The Feature Artist at Port Stephens Community Arts Centre until 28 May is member Gay Stehr a Glass Artist.

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Gay has been working with glass for the past 15 years.

It started because of her passion for glass. Gay told News of the Area ”I needed to learn how to use it.

“It’s tactile and invites you to touch it.”

Gay believes that the wonderful properties of glass which allow light to shine through it creates coloured shadows which are so enticing.

“I was a florist at the time and decided to combine my passion for flowers with my ‘new’ art form; hence many of my pieces have a flower theme.”

As Gay’s passion increased, so did her desire to step away from the traditional techniques of fusing and slumping.

She attended a couple of workshops in Italy with famous glass artist, Miriam di Fiore who is known for working ‘in depth’ with her sceneries.

These involve multiple firings over several days to create depth in scenery, and are 8-10 layers deep. In these sceneries Gay uses frit and powdered glass rather than cut glass.

Gay finds making pieces of functional art is rewarding.

These are made by cutting glass into a desired pattern, a little like a jigsaw puzzle, then fusing the pieces together onto a solid backing sheet of glass.

Gay loves creating wall art and finds herself leaning to more demanding art pieces.

She finds that knowing that one of her pieces has pride of place in someone’s home or business is incredibly rewarding.

Gay often confers with a client about colour and design to suit a space.

Gay also crafts bowls, platters and jewellery which are functional but also beautiful to look at and artistically satisfying.

By Marian SAMPSON