Featured Artist Katherine Berg

Katherine Berg presents a stunning collection of handmade glass vessels, and shares her inspirational story. See more by visiting her website.

 

 

I’m an award-winning glass artist from Chicago. Even though I have a degree in art, I didn’t discover my passion until long after college. I started my career as a watercolorist, loving the transparency of the colors and how they blended as layers were added. Eventually I found something similar in the way glass behaves, and I never looked back.

 

 

I love the unpredictability of glass. You can plan a piece out to a certain extent, but once it’s in the kiln and starts to melt, it does it’s own thing. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I open the kiln after a successful firing.

 

 

Each one of my pieces is one-of-a-kind and takes several days to create. Some pieces I plan out in advance, but other times I just go in the studio and play around and let the glass decide what it wants to be.

 

 

I love playing with color and pattern in my work. To me, the more color the better, although I sometimes surprise myself and decide to go more neutral. Sometimes it’s an individual piece of glass that I’m inspired by.

 

 

Nature is a huge influence for me. I like taking walks in nature, especially at sunset, and it never fails to give me ideas. I find nature to be very restorative and calming as well as inspirational and I hope people feel the same feelings when they see my work.

 

 

Sometimes I am also inspired by the sights and sounds of Chicago; the architecture, the lakefront, it’s all so beautiful. That’s the great thing about this city, so much incredible architecture (old and new) but also so much nature as well.

 

 

When I was a child I was constantly drawing and painting on everything I could find. I think my family always knew I would be an artist.

 

 

My first job, working my way through college, was at a bookstore. Everyone who worked there was an artist of some sort. We had poets, painters, dancers, writers and one of my coworkers actually sang with the Chicago symphony chorus. We fed off of each other’s creative energy, and I think that really helped shape my artistic point of view. I will be forever grateful for the past experiences that shaped me into the artist I am today.

 

Katherine Berg invites you to follow her on Facebook.

 

 

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