Elizabeth Ryland Mears

www.ElizabethMears.com

Artist's Bio

Elizabeth Ryland Mears is a full time, award winning, studio artist. She creates works in glass and mixed media using primarily the glassblowing technique of flamework.

After a successful career in flat glass and teaching those techniques in such places as the Smithsonian Institution and the Building Museum in Washington DC, Mears began flameworking in the early 1990ís. She intensively studied that glass technique at Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School and The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass. She was a scholarship student at the latter two and has now taught at many of the venues where she was a student, as well as, others. Her book, FLAMEWORKING: Creating Glass Beads, Sculptures & Functional Objects, was published in April 2003.

The sculpture created by Mears combines glass, which has been flameworked with mixed media in wall and pedestal pieces. Whether created representationally or conceptually, all of the work reflects her strong connection with nature and cyclical time. Mearsí creations are represented by galleries throughout the nation and are included in numerous private, corporate, and museum collections.

You may see many of the creations of Elizabeth Ryland Mears and learn more about her history and her insights on her website: www.ElizabethMears.com.