New Jersey Glass Artist Paul StankardWalking among the native flowers in the garden state of new Jersey, Paul Stankard gathers inspiration to plant floating gardens of glass. He uses paperweights and botanical sculptures the way Walt Whitman used words--to share his vision of the ordinary as miraculous. Stankard makes a bouquet with delicate mountain laurel blossoms, using tiny canes of glass in the fire to create the flower's stamens. He fans out the stamens on a template, and then heats clear glass to encase them. With a foundation for the bloom, he appears to paint with the molten glass, creating petals and stems that will be combined and encapsulated into clear glass.
Hawaii Furniture Maker Mats Fogelvik
Furniture maker Mats Fogelvik traveled the world, but when he visited Maui, he knew he need travel no more. He was captivated by Koa wood, one of the rarest woods in the world that only grows in Hawaii. Now he works with Koa that will be the veneer for kitchen cabinets.
California Muralist Irina Negulescu
Artist and muralist Irina Negulescu uses nature's colors with abandon on the walls and ceilings she paints. Native to Romania, Negulescu now uses the colors of San Diego's seaside to paint an unlikely space in a client's home. She works on transforming a spacious walk-in closet into a pastoral scene with colorful flowers and sun-ripened grapes.
