"Boiler Bay." Glass, silver glass, sterling silver, copper. 2011.
Glass can be made by nature or made by humans, and is one of the most enduring materials a human can create with, or wear.
A piece begins with a selection of colors, but eventually, part of the control is given up to the medium itself. Glass behaves like water when molten, and while you can shape the path of a river with stones and sticks, the water eventually makes a decision on the direction of its journey. I feel that glass and my work are in symbiosis and communication with each other, creating a final piece that is a melding of my own vision, and the journey the molten glass chooses to follow.
Blending glass with metals, copper and silver, has been my recent path to stretch the medium further. Working with organic shapes and patterns frees me from striving to be perfect in my symmetry, while allowing for happy accidents and wondrous challenges. Creating in fire feels primal and wild, yet disciplined and requiring commitment to learn to talk to glass in its own language.
By working in a discipline so ancient, I reach to the future with one hand, while standing in the footsteps of so many glass artists behind me, stretching back into time for thousands of years.
Biography
Carli Schultz Kruse works with art glass in a process called lampworking, a method of manipulating glass by melting it in the flame of a torch. Her organic, unique designs, often coupled with copper and silver, strive to create small worlds in glass and metal to be worn as adornment. As a child Kruse’s parents took her to Corning Glass in New York, where she watched wizards create amazing objects with glass as it flowed like slow water. The fascination has stayed with her ever since.
She has worked in glass since 2004. Classes at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and at the Bullseye Resource Center have helped her further her knowledge of glass and jewelry fabrication. Her past occupations as a graphic designer, assistant naturalist and music tour manager infuse her work with a special style and flavor. Her work has been seen in past issues of The Flow, A Distinctive Style and Bead Unique magazines, and in the Beaverton Valley Times newspaper. Recent work can be found in the hot-off-the-press book “Art Glass Today.” he won first place in Jewelry at the Oregon Glass Guild’s Glass Expo in 2008 and 2011 at the Portland Convention Center.
While you explore the fabulous Oregon Coast, you can check out her work at the Rock Your World Gem and Art Gallery in Lincoln City. S
Kruse was born in Washington D.C. in 1972 and currently lives and creates in the lush greenscape (and rain) of the Pacific Northwest.
- cavern earrings – glass, sterling silver. 2010
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Museum of Contemporary Craft 2011
Pavilion Exhibition, Oregon Glass Guild 2011
Museum of Contemporary Craft 2010
Pavilion Exhibition, Oregon Glass Guild 2010
Justice Center, Portland, OR 2010
Pavilion Exhibition, Oregon Glass Guild 2009
Pavilion Exhibition, Oregon Glass Guild 2008
AWARDS
1st Place Jewelry Award, Oregon Glass Guild 2011
1st Place Jewelry Award, Oregon Glass Guild 2008
ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Beaverton glass artist Carli Schultz Kruse will participate in Portland Open Studios The Oregonian, October 2010
A Distinctive Style Jan-Feb, 2009 (page 43)
Career change adds more meaning to life for Beaverton woman Beaverton Valley Times, 2006
