Suzanne Chudnoff

Glass Artist

I make art for the pure joy of creating. I am inspired by simplicity and complexity. I love the colors, shapes and textures of metals and glass. I have a passion to combine and transform these materials into something new, something organic looking and something abstract. Into something that begs to be examined and touched.

Glass is a curious medium. It is one of the most complicated mediums to use for creating art. The possibilities are endless. I create using a “warm glass” process using a kiln to fire or cast glass, as opposed to “hot glass” using a furnace and a team of people, or “flame worked” glass using a gas torch to shape and form.

Chemically, glass is situated between a liquid and a solid, an amorphous solid. Using time, heat, mass, minerals, and gravity, I create kiln formed vessels (and wall pieces) in various sizes and shapes using a kiln. Some of these vessels have intense colors and patterns. I make the patterns using all sorts of objects and tools pressed into the powered glass. Gravity and heat transform the flat sheet glass and powers. Clear sheet glass and colored glass powders form the base of my vessels. Glass powders can create vibrant colors and unusual patterns due to the reactive nature of some of the minerals used in them. Each vessel is one of a kind. And I never know how it will look until I open the kiln. The vessels take 3-5 firings in the kiln to complete. I use diamond wheels to cold work the vessels and help shape and carve them, silicon carbide to sandblast them, and carved gypsum board to create molds to “drop” the glass through the holes.

Prior to working with glass, I worked as a CPA, Systems Auditor, and Financial Systems analyst helping end users develop systems requirements and controls for software. Not having grown up fabricating objects and using tools, I find the learning and use of industrial tools to be challenging and satisfying, and love learning fabrication skills. I use tools to create shapes and textures with steel and glass. It's not spiritual or philosophical; it’s just a passion, something I love and need to do.