Created using the same process as blown vessels, but pushed and pulled into sinewy muscles, expressive eyes and flaring nostrils, Shelley Muzylowski Allen’s creatures hold energy and vitality as simpler items might hold water. They capture light, forming rich colors and depths amongst the layers of glass, all serving to give her animals an otherworldly glow that seems only intensified by their environments and by the textures she so carefully weaves into many of the pieces.


Shelley’s background is as a painter and her figures, whether two or three dimensional, reveal years of keen observation. She says she’s spent her life watching nature and I can see that in every nuance of the personalities she brings alive in her artwork. Working with a team of artisans in her studio, she keeps the ball rolling on projects, but she often wakes to a visual of a particular creature and says that will set the agenda for the day. She may be on the pipe all day, while other times she’ll spend hours weaving materials into elaborate but integral ways of holding larger animals together and upright, or just adding touches like unique manes and accessories.


The beautiful colors are layered into the glass as powders while she works. Once all has cooled down, tiny holes may be drilled for additional elements or lately, she’s been engraving or drawing on the glass with a fine diamond drill bit to reveal even more colors and textures.


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