Artist Bio:One of my favorite childhood memories is of me and my sisters sitting at the kitchen table with our mom creating something with paper, fabric, felt, stones, dried pasta, plasticine or whatever other materials might be at hand. It is what we were encouraged to do and it is still a part of my life and necessary to my happiness and well-being. In the mid 80's I took a class on how to work with stained glass. I was entranced with the colors of glass and challenged by the uncompromising nature of the glass. Since that class I have spent many enjoyable hours designing and building windows, lamp shades and other glass items. Eventually I also began doing mosaic work using the leftover glass pieces and incorporating other found objects into my projects. The inspiration for my projects comes from my surroundings and from my own and other peoples' experiences. “Let love and beauty create what you do “(anon author) are words that inspire me to do the best work that I can. More recently I began making wire work jewelry. While it is wonderful to work with precious gems, pearls, gold and silver I also enjoy the challenge of “re-purposing” pieces of vintage jewelry, buttons, copper wire and other found items into a one-of-a-kind jewelry piece – a wearable piece of art. The birdhouse is an example of mosaic work using materials that have been collected over the years – from the beach, the garden and the house: slate, twigs, shells, stones, bark, clematis seed heads, rose hips, wasp hive material, glass nuggets. I hope that the birds will find it a suitable place to nest and that it pleases you too!