Artist Statement
I am a Northwest glass artist based in Washington state. Fused glass is my second career, following degrees at MSU-Bozeman and CU-Boulder, a PhM at Yale University, and years of work in the sciences. I founded Bridger Glass Studio in 2005. Many of my glass pieces are framed in steel, and I collaborate with my husband Michael Toelle on the steel framing. All steel frames are our original design and each is hand forged, welded, textured, and finished. All of the art is unique and original. I have exhibited in galleries and major juried arts fairs in the Northwest since 2004-5.
Glass is a three dimensional fluid with a beautiful capacity for
representing depth and flow. One of my main areas of interest is depicting winter
landscapes and Arctic ocean waters. I grew up in Montana and I have travelled in Alaska.
My original inspiration for my polar ice series is the oceans themselves -
which I have grown more familiar
with through my daughter Kate O'Donnell's collaboration with scientists
conducting research in Alaska and Antarctica, and her work with the San Francisco Exploratorium's educational outreach. (See
http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/about/)
In this series I make framed indoor glass wall hangings/pictures which I typically contour into 3D sculptures.
My pieces are an artistic representation which simultaneously attempt to stay true to the many ways
in which ice breaks up in ocean waters.
(See: Wall Sculpture)
I also make plates, platters and steel-framed bowls. In these I enjoy introducing asymmetries as well as subtle contrasts in opacity, translucence, sheen and
iridescence. I have made the molds into which I slump my glass, and my steel frames are of my own original design.
(See: Free Standing
and Custom Glass)
Design elements that recur frequently in the glass include flow, on the one hand,
and crisp asymmetric geometry on the other.
My Cascade series has evolved many variations of flow designs, including boulder flows and multidirectional flows using
layers of translucent glass. (See: Free Standing)
My asymmetric quadrangle has become an increasingly very frequent design element in many of my pieces.
Much of my work involves precise hand-cutting, grinding and detailing, and multiple kiln firings.
In plates and bowls, glass is food-safe, even though the pieces are designed and intended for display.