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When I graduated from K-State in 1978 with a degree in Home Economics I planned to have a career in the food and nutrition field. Things change, marriage, four children and life in general pointed me in another direction. My art education came after child number two. I was looking for some type of employment I could do from home and I became interested in graphics. I took art foundation and computer science classes from Wichita State University. I did free lance graphics for a few years. My son’s third grade teacher asked if I would be interested in teaching an art class twice a month in her class. Eight years later I had over 50 volunteers involved in helping teachers with art classes from kindergarten to eighth grade. Then I moved to Manhattan.

I have always like painting with acrylics and watercolor. Working with color and color washes are interesting and challenging. When I moved I joined the Manhattan Watercolor Studio group with the Manhattan Art Center. I usually paint dragons, abstracts or floral pictures.

In 2004, my family was working on an addition to our home. I went in search of tiles for the bathroom. The ones I wanted were glass and out of my price range. A little internet investigation, a trip to Kansas City for a class and some experimentation and I made the tiles. I was hooked on fused glass.

The Winter Flurries plate is part of a series of watercolors and fused glass pieces I worked on last fall. My son requested a painting for his apartment with a tree. The tree then carried over into my glass work. I use some watercolor techniques in the glass by starting with pink powdered glass and building the background by layering other colors over it. Once all the glass is in place the piece is fired in a kiln to fuse it together. The shape comes from slumping the glass in a mold.

Connie Schlegeck
Bluestem Vineyard Studio
7153 Mill Cove Drive
Manhattan, Kansas 66503
785-770-7350
ceschlageck@yahoo.com
bluestemvineyard.wordpress.com