Fused glass by Kathy Fish-Gilbert
Gardens that never stop blooming
Handmade glass flowers, blossom baskets, garden scenes and keepsakes, fired one piece at a time in a small Michigan studio.
Fused glass by Kathy Fish-Gilbert
Handmade glass flowers, blossom baskets, garden scenes and keepsakes, fired one piece at a time in a small Michigan studio.
Meet the artist
I am a retired educator who finally has the time to enjoy the work I love… glass!
Kathy’s journey began at Wayne State University, where she earned a degree in Art Education. Through a long career as an art teacher, English teacher, principal and director of education, she dabbled in ceramics, fibers and printmaking whenever she could find the time.
After retiring, she started making mosaics for her garden, moved on to stained glass, and then discovered fusing. She set up a studio, and Pink Posy Glass Studio was born.
Classes at Delphi Glass in Lansing introduced her to glass fusing. After a class on wall vases, she made so many that there was no room left in her tiny studio, and that was the beginning of selling her work.
The challenges of creating with this medium are exciting and highly rewarding for one’s creative spirit and artistic soul.
The collection
Glass is cut, layered, shaped and fired, sometimes more than once, until it becomes something that looks like it grew in a garden. Choose a category below, or click any piece for a closer look.
Free-form vessels built strand by strand from glass stringer and studded with tiny glass flowers, then draped over a mold in the kiln. No two ever come out the same.
Fused panels slumped into a gentle curve so they stand on their own. Each one is a little strip of meadow, shoreline or fence row that catches the light from every side.
Flat and round fused pieces made to be displayed on a stand or in a window, where light passing through brings the layered glass to life.
Larger, layered compositions with stems, leaves and blossoms that rise up out of the glass. These are the pieces most often found in juried exhibitions.
Flowers that never wilt. Individually formed glass blossoms on wire stems, arranged on their own or mixed in with dried florals.
Trinket boxes, woven trays, small dishes, wall pockets and ornaments. Smaller pieces to use every day or give to someone special.
The process
Each blossom basket starts as a tangle of thin glass rods and a handful of tiny flowers. Here is how the Wildflower Basket came together.
1Glass stringer is coiled and arranged over a form.
2Tiny glass flowers and leaves are added one at a time.
3Into the kiln, where everything fuses together.
4Out of the kiln and draped over the mold.
5Released and turned upright for the first time.
6The finished Wildflower Basket.
Shows & galleries
Kathy’s first sale was at the Crocker House Garden Walk in Mount Clemens, and it went so well that it lit a fire to keep going. Since then she has searched out the shows where her work finds its people: art markets, juried exhibitions and galleries across southeast Michigan.
When the pandemic put markets and fairs on hold, she switched gears and began entering juried shows, which led to larger artist venues. And so the journey continues…
Contact
Saw a piece you love, or want to know where the studio will be next? Kathy is always happy to talk glass.
Send an email