A.R.E. Director of Destination Crenshaw (DC) from 2023-2024, Makau ensured Southern California conservators were ready for future conservation efforts involving interns, documenting public art pieces as they are installed (ensuring their ongoing maintenance is considered from day one), and creating a framework for workforce development opportunities under the umbrella of "art preservation" to be highlighted for the next generation.
Makau states: "One of my major goals is for people to reframe preservation to be considered parallel to the fabrication of new work. And, that preservation can also be applicable to place and people."