Glass artisan Gina Myhill-Jones has her first solo show at Showcase Gallery from May 28 to the end of June.
"Through the Looking Glass" features some of her favourite pieces, including art panels, dishes, sun catchers, jewelry and stained glass work.
The Gateway area artist creates her glass art in a home studio in her basement. She admits much of the space is absolutely packed with coloured glass and glass is something she is constantly on the lookout for.
"I've got to buy what I like and I buy glass in colours that appeal to me."
When creating a new piece, Myhill-Jones often relies on her kiln to turn raw sheet glass into something remarkable. With a design in mind, she cuts and stacks pieces of glass in the kiln and begins to build her vision. There can be as many as six firings involved, and with each one, more glass is added to build layers.
She says there's something mysterious and dangerous about working with heat and fire and that's what attracts her.
"It's fun to play with fire and you get spectacular results."
She adds there is a tremendous amount of physics involved in planning the outcome of a firing. Even so, there's always the possibility of an unexpected result.
"You never know when the colour will change or something will go wrong," she says, adding it's not always bad when things don't go according to plan.
Myhill-Jones moved from Maple Ridge to her Gateway hobby farm slightly more than two years ago, and since she has been living in the Cariboo, has found herself constantly inspired by the different hues and textures of the outdoors and ever-changing colours of the sky. Those images play a part in the thought process when she is both purchasing glass and creating a piece of art.
She loves how light can be manipulated by glass and that's one of the reasons she chooses that medium over paint and canvas and the scores of other art forms she dabbles in.
Myhill-Jones says glass art is one of newest and most rapidly expanding collector art forms and she makes sure to keep on top of recent trends and techniques. Just recently she took a course in Portland, Oregon where she learned about manipulating cast glass. It's a technique she is really excited about and will be using in the future.
More of her current work can be seen at the Station House Gallery in Williams Lake, Parkside Gallery in 100 Mile House, 108 Heritage Site store and at the craft store in 70 Mile House under the name Nazko Molten Works.
